316 Account of a remarkable Change 
complexion. The back and palm of the hands are 
perfectly fair; yet stripes of his former colour pass 
from the wrist along the sides of his hands to the 
ends of his fingers: and appear on the outsides of 
all his fingers. But in general on his limbs, where 
they are covered by clothing, or where skin meets 
skin, the transmutation is complete. The whole 
area of negro skin would not, I am persuaded, if 
properly measured, exceed a square foot. His hair 
is undergoing a correspondent change; and when- 
ever a white spot can be discovered, it appears soft 
like that of an European, and may be drawn out with 
ease to a length of several inches: where the skin 
retains its pristine hue, it is crisp like wool. On 
pressing his skin with my finger, the part which I 
pressed appeared white ; and, on removing my fin- 
ger, it was suffused with red, as happens in Euro- 
peans. I examined the borders of the black and 
white skin, with a glass which magnified consider- 
ably, and which is known in Ireland by the name of 
a linen-teller. It was evident that the change was 
not external, or occasioned by the casting off of 
the epidermis; but that it was owing to an affection 
of the corpus mucosum. No fissures were discern- 
ible, but I perceived that there was a small and 
gradual elevation where the white and black portions 
met, without any discontinuity on the external sur- 
face. 
He gave me the following account of his gene- 
