"PROFESSOR RIDGEWAY AND RACIAL ORIGINS" 129 



the case of man the steady shading off in colour from dark to 

 blond may be traced from the Equator to the Baltic. Unless, 

 then, we postulate that man is entirely free from the natural 

 laws which condition the osteology and pigmentation of other 

 animals, we must admit that neither bone nor colour differences 

 can be regarded as crucial criteria. The test of descent through 

 males breaks down completely, as descent through females can 

 be proved for those who never spoke any but an Aryan lan- 

 guage. Finally, I was led to the conclusion that language, 

 when once we realise the laws which govern its borrowing by 

 one race from another, may be taken as a test of race, and really 

 as the surest, when dealt with broadly and over wide areas, 

 and not merely in the way of guesswork etymologies. 



I have constantly been asked, " How do you explain the fact 

 that in Ireland and in Great Britain, countries lying so far 

 north, we have the dark 'Mediterranean Race'?" To this 

 I invariably reply, " Yes, a dark race, but very different from 

 the dark race as seen in the southern peninsulas." The hair 

 is certainly very dark, yet it is not the blue-black hair of the 

 South, whilst the skin is beautifully fair, and the eyes are 

 often blue, especially in the west of Ireland, where there 

 has been the least admixture of population. In this type I 

 maintain that we have the transition stage between the full 

 melanochrous met in Spain, Italy and Greece, with its olive skin, 

 blue-black hair and black eyes, and the tall blond Scandinavian, 

 where the change in pigmentation is now fully accomplished, the 

 hair as well as the eyes being of a light hue. The mild climate 

 is enough to account for this retardation of change in Ireland, 

 owing to which the Flora of the west of Ireland approximates 

 to that of the Spanish Peninsula, whilst there are also approxima- 

 tions between the Fauna of both regions. As the dark type 

 in Ireland so frequently shows blue eyes, I was led to conclude 

 that the pigmentation of the eye is less stable than that of 

 the hair. Let us turn again to the most recent Danish evidence. 

 The data show all kinds of piginentation both in the hair and 

 eyes, but with some very important limitations: (i) a very 

 large proportion have blond hair and blue eyes ; (2) a very large 

 number have dark hair and dark eyes; (3) a considerable number 

 have dark hair, but blue eyes (just as in Ireland); whilst (4) 

 a few, but very few, have blond hair and dark eyes — a pheno- 

 menon also known in Ireland, but likewise very rare. 



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