D. Macdonald 
35 
medium-haired and, to a much less extent, of the fair-haired, the black and dark- 
haired class is least selected for such handicap and extermination. The fair-haired 
and the red-haired class suffer about equally, the fair-haired rather more and the 
red-haired rather less than their proportional representation in the general popula- 
tion. In measles, as has been mentioned, the fair-haired class suffers most severely. 
This result is somewhat at variance with the idea commonly held that the 
fair-haired class is being exterminated in the towns. That there is some degree of 
adverse selection is obvious from Table XX, but there is yet more adverse selec- 
tion among the medium-haired class. It would seem therefore that the current 
belief of the inability of the fair-haired person to stand the town life is not sup- 
ported to any great extent by fever statistics. 
TABLE XX. Hair Colour. Showing the Percentages of the various 
Hair Colours in the General Population and in Hospital Patients, 
also the Percentages in each Colour of the total number of severe cases 
with recovery and of deaths. 
Black 
Dark 
Medium 
Fair 
Red 
Percentage in general population: 
Belvidere and Ruchill areas ... 
1-2 
27-2 
45-2 
21-4 
5-0 
Scarlet Fever: 
Percentage in hospital patients 
Percentage of total severe cases with recovery 
Percentage of total deaths 
0-6 
0-4 
o-o 
15-5 
13-4 
9-4 
59-4 
59-9 
56-3 
19- 3 
20- 6 
29-7 
5-0 
5-7 
4-7 
Diphtheria : 
Percentage in hospital patients 
Percentage of total severe cases with recovery 
Percentage of total deaths 
o-i 
o-o 
o-o 
13-9 
111 
12-2 
57- 7 
60-2 
58- 1 
24-1 
23 '2 
28-4 
4- 2 
5- 6 
1-4 
Whooping Cough : 
Percentage in hospital patients 
Percentage of total severe cases with recovery 
Percentage of total deaths 
0-6 
o-o 
o-o 
11-3 
13-8 
o-o 
61-3 
65 -6 
63-3 
23-6 
20-7 
33 3 
3 2 
o-o 
3 3 
Percentage in general population : 
Ruchill area only 
1-1 
26-7 
45-3 
21-7 
5-3 
Measles, Ruchill only : 
Percentage in hospital patients 
Percentage of total severe cases with recovery 
Percentage of total deaths 
o-o 
o-o 
o-o 
12-9 
15-9 
6-6 
55-5 
50-8 
46-7 
27-8 
30-2 
41-7 
3-8 
3-1 
5-0 
Tocher* found that there was a positive correlation between the death rate 
and medium hair, and another between the death rate and dark eyes in Scotland. 
This result, he states, was to be expected, since density is similarly associated with 
colour and the denser the population, the greater the death rate; the denser the 
* Tocher: "Pigmentation Survey of Schoolchildren in Scotland." Biometrika, Vol. vi. 1908 — 9, 
p. 188. 
5—2 
