18 Pigmentation, Susceptibility and Race Selection 
light-haired persons with florid complexions or dark-haired persons with sallow 
complexions suffer less from the diseases of tropical countries. 
With a view to ascertaining how far any of these statements or suggestions 
could be justified in the case of some of the acute fevers, and also to find if any 
one pigmentation type was more liable to one or any of these fevers than another, 
the present inquiry was begun. This inquiry was made possible by comparison by 
the publication of a pigmentation survey of school children in Scotland in 1908*. 
(2) Methods of Observation. Four of the acute fevers, scarlet fever, diphtheria, 
measles and whooping cough, have been chosen on which to make these observa- 
tions. The material to work upon has been collected in the Glasgow Corporation 
Fever Hospitals, mainly at Ruchill during the past year, 1909 — 10, and for a few 
months previously at Belvidere. The colours of the hair and eyes of children 
suffering from these diseases were carefully noted on admission to hospital by the 
physician under whose charge they came. These cases in every instance were 
consecutive, and every case entering hospital was recorded except for a short 
period during which the observations were interrupted by sickness on the medical 
staff. No selection was made. Tocher's analytical tables for hair and eye colours 
were closely followed. (See Biometrika, Vol. vi. pp. 133 and 134.) 
These tables are probably as accurate as can be verbally devised, but neverthe- 
less they are defective in some ways. In the various colour classes the bulk of 
cases can be easily placed, but there are others which are more difficult. There is 
no method of distinguishing mixed colours, fair hair tending to become medium 
or medium hair tending to dark. Eye colour is more easily distinguished, but con- 
siderable difficulty has been found in determining the true blue. Taking the pure 
deep blue as representing this class in accordance with Tocher's table, it is found 
that only 5 - 3°/ 0 of the hospital cases have blue eyes, compared with ll , 2°/ 0 of blue 
eyes in Tocher's statistics for the children inhabiting the area from which the 
hospital cases were drawn. This suggests some difference in the personal equation 
of the observers. Beddoef remarks on the difficulty of determining the limits of 
the blue eye. Tocher's pigmentation survey takes Glasgow as a whole, but also 
divides it into sub-districts. Belvidere and Ruchill Hospitals drain different 
districts. This might have led to difficulties of comparison, but it was found that 
these districts corresponded closely to Tocher's sub-divisions. 
It will be seen from the table below, constructed from Tocher's statistics for 
the Glasgow sub-divisions, that there is very little difference in the percentages of 
hair and eye colours between the Belvidere and Ruchill areas. Taking this fact 
into consideration, these areas are for convenience sometimes considered separately 
and sometimes combined in this inquiry. From the same table it will be seen 
also that the percentages of hair and eye colours of boys and girls taken as separate 
units show only a slight difference. 
* J. P. Tocher : "Pigmentation Survey of School Children in Scotland." Biometrika, Vol. vi. 
p. 129. 
t Beddoe : The Races of Britain, p. 77. 
