DARK HAIR INDKX OK NIGRKSCKNCK. 61 



fied, but always with this result, that the ])i(i|i(>iti()ii of Ijloiidc men was smaller tiiaii 

 v/hen a large number of ()l)servations was averaged 



In England, the researches of" statisticians luive shown a gradual tendency to dark- 

 ening of the hair antl complexion as being in steady progress.' In the United States, 

 where immigration produces such a mixture of races, any change of the kind would 

 he, it is presumed, mostly adventitious. It may be pointed out, however, that, aniong 

 native-boi'n recruits from 1839 to 1855, the ])roportion of fair to dark was 720 to 

 280,- while by the preceding table it is as 66S to 337. 



If the compai-atively small number of Dr. Coolidge's observations be stated as an 

 objection, it may be replied that, as already stated, in experiments upon small groups 

 the dark complexions have always presented themselves in increased numbers. Be this 

 as it may, it is certain that in the Federal Armies of the late war blonde men predoni- 

 inatcsd in number somewhere in the proportion of 65 per cent, to 35 per cent, of dark 



men.-' 



The instill ctions given by scientific associations to travelers, as to the i)ro})er mode 

 of observing and recording the physical characteristics of the human race, dwell upon 

 the im})ortance of observing the complexion not by the face alone, or by the uncovered 

 neck, but by noting the tint of the parts of the body usuall)- covered. Sun-burn is 

 not complexion The opportunity for this more accurate and exten.sive manner of 

 observing the skin was obtained under the enforcement of the draft, as the men ^\ere 

 totally naked when presented to the surgeon. 



The color of the hair alone is not sufficient whereby to characterize a race; for we 

 find the same color — black, for instance — belonging to all the great divisions of the 

 human famil}-, and all varieties of tint belonging to the same race. The predominance 

 of color, however, is an ethnic quality to be noted.^ 



1 It is in coiinectiou with the inquiry into Ihis change that Dr. Beddoe devised his " index of mgrescencc." He takes 

 broxi'ii hair as his standard. To obtain the index, he adds the dark and the hiack, the latter doubled on account of its 

 hue, together, and deducts the sum of thf fair and the rid. This is the forninla: 



D-|-2B-R-F = index. 

 Or, supposing the cases ob.served to be as follows : 



Fair 20 



Red _ 17 



Brown 26 



Dark 20 



Black .. 17 



100 



Tiien,20 -|- :!1 — 17 — 20 = 17, or index of nigr(;scence. 



'Militarji stalistics of the United Staten Armij, p. 633. 



'Porier, whose rcsearcluis into the intermixture or crossing of races are very able and profound, is of oi)inion 

 that the predominance of fair races is accounted for by the superior fertility of marriages in which both the parents 

 are blonde. lie altirms this in contradiction of the opinion commonly entertained that a union between those of an 

 opposite character of type is most favorable to propagation. {BM. de la Sac. d'anthrop, v. i, p. 155, Paris, 1860.) 



■• The researches of Pruner-Bey and some otlier observers with the microscope have demonstrated the existence 

 of a race-dift'eronce in the anatomical formation, and more especially in the shape, of the cylinder of hair. The differ- 

 ence in the anatomical structure consists ouly in the presence or absence of a medullary canal ; but the »luq)c of a aeclioii 

 of the central portion of a hair, the condition of its jjoint, and the tendency to curl always found to accompany the 

 flattened cylindrical shape, are all unmistakable characteristics .appertaining to race. In hybruls, these peculiarities 

 are found mingled or modilied ; and while there are api)reciable difl'erences to be observed in the hair of the same 

 individual, yet the marked extremes are only found to exist on the heads of those of mixed race by origin. Dela eheve- 

 lure comme caract6ristique dcs races humaiiicn d'apris des revherehcs microseopiijuen, par le Dr. Pkunkk-Bey, (M6m. de la 

 Soc. d' anthrop. v. ii, ]>. 1, Paris, 1605.) See, also, Clasnifiealion of mankind bi/ the hair and leool of t'leir heads, by P. A. 

 BuowNK,8vo, Philadelphia, 1852; and, by the same author, Triehologia nammalinm, 4m), Philadelphia, 1858; also Dw 

 mcnscktiiche haar, vou Dr. Oesterlen, 8vo, TUbingen, 1874. 



