Copy 1, Volume 1

The wonders of the little world: or, a general history of man, displaying the various faculties, capacities, powers and defects of the human body and mind / By Nathaniel Wanley.

Nathaniel Wanley

Date:: 1806

Credit: The wonders of the little world: or, a general history of man, displaying the various faculties, capacities, powers and defects of the human body and mind / By Nathaniel Wanley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

28/432 (page 12)

$‘ from the Europeans in some respects, as And besides, where an European lies with an Indian woman, the child is always a mostese or tawny, as is well known to all who have been in the West Indies, where the black, or copper-coloured, according as the parent<are, even to decompounds, as -a Mulatto—Fina, the child of a Mulatto man, and Mostesa woman, &c. But neither is the child of a man and woman “of these white Indians white like the pa- rents, but copper-coloured as their pa- rents were: for so Lacenta tald me, and gave me this as his conjecture how, these came to be white, that it was through the force of the mother’s imagination looking on the moon at the time of conception ; but this ] leave others to judge of. He lived.’ _ 30. > Captain Charles Wager has a born in the upper parts of Rappahannoc river, in Virginia. His father and mother This boy, till he came to be three years old, .was in all respects like other black children, and then, without having any distemper, pegan to have several little white specks in his neck and upon his breast, which, with his age, have been since observed to increase continually. very much, both in number. and bigness, so that now from the upper part of his neck, where some of his wool is already turned white, down to his knees, he is every where dappled with white spots, some of which are broader than the palm of a man’s hand; equal to the skin of the fairest lady ; and are not liablé to be tanned. But they -are, I think, of a paler vwhite, and do not show flesh and blood so lively through possibly the reason of this may be, that the skin of the negro is much thicker ; his face, arms, and legs, are perfectly black. He. has all along been very sprightly and active, and has more in- genuity than is common to that race. 31. The growth of bodies ‘has its phenomena, as well as all the other ope. rations of. nature ; sometimes it goes on but slowly, and sometimes it is so rapid as to exceed its usual time, In a very surpris- - ing manner. - . _ James Viala, a native of the hamlet of Bouzanquet, in the diocese Alais, though of a strong constitution,. appeared to be knit and stiff in his joints till he was about four years and a half old. During this time nothing further. was remarkable of him than an extraordinary appetite,“ which was no otherwise satisfied than by giving. him plenty of the common food of the inhabitants of the country, which con- water: but his limbs soon becoming-sup- ple and pliable, and his body beginning to expand, he grew up in. so extraordinary’ a manner, that, at the age of five years, he measured four feet three inches ; at five years and some months he was four feet eleven inches; and at six, five, feet, and bulky in proportion. His growth was so rapid, that people might fancy they ” saw him grow: Every month his clothes and what was still very extraordinary in his growth, it was not preceded by any sickness, nor accompanied by any pain in the groin, or elsewhere; and no_com- plaint was made of any inconvenience but hunger, which the child was very sen- sible of between meals. At the age of — five years his voice changed, his beard be- gan to appear, and, at_six, he had as ° much asa man of thirty in short, all the unquestionable marks of puberty were visible in him. - Though his talents were riper titan is commonly observed at the age of five or six years, their progress was. not in proportion to that of his body. His airand manner ‘still retamed something childish, though, by his size and stature, he resembled a complete man, which at first sight produced a very singular con- trast. However, it might be said, that all was uniform in him. His voice was strong and manly, and few heard him speak without some emotion and sur- prize. His great strength rendered him already fit for the labour of the coun-. - try. At the age of five years he could. -' carry, toa good distance, three measures of rye, weighing eighty-four pounds ; onhis shoulders and carry, loads, of a hun- dred and fifty pounds weight.a good way 3. and these exercises’ were exhibited by \ him \$