88 INTRODUCTION. 



having feet of the usual European dimensions. Very remarkable 

 heads of hair are frequently produced by the intermixture of diffi 



. as in the Cafuso8 of Brazil, — half-breeds betwei n ih<- 

 and Indians, — and in the Papuas. The i d that 



only ilmse kinds of human hair whirh an- straight approximate 

 to the cylindrical form ; and that the enrhd or crisp varietii 

 more or less flattened, the crispation being in proportion to the com- 

 pression. Even the straightest hair is not exactly round, and in 

 some cases a little longitudinal groove may be set n. The I 

 the Negro has a deeper groove, and its tranevi on has been 



compared to the form of a bean. It is probable that the tin 

 the Negro hair is connected with a greater tension of the fibres 

 along this groove, as each hair is an assemblage of innumerable 

 minute parallel fibres. The hair of the Bushman is more minutely 

 curled and closely malted than the Negro hair ; and under the I 

 scope appears quite fiat and ribbon-like, four or five times as broad as 

 it is thick ; with no groove, but very delicate parallel striae or 

 fibres. 



Mr. P. A. Browne, of Philadelphia, has communicated to the 

 American Ethnological Society an Essay on " the classification of 

 mankind by the hair and wool of their heads," in which he replies 

 to Prichard's assertion that the covering of the head of the Negro is 

 hair and not wool. He states that there are, on microscopic examina- 

 tion, three prevailing forms of the transverse section of the filament, 

 viz., the cylindrical, the oval, and the eccentrically elliptical. There 

 are also three directions in which it pierces the epidermis. The 

 straight and lank, the flowing or curled, and the crisped or frizzled, 

 differ respectively as to the angle which the filament makes with the 

 skin on leaving it. The cylindrical and oval pile has an oblique 

 angle of inclination. The eccentrically elliptical pierces the epider- 

 mis at right angles, and lies perpendicularly in the dermis. The 

 hair of the white man is oval ; that of the Choctaw and some other 

 American Indians is cylindrical ; that of the Negro is eccentrically 

 elliptical or flat. The hair of the white man has, beside its cortex 

 and intermediate fibres, a central canal which contains the coloring 

 matter when present. The wool of the Negro has no central canal, 

 and the coloring matter is diffused, when present, either throughout 

 the cortex or the intermediate fibres. 



Hair, according to these observations, is more complex in its 

 structure than wool. In hair the enveloping scales are comparatively 

 few, with smooth surfaces, rounded at their points, and closely 

 embracing the shaft. In wool they are numerous, rough, sharp- 

 pointed, and project from the shaft. Hence the hair of the white 



