"It is said of negroes, that their brain is blackish, and the glandula pinealis wholly black; a remark of which the Cartesian, with his audience-hall of perception, might make much."
— Ramsay, James (1733-1789)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed and Sold by James Phillips
Date
1784
Metaphor
"It is said of negroes, that their brain is blackish, and the glandula pinealis wholly black; a remark of which the Cartesian, with his audience-hall of perception, might make much."
Metaphor in Context
It is said of negroes, that their brain is blackish, and the glandula pinealis wholly black; a remark of which the Cartesian, with his audience-hall of perception, might make much. It has not come within my notice; nor on the principles of common fense can any thing be inferred from it, unless anatomy had also determined that the jaundice affects not these parts, as a proof that this blackness arises not from the colour of the skin. But it is observed that their blood is of a dark red. This may be accounted for from their poor salt diet, and their working naked in the sun; and this colour in the blood may contribute to these appearances in the brain, while running through the capillary vessels that are spread over every visible part of it.
(pp. 214-5)
(pp. 214-5)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in Google Books
Citation
James Ramsay, An Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British Sugar Colonies (London: printed and sold by James Phillips, 1784). <Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
07/29/2011
