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cannot in this memoir enter into a general discussion as to the origin and racial 
characteristics of the Scottish people. This memoir is concerned only in eluci- 
dating the nature of the colour characteristics of Scottish children for the purpose 
of assisting those engaged in studying racial and social problems and problems 
in heredity. Such peculiarities as may assist this study may therefore be noticed 
in detail. 
II. Red Hair. A striking peculiarity in the distribution of red hair has 
already been noted in the last section. The class is almost uniformly distributed 
throughout Scotland. Three probable causes of its occurrence were stated in the 
section referred to. Whether any of these are valid must be determined by 
investigation, but the fact remains that the distribution of the class widely differs 
from the distributions of the other classes. 
The occurrence of red hair is certainly not confined to modern times, neither 
is it peculiar to any social circle. It has occurred in the past as a becoming 
feature in princes and among the people. It is an inherited trait in many 
distinguished families. Is it that here one has a case of exclusive inheritance, 
and therefore that cases of red hair occurring in families none of the parents 
of which belong to the class, are reversions ? Such observations as have been 
made point to this conclusion, but a larger mass of data is wanted to prove or 
disprove this view. 
It is a curious circumstance that significant excess of the class should be 
found occurring in the historic houie of the opponents of Agricola. The solitary 
reference of Tacitus to the red-haired Caledonians who inhabited Scotland north 
of the Grampians deserves a passing notice. Taking the general impression of 
Tacitus as indicated in his statement " Namque rutilae Caledoniam habitantiam 
comae, magni artus, germanicam originem asseverunt " to mean that the northern 
Scottish people in his time were mostly red-haired in our sense and appeared to 
have a North European origin, it is perfectly obvious that the North of Scotland 
has changed most markedly, as one should expect it would have, in the long 
interval between his time and the present day. Not more than 5"49 per cent, 
and 5 09 per cent, respectively of the boy and girl populations of Scotland are 
red-haired. It is curious to note, however, that the greatest excess of red hair 
from this proportion is found in the region of Scotland north of the Grampians. 
While this is the case one must remember that the actual proportion of red- 
haired persons anywhere in the north is really a small one. Only a small pro- 
portion, ranging from 5 to 7 per cent., taking fairly large areas, is at the present 
day red-haired. But if the observation of Tacitus has any truth in it at all, is 
it fair to infer, since hair colour is an inherited character, that this small class 
has for a considerable portion of its ancestry the race found in North Britain in 
later Roman times ? One must not come to the hasty conclusion that there was 
in reality an exclusively red-haired race in Scotland or anywhere else. Indeed, 
no such exclusive race now exists. But at the present time one finds red hair 
occurring in all the North European races more or less. That is to say, the 
I 
