RACES AND PEOPLES 221 



Africa and spread over Europe. It is held that the 

 blond race originated in the high altitudes of the Atlas 

 Mountains, because in the early historical period a very 

 definite type of blond to red-haired stock lived in Syria 

 and Palestine. These two authorities believe that there 

 was a relationship between temperature and color shad- 

 ings. This theory would be plausible except for the fact 

 that in regions of heat one finds sporadic varieties of the 

 blond type ; moreover, in the north we find a dark brunette 

 type habitually living in Arctic regions. 



Dr. Charles E. Woodruff advances another view as to 

 the origin of the White race and maintains that his theory 

 is consistent with all known facts. He finds a definite 

 correlation between the color shading of man and the dis- 

 tribution of light. If we distinguish In the sun's rays the 

 heat ray, the light ray and the actinic ray we find that 

 while the heat ray and the actinic ray do not seem to be 

 plainly connected with coloration, the light ray is a very 

 potent influence in coloration of vegetable and animal 

 life. 15 



Thus the distribution of the light rays of the sun is 

 consistent with the facts of the distribution of the blond 

 types. The blond type has never lived in the extreme 

 north where the light is intense by reflection, nor in the 

 equatorial region where the light rays of the sun are 

 direct and burning, but has lived continuously in north- 

 ern Europe where great forests existed, a region having 

 comparatively little sunshine even to-day, but which was 

 persistently overcast and misty in the early historical pe- 

 riod. Dr. Woodruff believes, therefore, that we must re- 

 ject the North African hypothesis and accept the theory 

 that the blond type originated in northern Europe and 



is The Effects of Tropical Heat on White Men, 



