SKIN COLOUR 173 



not become completely merged, if the blending hypo- 

 thesis expresses a truth, and Professor Pearson's calcula- 

 tions can be accepted. But it is all quite conceivable 

 on the basis of gametic segregation. Indeed, such varia- 

 tion would be a manifestation of segregation. 



If we come now to the results of crossing negroes with 

 mulattoes, we at once acquire a singularly interesting 

 fact. It is one which throws a significant hght upon the 

 difference in the methods employed by the Biometrician 

 and the Mendehan. The former deals in masses, and in 

 essence he seeks for the mean of the colour of the offspring 

 and of the parents ; for the coefficient of correlation of 

 the negro fathers or mulatto mothers, massed in classes, 

 with the sambo offspring, also massed in classes ; and 

 for the deviations of some or all the members of the negro, 

 mulatto, and European ancestors from the type of their 

 respective classes, and of the members of the sambo off- 

 spring from the type of their class. And, when all this 

 has been ascertained, at the cost of very great labour, 

 what reward is gained, but descriptive statements of the 

 most general and widest kind, and which, while interesting 

 in themselves, fail to throw any clear hght upon the 

 processes of inheritance ? If we are prepared to rest 

 upon these statements, it is possible to beheve that 

 inheritance is merely a matter of blending, for we have 

 placed the whole problem into the biometrical melting 

 pot. But it so happens that in this case the influence 

 of the Mendehans' past work has been felt, even in the 

 biometrical camp, for on page 351 of Professor Pearson's 

 note we recognise a typical Mendelian method, ^.e., a 

 definite and single pedigree to examine. It is the one 

 we have already described, and it indicates the nature of 

 the sambo offspring derived from a male mulatto married 

 to a negress. Now whereas, by the biometrical methods, 

 we learn nothing which is inconsistent with the supposition 

 of a blending process in inheritance, yet the moment 

 we examine the solitary pedigree, and note the specific 

 details — that is, adopt a Mendehan method — we begin 

 to see some evidence of segregation. We have already 

 commented upon this pedigree and pointed out that the 

 existence of three colour groups of samboes, in the offspring 



