Who argued that field slaves had different abilities from house slaves due to environmental exposure?

The argument that field slaves had different abilities from house slaves due to environmental exposure is attributed to the work of Samuel Smith. He examined the physical and psychological differences that arose from the environments in which these groups of enslaved people lived and worked. Smith's observations suggested that the harsh conditions and labor in the fields shaped attributes and skills in field slaves differently than the living conditions and tasks encountered by house slaves.

In contrast, the other individuals listed in the choices had different focuses in their work. For example, Samuel George Morton primarily focused on the measurement of cranial capacities and race, Joseph Arthur de Gobineau is known for his theories on racial hierarchy and the division of humanity, and Johann Blumenbach contributed to the classification of race based on skull shape and proportions. None of them specifically addressed the differential abilities of field and house slaves through the lens of environmental exposure in the way that Smith did.