CHAITKR Vll. 



Pigmentation. 



Judging from Biblical data, it appears that the color of the 

 hair of the ancient Hebrews was black, "raven black " appears 

 to have been the ideal of beauty, as is seen from Cant. IV, i ; 

 V, II. Black hair is designated as a sign of youth in contrast 

 with the white hair of old age. Josephus narrates that Herod 

 dyed his gray hair black in order to appear younger.^ Black 

 hair was considered beautiful, says Benzinger, black being the 

 general color, while light or blond hair was exceptional.^ King 

 David and also Esau are credited with having red or " ruddy" 

 hair.^ The color of the eye is not indicated in the Bible or 

 Talmud, although this organ is mentioned more than 800 times in 

 the Bible, and is described in detail as regards other character- 

 istics such as the anatomy, expression, etc. It may be men- 

 tioned in this connection though that according to some Hebrew 

 scholars there is no equivalent in the Hebrew language for 

 "blue" in either Bible or Talmud. 



If black was the color of the hair of the ancient Hebrews, then 

 it is evident that the modern Jews have not preserved the type. 

 Our investigations of this trait has included 4,235 individuals 

 over twenty years of age ; of these 2,716 were men and 1,519 

 women. Besides the color of the hair and eyes observations 

 have been made on grayness, baldness and freckles, and also on 

 the variety of the hair. 



As will be readily observed by one who attempts to distin- 

 guish the degrees of pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes, 

 there is often considerable difficulty in deciding which color to 

 assign a given individual. It is quite easy to distinguish golden 

 blond from black or dark brown hair. But between these two 



1 "Ant.," XVI, 8, I, quoted from Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VI, p. 157. 



2 Art, " Hair," Jewish Encyclop., VI, p. 157, 



3 1 Samuel, XVI, 12; XVII, 42; Genesis XXV, 25. 



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