PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY AND RACIAL ORIGINS 271 



perfected the various breeds of his domestic animals. The 

 argument from analogy does not therefore apply. 



Turning now to mankind, Prof. Ridgeway endeavours to 

 argue that the dark, long-headed Mediterranean race is not 

 ethnically one species, but represents the result of an admittedly 

 charming climate and environment on different stocks settled 

 on its shores. But in the name of all that is logical, why should 

 this environment favour dolichocephaly ? Through what dim 

 necromancy or subtle magic do men tend to become long-headed 

 under the influence of blue skies and a very dry and delightful 

 climate ? On the shores of the Black Sea live races with a 

 distinct trend to brachycephaly. Why should the Black Sea 

 climate conduce to round-headedness ? or, for that matter, why 

 should brachycephaly dominate one side of the Bay of Bengal 

 and dolichocephaly the other ? A few questions such as these 

 abundantly demonstrate the absurdity of Prof. Ridgeway's 

 position and the gratuitous character of his hypotheses. 



When the latter goes on to say that the skins of mankind 



tend to get lighter in gradations from the equator to the poles, 



he stands on firmer ground. Undoubtedly the skin of races 



long inhabiting the tropics evinces a deeper pigmentation than 



in those residing in more temperate regions. The reason for 



this is obvious. Although histologists are not agreed as to 



the cytological facts of pigmentation, it undoubtedly tends, just 



as do freckles, to protect the outer layers from the actinic rays 



of the sun. Thus we find in tropical or sub-tropical regions 



yellow, brown, reddish, or black men, but never blue or purple 



men ; for these latter colours would clearly fail to protect. 



When a racial colour has once established itself, varying degrees 



of heat do not, however, seem to affect it in a marked degree. 



Witness the comparatively slight alteration in colouring between 



the Mongoloids in the Malay Peninsula and those in Northern 



Asia, or between that of American Indians in different latitudes. 



The Irulars in the Neilgherry Mountains attract attention by 



their excessive blackness, and the Brahuis in the mountains of 



Baluchistan are also excessively dark. Racial types once fixed 



alter only with secular slowness. 



To attribute the production of the blond race of North 

 Europe, as Prof. Ridgeway does, to the same causes that 

 produced the white hares and white bears, implies a singular 

 inability to grasp the relevant facts of the case or to frame 



