988 OF THE BRANCHES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 



upon the admixture of pigment cells with the ordinary epidermic-cells ; all 

 the varied hues presented by the different races of men being due to the rela- 

 tive amount of these cells and to the particular tint of the pigment which 

 they form. It would be easy, by selecting well-marked specimens of each 

 race, to make it appear that color affords a character sufficiently distinctive 

 for their separation ; thus, for example, the fair and ruddy Saxon, the jet- 

 black Negro, the olive Mongolian, and the copper-colored North American, 

 might be considered to be positively separated from each other by this char- 

 acter, propagated, as it seems to be, with little or no perceptible change, 

 from generation to generation. But although such might appear to be the 

 clear and obvious result of a comparison of this kind, yet a more careful 

 and comprehensive survey tends to break down the barrier that would be 

 thus established. For, on tracing this character through the entire family 

 of Man, we find the isolated specimens just noticed to be connected by such 

 a series of links, and the transition from one to the other to be so very 

 gradual, that it is impossible to say where the lines are to be drawn be- 

 tween them. There is nothing here, then, which at all approaches to those 

 fixed and definite marks, that are always held to be requisite for the estab- 

 lishment of specific distinctions among other tribes of animals. 



830. But further, there is abundant evidence that these distinctions are 

 far from being constantly maintained, even in any one race. For among 

 all the principal subdivisions, albinoism, or the absence of pigment-cells, 

 occasionally presents itself; so that the fair skin of the European may 

 present itself in the offspring of the Negro or of the Red man. 1 On the 

 other hand, instances are by no means rare of the unusual development of 

 pigment-cells in individuals of the fair-skinned races ; so that parts of the 

 body are of a dark-red or brown hue, or even quite black. Such modifica- 

 tions may seem of little importance to the argument ; since they are confined 

 to individuals, and may be put aside as accidental. But there is ample evi- 

 dence that analogous changes may take place in the course of time, which 

 tend to produce a great variety of shades of color, in the descendants of any 

 one stock. Thus, in the great Indo-European family (part of the Caucasian, 

 race of Blumenbach), which may be unquestionably regarded as having had 

 a common origin, we find tribes with fair complexion, yellow hair, and blue 

 eyes, others presenting the xanthous or olive hue, and others decidedly 

 black. A similar diversity may be seen among the American races, which 

 are equally referable to one common stock; and it exists to nearly the same 



1 A very curious example of change of color in u Negro has been recorded on un- 

 questionable authority. The subject of it was a negro slave in Kentucky, a-t. 45, who 

 was born of black parents, and was himself perfectly black until 12 years of age. A t 

 that time a portion of the skin, an inch wide, encircling the cranium just within the 

 edge of the hair, gradually changed to white; also the hair occupying that locality. 

 A white spot next appeared near the inner canthus of the left eye ; and from this the 

 white color gradually extended over the face, trunk, and extremities, until it covered 

 the entire surface. The complete change from black to white occupied about ten 

 years; and but for his hair, which was crisped or woolly, no one would have sup- 

 posed at this time that his progenitors had offered any of the characteristics of the 

 Negro, his skin presenting the healthy vascular appearance of that of a fair-cnm- 

 plexioned European. When he was about 2'2 years of age, however, dark cufiper- 

 <<,!, !!,</ or brown spots began to appear on the face and hands; but these have re-' 

 mainrd limited to the portions of the surface exposed to light. About the time that 

 the black color of his skin began to disappear, he completely lost his sense of smell 

 (g fJO:!, wife)] and since he has become white, he has had measles and hooping-cough 

 a second time. (See Dr. liutehinsoti's account of this case, in the Amer. Journ. of 

 ISled. Sci., Jan. 1852 ) A case of partial disappearance of the black color of the 

 Negro's Skin was brought by Dr. Inman before the Zoological Section of the British 

 A>->ciation at Liverpool, Sept. 1854. 



