SELECTION IN MAN. 385 



Let us begin with the subject of complexion or colour, 

 because it is one of the most conspicuous differential char- 

 acteristics of man. The xanthochroic type of Huxley, the 

 blond, at present so dominant and aggressive, occupying, 

 in conjunction it is true with the melanochroic (or dark 

 white), more and more of those parts of the earth, such as 

 North America, Australia and South Africa, which have 

 hitherto been the patrimony of the brown or the black man 

 — is there reason to expect that it will hold its own outside 

 of its original habitat, or even there ? 



The historical evidence is on the surface at least un- 

 favourable. If we take the words used in their most natural 

 sense, we must allow that the Greeks and Romans de- 

 scribed not only the Germans but the Gauls and Thracians 

 as blond. And they did not mean simply that the blond 

 complexion was pretty common among these northern 

 people ; that could hardly have struck them as very re- 

 markable ; for if they had not had among themselves pretty 

 frequent examples of it, their descriptions of the four tem- 

 peraments could hardly be explained. 1 Literary portraits, 

 and personal names such as Flavius, Rufus, Ahenobarbus, 

 leave no doubt that there was considerable variety of com- 

 plexion among the Romans of the republican period, though 

 dark hues may have prevailed ; and it does not appear that 

 the continual influx of northern blood has been able to do 

 much, if any, more than to maintain the status in that 

 respect. The Greeks ascribed yellow locks to Achilles and 

 Menelaus and other chieftains of the heroic age ; but in the 

 imperial age the Egyptian limners represented Greek 

 ladies with black hair and eyes. The ballads of Mount 

 Rhodope, believed to be of extreme antiquity, and refer- 

 ring to Philip, Alexander, and even Orpheus, ascribe yellow 

 hair to their heroes ; but the Pomaks of the Rhodope are 

 not now a blond race. 2 Another argument may be de- 

 rived from the ancient Egyptian wall-paintings. Not only 



1 Among the marks of the sanguine and lymphatic temperaments light 

 hair is generally mentioned, while black hair belonged to the choleric and 

 the melancholic. 2 Fligier. 



