144 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



This comparison is given more as an example of method than as an 

 adequate sample of the millions of educated people in London ; indeed 

 the whole question of coloration opens up so many points of discussion, 

 and needs such large numbers to reach any definite conclusions, that 

 I must be content, at this stage, simply to give some massed results in 

 trying to solve the question whether Londoners, who practically are 

 Southern English People, have grown darker or fairer during the last 

 sixty years. The following table gives the material which I have : — 



, Adult Males. 



Hair Index. Eye Index. Nigrescence Index. 



1860 39-7 (2,400) 35-7 (2,400) 37-7 (2,400) 



1927 27-4(1,485) 33-2(1,485) 30-3(1,485) 



Adult Females. 

 1860 42-7 (2,813) 40-7 (2,813) 41-7 (2,813) 



1927 23-9 (1,487) 35-3 (411) 29-6 (949) 



Boys (8 to 16 years old). 

 1927 8-7 (2,565) 33-1 (2,565) 20-9 (2,565) 



Girls (8 to 16 years old). 

 1927 11-0(1,922) 34-3(1,922) 22-6(1,922) 



On looking at this table one cannot fail to be struck by the increase 

 in fairness, particularly in the hair ; but I do not wish to press it too far, 

 because there are so many possible sources of error. ' Not only is there 

 the possibility that Beddoe and I had a different border-line between 

 brown and dark brown hair, but other things, such as the modern habit 

 of wearing the hair short, the habit of more frequently washing the head, 

 and the disuse to a considerable extent of pomatum and grease, all give 

 an appearance of fairness which was wanting sixty years ago. In the 

 eye records I place more faith, for both Beddoe and I used an intermediate 

 group between the light and dark eyes, a group which I have divided in 

 both sets of records equally between the light and the dark. The drop 

 in the darkness here is not serious, but I think that it is large enough to 

 be significant. 



The children's records at first seem irrelevant, since I have nothing of 

 sixty years ago with which to compare them. Their use is to supplement 

 the present-day eye colours of the adults, especially those of the women, 

 which are very scanty. It will be noticed that in children of eight to 

 sixteen the eye colours have become permanent, though the hair has 

 not, and thus their evidence is valuable. These records, which run into 

 several thousands, do not give us any reason to think that the Londoner 

 is becoming darker, but do give us reason, though it may need discount- 

 ing, to believe that he is growing fairer under changing conditions. 



This question of coloration statistics may be of special as well as of 

 general interest, for a neurologist lately assured me that quite 50 per cent, 

 of his patients had dark eyes, and asked me whether this were above or 

 below the general average of the population. The relation of other 

 diseases to coloration also has been worked at by Dr. Shrubsall and 

 others, but can be valuable only when the normal percentage is known. 



