280 REPORT—-1883. 
49. In connection with this subject Table XI., showing the colour 
of eyes and hair in both sexes and at all ages, should be studied, as 
it shows the comparative worthlessness of the method often resorted to on 
the Continent of determining the racial elements of a country by examin- 
ing the complexion of school children of different ages. The first column, 
referring to males (light eyes and fair hair), shows the gradual darkening 
of the hair of fair-complexioned children from 56 per cent. at the first 
five years of life to 33 per cent: at forty-five years; and the second column 
(light eyes with dark hair) increases during the same period at nearly a 
corresponding rate, the percentage of dark hair being 9°3 in the first five 
years and 34 at forty-five years of age. Thus, 56 + 93 =65°3, and 
33 + 34 = 67, or only 1:7 per cent. excess of dark hair received from 
other sources, or due to probable error of observation. In like manner 
the green and light-brown eyes of the middle column of the table decrease 
in number, or in other words become darker, and are transferred to the 
next column (dark eyes and dark hair) as age advances, from 15 per 
cent. at the first five years to 6 per cent. at forty-five years of age. The 
fifth column (dark eyes and hair) increases at the expense of the two 
adjoining columns from 15:5 per cent: at three and four years to 36 per 
cent. at twenty-nine years, after which age the percentage falls off very 
rapidly on account of the earlier accession of grey hair in the dark than 
the fair complexion of the first column, to which the higher percentages 
become transferred. The low percentage of dark complexion at ages 
from forty to seventy years does not arise from the elimination of this 
complexion by advancing age, or by death, but from the fault of the ob- 
servers not having recorded the original colour of the hair before it became 
grey, which necessitated the rejection of all such returns in drawing up 
the table. 
50. The table referring to females shows that darkening of the hair 
and eyes takes place to a much less extent amongst them than among 
males, and that there is little disposition for the dark hair to turn grey 
with advancing age. For corresponding periods to those applied to 
males, the fair-complexioned females in the first column lose 3°8 per cent. 
of their number, while the second column receives an accession of dark 
hair of 4°7 per cent. The dark-complexioned (dark eyes and _ hair) 
females in the fifth column increase by 8°6 per cent., at the sole expense 
of the sixth column, by the darkening of the hair. Unlike the males, the 
column showing the neutral eyes somewhat increases instead of de- 
creases; and this increase appears to have come from the column con- 
taining the fair eyes and red hair, or it may be attributed to the difference 
in the ‘colour equation’ of some of the observers—women being much 
more critical, and therefore less consistent, than men in the definition of 
colours. 
Notr.—Dr. Beddoe proposes the use of indices of nigrescence for the classi- 
fication of the colour of hair and eyes. ‘That for the hair is got by subtracting the 
fair and the red from the dark hair plus twice the black, leaving out the neutral 
browns, thus :— é : 
2 Black (N) + Dk. Br. — Fair — Red =Index. 
The black hair is doubled, because its occurrence shows a much greater tendency to 
melanosity. The index for the eyes is got by subtracting the light from the dark 
and neglecting the neutral shades, thus :— 
Dark — Light = Index.’ 
