4 OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS ACADEMY MEMBERS lMEMOI [vou xxiit 



main agreed closely. The eyes, hair, and other features in the old American group of the acade- 

 micians, and in the not old American group as well, indicated in a large majority of the cases 

 racial mixture (within the bounds of the white race), those that could be regarded as pure types 

 being in decided minorities. There were found no marked developmental asymmetries of the 

 head, face, or body. The heads, though of different shapes, gave as a rule the impression of 

 large, the faces of medium proportions, with the malar region (cheekbones) more or less subdued, 

 prognathy absent, the lower jaws never heavy or with bulky angles, the necks medium, the 

 chests average to ample, the trunks and limbs in no case disproportionate, arms, legs, hands, and 

 feet mostly not delicate but well-developed and fairly muscular. 



VISUAL OBSERVATIONS 



These observations, similarly as with measurements, while interesting, would be of only 

 limited value if they could not be contrasted with similar and fully comparable determinations 

 on like groups of the general popidation. Such comparisons fortunately, as already mentioned, 

 are possible, though the differing age factor is troublesome. One advantage is that the obser- 

 vations to be drawn upon for this purpose are by the same observer and were carried out with 

 the same methods. They were made between 1910 and 1925 on substantial numbers of descend- 

 ants of the old American families. The fact that the studies on the members of the Academy 

 followed within but a short interval those on the old Americans at large enhances further the 

 comparability of the series. 



A word may be useful here about the reliability of the visual observations. Such obser- 

 vations naturally cannot aspire to the accuracy of precise measurements; their value woidd 

 necessarily be uncertain if made by the under-instructed and inexperienced; there may develop 

 some bias in the recording of the less definite characters even among trained men and perhaps 

 in the same observer; but where there is a clear understanding of the subject, ample experience 

 and due care, and no considerable lapse of time between the observations on the series to be 

 compared, such determinations are quite trustworthy, of value, and indispensable for a fuller 

 knowledge of the group studied. 



A word further is due as to the use of color plaques or blocks and other "standards" for 

 gaging the color of the skin, hair, and eyes. Such standards have so far been the products of 

 individuals and have had various faults; as a rule they are merely numbered and such numbers 

 convey no intelligible information to the reader ; there is no assurance that their repeated editions 

 or makes, or even all the samples of the same turn-out, are strictly uniform; and they are not 

 available or even known to many workers, not to mention the readers. For these reasons the 

 writer has preferred the expert rational method of appraisal, recording, and presentation, the 

 results of which may be given with fair lucidity and be understood. 



OBSERVATIONAL DATA 



The Skin 



Though we term ourselves the "white" race our skin is not white, as anyone may see if he 

 lays his arm on a sheet of white paper. We have, in fact, no really appropriate generic name for 

 the color of our skin and thus will keep on calling it "white." 



An examination of the skin on parts unaffected by exposure in a large number of individuals 

 soon shows that the "white" is not the same in all cases. Among European and American whites 

 the skin of the body in a large majority of individuals is what may be called medium white, or 

 near medium; but in some subjects there are aberrations from this medium in the direction of 

 lighter to florid, and especially in that of darker shades to marked tan. There is no line of 

 demarkation in all of this, but an experienced observer with good eyesight finds but little difficulty 

 in recording the conditions. The safe way is to class as medium all the nuances about the dis- 

 tinctness of which from the medium there is uncertainty. When this is done there remain only 

 the cases in which the skin of the body is decidedly lighter (less pigmented) than the medium, 



