60 



COMPLEXION. 



Complexion. — The instructions given to surgeons of boards of enrollment were 

 framed with a view to the speediest achievement of the object of the draft, and not to 

 the acquisition of anthropological facts. Thence arose defects in the data, from a scien- 

 tific point of view, which have been often regretted during the preparation of this work. 

 It is probable, however, that the very simplicity of the description in the matter oi 

 complexion, the division, namely, into light and dark varieties only, has led to a more 

 accurate general result than would have been attainable in the haste of the proceedings 

 if the requirements had been more elaborate. With the first division are associated 

 light or flaxen, red, and light chestnut hair, with all their respective intermediate shades, 

 and eyes of blue, gray, or hazel color. With the dark complexions, the hair is brown, 

 dark-brown, and black, and the eyes vary from dark to the deepest black. 



The following table exhibits one resvUt of the investigation in the cases of five prin- 

 cipal nativities. 



Table sliowlmj the relative proportion of light and dark complexions in the soldiers of Jive nativities. 



Country. 



United States . . . 

 British America. 



Englaml 



Ireland 



Gernmny 



Number 

 observed. 



190,621 



14, 365 



9,649 



28,995 



29,600 



Number 



per thousamt 



light. 



663. 322 

 661. 747 

 705. 151 



70-2.811 

 694. 561 



Number 



per thousand 



dark. 



3:^6. 668 

 338. 253 

 294. 849 

 297. 189 

 305. 439 



Or it may be said of these five races that in degree of fairness of complexion — 



The Englishman stands 1 



The Irishman 2 



The German 3 



The American .'- 4 



The British American 5 



Mr. Gould's statistics are somewhat differently ari-anged, as he admits a medium 

 degree of complexion ; but if, for the sake of the comparison, the number in this inter- 

 mediate group be distributed equally to the light and dark divisions, the result will be 

 this : 



The German stands \ 1 



The Englishman . 2 



The Irishman . — — 3 



l^he American - - 4 



The British American 6 



It will l)e seen that if the German in the first table be removed to the top from his 

 place as third, then the oi'der of the lists would be identical. In each, the natives of 

 British America prove to be the darkest, though the j^roportion displays a curious degree 

 of resemblance ; the natives of Canada and of the United States show b"6 per cent, of 

 fair men, and'the three other races about 70 per cent. each. 



In the course of the tabulation of these records, several smaller groups were classi- 



