no electrical phenomena either in January or February. They were manifested once in March, and none. were observed afterwards till the eleventh of June. The diseases of the period we are contemplating, appear to furnish evidence of a new and peculiar state of the atmosphere. They were generally epidemics. Influenza began to prevail in the last quarter of 1831, and continued into the spring of the succeeding year. In many places, it was unusually malignant and destructive; and, in some, the physicians found it attended with an unwonted irritability of the stomach and bowels, that interdicted the employment of antimonial medicines, which were indicated by the affection of the lungs. Scarlatina and measles were rife at the same time, especially in the spring; and it was not among the least curious anomalies of the season, that, in many places, these two diseases were coexistent as distinct and remarkable epidemics. But no phenomenon of this kind, preceding the cholera, was so interesting and portentous to medical observers as the unseasonable appearance of milder forms of bowel complaints, which are regarded by many as nearly akin to that formidable disease. Sporadic cases of cholera morbus and dysentery were reported from various parts of the country, in the course of the winter and spring, and some very severe ones occurred in Canada, in April and May, along with the universal tendency to diarrhoea which there and elsewhere was the precursor and attendant of the pestilence. These facts were particularly noticed at St. John's, where a patient died in April, from an attack of cholera morbus, which exhibited the same characters as the epidemic that ensued. At Montreal, another death was recorded, attended with the same symptoms, on the twenty-eighth of May. We shall attempt to generalize the most important facts and most generally-received opinions respecting cholera in America, under several distinct heads, which will comprehend all that should be expected in such a notice as we have proposed to give.

1. Epidemic Cholera was indigenous in America. The evidence of this is to be found in the failure of all investigations, instituted in places where it has prevailed, to trace it to any foreign origin, not less than in the peculiarities in the season, and diseases that preceded it, which we have already noticed. The opinion of the medical profession on this point, in its most important practical bearing, may be

known from the following reply to a question proposed by the mayor of New York to the special medical council of that city :-"No quarantine regulations hitherto employed, or known to us, have been, or are likely to be, effectual in excluding the malignant cholera from any populous town or village upon this continent." This opinion, having been transmitted to Boston, Philadelphia and Albany, received the concurrence and signatures of the public medical authorities in each of those cities, and of most other physicians to whom they were submitted. Nevertheless, on the general question touching the propagation of the disease, there is considerable difference of opinion among American physicians. Some suppose, for example, that, although it may arise spontaneously, it may, by accumulation, acquire the property of being transmitted to healthy persons and places by genuine infection; while others, and by far the largest portion, and especially those who have had the best opportunities for practical acquaintance with the subject, find a more satisfactory explanation of the facts on which this supposition is founded, either in the common exposure of the parties to local or exciting causes of the disease, or in some personal aptitude to become affected by the general cause, on the part of the individuals to whom the disease is supposed to have been communicated. Instances of this alleged contagion, especially among physicians, nurses, and other attendants on the sick, have been much less frequent, however, in this country than in England, and some other parts of Europe; American cholera, in this particular, as in some others, more rearly resembling the original Asiatic disease, than its congener in Europe.

2. The Symptoms and essential Phenomena of the Disease were the same in America as in Great Britain. We refer, therefore, to the previous pages for a description of the time and manner of its attacks, the succession and duration of its stages, and the symptoms characterizing each. The resemblance was not, in deed, complete at all places and times; but we have not remarked any differences sufficiently general to denote a geographical modification of the disease. The same is true of the structural changes which have been revealed by post mortem examinations in England and America. We think, however, that the symptoms of asphyxia came on without the usual introductory phenomena, in a larger proportion of cases here than in Great Britain

liographical Miscellany, intended as a Supplement to the Bibliographical Dictionary (2 vols., 1806); and particularly his Holy Bible, with a Commentary and critical Notes (3 vols., 4to., 1810), which has been often republished. Doctor Clarke died in August, 1832. In figure, he was tall and commanding. His voice had more strength than melody. His style is copious, though not elegant, and his manner was impressive, though not animated. As a preacher, he aimed to convince rather than to excite; and as an author, to edify rather than to delight. As a commentator, he displays great erudition, and, though fanciful, is highly instructive. On account of his biblical learning and scientific acquirements, he obtained a diploma of LL. D., and honorary degrees from various scientific societies.

CLARKE, DUKE OF FELTRE. (See Feltre.)

CLARKSON, Thomas, was born in the year 1761, and had his education at Cambridge (at St. John's college), where he obtained several prizes. When a prize was proposed for the best essay on the question" Is it just to make men slaves against their will?" Mr. Clarkson composed one in Latin, and obtained the first prize for the year 1785. His first publication was a translation of this under the title of an Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, particularly the African (1786). This was, perhaps, the first effectual step taken towards the suppression of the African slave-trade. It seems to have stimulated him to those unparalleled exertions which so materially contributed to that great triumph of humanity, the act of abolition. Warmed by his own work, joined to the writings of Benezet, and to the information he otherwise attained, he became a perfect enthusiast on this subject. He gave up his professional pursuits, although he had already been admitted into deacon's orders in the church, and resolved to devote his whole time to this great object. He therefore first connected himself with Mr. Wilberforce and other members of parliament known for their philanthropy, and, in 1787, formed a small society to effect the abolition of the commerce in African slaves. The next year, he published a work On the Impolicy of the African SlaveTrade, and, in 1789, another work On the comparative Efficacy of the Regulation or Abolition as applied to the African Slave-Trade. He then visited Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester, where, as he

made no secret of his business, he met with many insults from persons concerned in the trade. After his return, he bad interviews with Mr. Pitt, who seemed to approve of his zeal, but who did not support him as he ought. This humane cause found many advocates in Great Britain, in Germany, and in France; and Mr. Clarkson, to influence the privy council in the cause, produced before them a box full of various articles, the produce of Africa, to prove that that country was capable of furnishing objects of commerce of an innocent and valuable nature. In the mean time, Mr. Clarkson published, with a view to forward his great design, Letters on the Slave-Trade, and the State of the Nations in those Parts of Africa contiguous to Fort Louis and Goree (1791), and Three Letters to the Planters and Slave Merchants (1807). At one time, Mr. Clarkson had sanguine hopes of procuring an abolition much before he attained it, as the minister appeared favorable, and the friends of the abolition were much increased; but the opposite party, on a motion, in the house of commons, that an abolition of the slavetrade was necessary, had the address to get-Mr. Dundas to introduce the word gradual into the motion, and by that means, for a time, defeated the measure. At last the government came into the hands of Mr. Fox and other real friends of the abolition; and the acts of parliament for that great purpose passed with the most triumphant majorities. Mr. Clarkson's labors in this good work being now finished, he had leisure for literary pursuits; and, in 1807, he published a Portraiture of Quakerism, in which he describes that respectable and singular people in their true colors, neither supporting their errors nor reflecting on their peculiarities. He has also published Memoirs of the public and private Life of John Penn. În 1808, he published, in two volumes, octavo, the History of the Abolition of the Slave-Trade. Among the Quakers he found the greatest disposition to second his zeal; and many of that sect have emancipated their slaves in various parts of the world.

COACH-WHIP SNAKE. (See Serpent.) COLD. (See Freezing, and Temperature.)

COLLARED SNAKE. (See Serpent.) COLOMBO, AMERICAN. (See Frasera Caroliniensis.)

COLOPHONITE. (See Garnet.)
COLOSVAR. (See Clausenburg.)
COMPLEXION. The human skin, till

the time of Malpighi, was supposed to consist only of two parts-the cuticle, epidermis or scarf-skin, and the cutis or real skin; but that anatomist, about the middle of the seventeenth century, discovered between these a cellular texture, soft and gelatinous, to which the names of rete mucosum and corpus reticulare have been given. He demonstrated the existence of this membrane, at first in the tongue, and in the inner parts of the hands and feet; but, by his subsequent labors, and also by those of Ruysch and other anatomists, it has been proved to exist, between the epidermis and cutis, in all parts of the human body. Malpighi, on the discovery of this membrane, offered a conjecture respecting the cause of the color of negroes. He supposed that this membrane contained a juice or fluid of a black color, from which their blackness arose. The actual existence of a black pigment has been since ascertained, but has never been procured in sufficient quantity to admit of minute and analytical examination. The rete mucosum is of very different colors in different nations; and the difference of its color so completely agrees with the difference of their complexions, that there can be no doubt that it is the sole, or, at least, the principal, seat of the color of the human complexion. Its thickness varies in different parts of the body; and the depth of its color, for the most part, is in proportion to its thickness. The black color of the negroes is destroyed by several causes; indeed, whatever destroys the rete mocosum destroys it, as wounds, burns, &c.; and, as this membrane is never reproduced, the scar remains white ever afterwards. Hawkins (in his Travels into the Interior of Africa, p. 120) mentions that the land-cloud of Africa, called, by the Portuguese, ferrino, changes the black color of the negroes into a dusky gray; according to some other authors, the change is into a red copper color. At Darfur, a species of leprosy prevails among the natives, which they call borras, and which gives them the appearance of being piebald, changing to a white color parts both of their skin and their hair. There are, also, several instances of the color of negroes being either entirely or partially changed, from the operation of causes which cannot be detected or explained. A boy, who was born in Virginia, of black parents, continued of his native color till he was three years old: at that period, a change of color began to take place, though the health of the boy continued

good, and there was no assignable cause for the alteration in his food or mode of life. At first, white specks made their appearance on his neck and breast, which soon increased in number and size; from the upper part of his neck down to his knees, he was completely dappled; his hair was also changed, but not to the same degree, since, though some parts of it were white, in general it retained the black color and crispature of the negro. The color of those parts of his body which had undergone the change was of a more livid white than is found among the fairest Europeans; nor did the flesh and blood appear through these parts of his skin so clear and lively as through the skin of white people. He was not liable to be tanned.-Philosophical Transactions (vol. xix, p. 781). (For the classification of the varieties of the human complexion, see the article Man.) The nature and color of the hair seem closely connected with the complexion. In proportion to the thinness of the skin, and the fairness of the complexion, the hair is soft, fine, and of a white color: this observation holds good, not only in the great varieties of the human race, but also in the Albinos. Next to them, in fairness of coinplexion, is the Gothic race, the rutile coma of whom were a distinguishing characteristic, even in the time of the Romans. The Celtic tribes are not so fair as the Gothic, and their hair is darker and more inclined to curl; so that the observation which Tacitus makes respecting the Silures still applies to them-Colorati vultus, torti crines. But, though the color of the hair is evidently connected with the complexion, yet its tendency to curl does not appear to be so. The brown-complexioned Celts have curled hair; the Mongolian and American varieties, of a much darker complexion, have hair of a darker color, but long and straight. Among that portion of the Malay variety which inhabits the South sea islands, soft and curled hair is frequently met with. The color of the eye is also connected with the complexion. In the Africans, professor Sommering remarks that the tunica adnata, or white of the eye, is not so resplendently white as in Europeans, but rather of a yellowish-brown, something similar to what occurs in the jaundice. The iris, in the negroes in general, is of a very dark color; but, according to Pigafetta, the iris in the Congo negro is frequently of a bluish tinge; and it is worthy of remark that, according to this author, these negroes have not the thick

lips of the Nubians. The Gothic tribes are not more distinguished by their fair complexion than by their blue eyes (carulei oculi), while the iris of the darker colored Finn, according to Linnæus, is brown, and that of the still darker Laplander, black. The color of the eyes also follows, in a great degree, in its changes, the variations produced by age in the complexion. Blumenbach informs us that newly-born children, in Germany, have, generally, blue eyes and light hair, both of which become gradually of a darker hue, as the complexion of the individual grows darker; and Ligon, in his True and Exact History of Barbadoes (p. 52), says that the children of the negroes there, when they are born, "have the sight of their eyes of a bluish color, not unlike the eyes of a young kitten; but, as they grow older, they become black." The most singular race of men, in point of complexion, are the Albinos. (See Albinos.) A middle complexion is produced where children are born from parents of different races. If the offspring of the darkest African and the fairest European intermarry successively with Europeans, in the fourth generation they become white: when the circumstances are reversed, the result is reversed also. Along with the successive changes of complexion is also produced a change in the nature and color of the hair; though, in some instances, the woolly hair remains when the complexion has become nearly as fair as that of brown people in Europe. It does not, however, always happen that the offspring is the intermediate color between that of the respective races to which the father and mother belong; it sometimes resembles one parent only, while, perhaps, in the second or third generation, the color of the other parent makes its appearance. White, On the Regular Gradation of Man, mentions a negress who had twins by an Englishman: one was perfectly black; its hair was short, woolly and curled: the other was white, with hair resembling that of an European. And Parsons, in the Philosophical Transactions, gives an account of a black man who married an English woman: the child, the offspring of this marriage, was quite black. The same author gives another instance, still more remarkable: a black, in Gray's inn, married a white woman, who bore him a daughter resembling the mother in features, and as fair in all respects, except that the right buttock and thigh were as black as the father's.-Philosophical

Transactions (vol. i, p. 45).—The gener ally-received opinion, concerning the varieties of complexion, which are found in the different races of man throughout the globe, is, that they are caused entirely by the influence of climate. Respecting the primary color of man, the supporters of this opinion are not agreed. The opinion that climate alone will account for the various complexions of mankind is very plausible, and supported by the well-known facts, that in Europe the complexion grows darker as the climate becomes warmer; that the complexion of the French is darker than that of the Germans, while the natives of the south of France and Germany are darker than those of the north; that the Italians and Spaniards are darker than the French, and the natives of the south of Italy and Spain darker than those in the north. The complexion, also, of the people of Africa and the East Indies is brought forward in support of this opinion; and from these, and similar facts, the broad and general conclusion is drawn, that the complexion varies in darkness as the heat of the climate increases; and that, therefore, climate alone has produced this variety. But it can be shown that the exceptions to this general rule are very numerous; that people of dark complexions are found in the coldest climates, people of fair complexions in warm climates, people of the same complexion throughout a great diversity of climate, and races differing materially in complexion among the same people. 1. In the coldest climates of Europe, Asia and America, we find races of a very dark complexion. The Laplanders have short, black, coarse hair; their skins are swarthy, and the irides of their eyes are black. According to Crantz, the Greenlanders have small, black eyes; their body is dark-gray all over; their face brown or olive ; and their hair coal black.-Crantz's History of Greenland (i, 132).-The complexion of the Samoides, and the other tribes who inhabit the north of Asia, and of the Esquimaux, is very similar to that of the Laplanders and Greenlanders. Humboldt's observations on the South American Indians illustrate and confirm the same fact. If climate rendered the complexion of such of these Indians as live under the torrid zone, in the warm and sheltered valleys, of a dark hue, it ought, also, to render, or preserve fair, the complexion of such as inhabit the mountainous part of that country; for, certainly, in point of climate, there must be as much