Academy of Sciences] 

 No. 3] 



OBSERVATIONAL DATA 



and those in which it is certainly naturally slightly darker to distinctly tan — and these are our 

 subdivisions. 



Results. — Detailed records on the color of the skin are available for 250 adult male old 

 Americans at large, 100 subjects of the same class of the Academy, and for 50 academicians of 

 European birth or parentage. The three series give the following picture: 



Table 3. — Skin color 



The data agree fairly closely. There are apparent differences and these may have some 

 slight significance; but when the two series of old Americans are united, the discrepancies prac- 

 tically disappear. In nearly nine-tenths of each of the groups the skin is medium white or near, 

 in but approximately 1 case in 100 it is distinctly lighter, in approximately 1 in 10 slightly to 

 somewhat darker. The differences in the exact percentages may possibly be simply accidental, 

 or connected with the unequalities of the number of subjects in the three series. Whether age 

 enters into the subject as a factor is uncertain; the mean age of the 36 darker subjects in the old 

 Americans at large was 35.7, of that whole series 37.2 years; that of the 6 darker old American 

 academicians was 60, of all 58.7 years; that of the 6 darker academicians not old Americans 64.5, 

 of this entire group 6 1 years. There is no special indication in this one way or the other. The 

 fact is there is known as yet nothing definite as to the effects of age on the color of the skin, and 

 our data do not help in that direction. 



In the study of the old Americans at large, the darker skin correlated in general with darker 

 hair and brown or mixed eyes, and the same was noticed in the members of the Academy; but 

 the correlation is not reciprocal, for very dark to black hair and brown eyes, though never asso- 

 ciated with real light or florid skin, may and not seldom do occur without appreciable skin 

 darkening. 



The meaning of distinctly lighter skin is clear: it is always a part of advanced general depig- 

 mentation. That of the distinctly darker shades, under normal conditions, is less evident, but 

 ancestral conditions play, according to all indications, the chief role in the manifestation. 



The whole subject of skin color within the white race is much in need of a thorough investi- 

 gation on large series of subjects and with the most efficient means for color determination. 



The Hair 



The hair was noted in reference to color, character, grayness, and loss. 



Considerable difficulty was encountered in the members of the Academy as to the color. 

 In a majority of those examined there was so much grayness that a direct estimate of the pre- 

 ceding color of the hah was more or less difficult. In all these cases whatever evidence remained 

 had to be supplemented by information from the subject; such information, however, in sub- 

 jects of this class was generally free from ambiguity. 



The same rational and readily understood classification of hair colors was used as with the 

 old Americans at large; and while there is no line of demarkation between the various shades 

 and those near the thresholds may be classed by even an expert observer at one time with one 

 and at another time with a neighboring category, in the long run such incidents are equalized 

 and the main results are unaffected. The academicians compare in this respect with the old 

 Americans outside of the Academy as seen below: 9 



The data in this connection extends to 1,009 adult male old Americans at large. 



