PIGMENTATION OF THE HAIR AND EYES OF CHILDREN 
SUFFERING FROM THE ACUTE FEVERS, ITS EFFECT 
ON SUSCEPTIBILITY, RECUPERATIVE POWER AND 
RACE SELECTION. 
By DAVID MACDONALD, M.B., Ch.B. 
(1) Introduction. During the last half century considerable interest has been 
taken in and observations made upon the pigmentation of the hair and eyes in 
man, primarily with regard to the geographical distribution and race elements of 
the various colour classes. 
Shortly after the close of the Franco-Prussian war, Virchow, during a con- 
troversy on the racial elements in Germany, induced the German government to 
authorize an official census of the colours of the hair and eyes of school children 
throughout the Empire. This seems to have been the first pigmentation survey 
attempted on a large scale. Later observers have, with modifications, adopted 
Virchow's methods. In course of time there followed pigmentation surveys of 
school children in most of the continental countries, and statistics of great extent 
and value have been accumulated and published. Prior to Virchow, Beddoe had 
been making personal observations and collecting data from all over the continent. 
It was not until 1885, however, that he published his great work* on the colour 
of the hair and eyes, based on personal observations on the adult populations in 
several districts of the United Kingdom and on the Continent. In connection 
with these surveys other names might well be mentioned, as Guillame in Switzer- 
land and Ranke in Germany, but the extent of interest taken in the pigmentation 
of the hair and eyes has been sufficiently indicated. 
Pigmentation, however, has been found to have a further importance than 
merely the separation of race elements. It has been associated with vitality under 
different conditions and also with disease. Darwin j" states that complexion and 
liability to certain diseases are believed to run together in man and the lower 
animals. Thus, white terriers suffer more than terriers of any other colour from 
* Beddoe : The Races of Britain. 
t Darwin: Variation of Animals under Domestication, Vol. II. p. 227. 
