1030 OF THE HUMAN FAMILY, AND THEIR MUTUAL RELATIONS. 



statement of the results of inquiry into their degree of constancy in each 

 group which they can be used to separate. 1 



1033. The differential characters on which those have relied who have sought 

 to establish the existence of a plurality of species among Mankind, are both 

 Anatomico-Physiological, and Psychological. Under the former head rank the 

 Color of the Skin, the texture of the Hair, and the conformation of the bony 

 Skeleton, especially the Skull. The latter consist in the superiority claimed 

 for some races over others in intellectual power, and in moral and religious 

 capacity. The former group will be the one first considered. 



1034. The Color of the skin exists in the Epidermis only ; and it depends 

 upon the admixture of pigment-cells with the ordinary epidermic cells ( 242) ] 

 all the varied hues presented by the different races of men being due to the 

 relative amount of these cells, and to the particular tint of the pigment which 

 they form. It would be easy, by selecting well-marked specimens of each race, 

 to make it appear that color affords a character sufficiently distinctive for their 

 separation ; thus, for example, the fair and ruddy Saxon, the jet-black Negro, 

 the olive Mongolian, and the copper-colored North American, might be con- 

 sidered to be positively separated from each other by this character propagated 

 as it seems to be, with little or no perceptible change, from generation to gene- 

 ration. But, although such might appear to be the clear and obvious result of 

 a comparison of this kind, yet a more profound and comprehensive survey tends 

 to break down the barrier that would be thus established. For, on tracing this 

 character through the entire family of Man, we find the isolated specimens, just 

 noticed, to be connected by such a series of links, and the transition from one 

 to the other to be so very gradual, that it is impossible to say where the line is 

 to be drawn. There is nothing here, then, which at all approaches to those 

 fixed and definite marks that are always held to be requisite for the establish- 

 ment of specific distinctions among other tribes of animals. 



1035. But, further, there is abundant evidence that these distinctions are far 

 from being constantly maintained, even in any one race. For among all the 

 principal subdivisions, albinoism, or the absence of pigment-cells, occasionally 

 presents itself ; so that the fair skin of the European may present itself in the 

 offspring of the Negro or of the Red Man. 3 On the other hand, instances are 

 by no means rare, of the unusual development of pigment-cells in individuals 



1 The whole of this investigation has been most elaborately, and in the Author's opin- 

 ion most successfully, worked out by Dr. Prichard in his profound and philosophical 

 Treatise on the " Physical History of Man." For a more concise view of Dr. Prichard' s 

 argument, with some additional considerations not embraced in it, the Author may refer 

 to his own article on the "Varieties of the Human Species," in the " Cyclop, of Anat. 

 and Phys.," vol. iv. 



2 A very curious example of change of color in a Negro has been recently recorded, on 

 unquestionable authority. The subject of it is a negro slave in Kentucky, aet. 45, who 

 was born of black parents, and was, himself, perfectly black until 12 years of age. At 

 that time a portion of the skin, an inch wide, encircling the cranium just within the edge 

 of the hair, gradually changed to white ; also the hair occupying that locality. A white 

 spot next appeared near the inner canthus of the left eye ; and from this the white color 

 gradually extended over the face, trunk, and extremities, until it covered the entire 

 surface. The complete change from black to white occupied about ten years ; and, but 

 for his hair, which was crisped or woolly, no one would have supposed at this time that 

 his progenitors had offered any of the characteristics of the Negro, his skin presenting 

 the healthy vascular appearance of that of a fair-complexioned European. When he was 

 about 22 years of age,' however, dark copper-colored, or brown spots began to appear on 

 the face and hands ; but these have remained limited to the portions of the surface ex- 

 posed to light. About the time that the black color of his skin began to disappear, he 

 completely lost his sense of smell ; and since he has become white, he has had measles 

 and hooping-cough a second time. (See Dr. Hutchison's account of this case in the 

 "Amer. Journ. of Med. ScL," Jan. 1852.) 



