Colour and Race Author(S): John Beddoe Source: the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol
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Colour and Race Author(s): John Beddoe Source: The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Vol. 35 (Jul. - Dec., 1905), pp. 219-250 Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2843064 . Accessed: 14/06/2014 03:00 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.44.78.156 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 03:00:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ( 219 ) COLOUR AND RACE. The Hquxley Memorial Lectursefor- 1900. BY JOHN BEDDOE, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. [DELIVERED OCTOBER 31ST, 1905. WITH PLATES XVI, XVII.] THE Huxley lecture is usually said to be commemorativeof the great man whose name it bears. I am not sure that I quite like the adjective. The characterand achievementsof Huxley, the impressionhe made on his countryand his time, are not likely to fade fromour memories. The lecture is rather,I think,a token of our gratitudeto him than a necessaryreminder of his services. Few departmentsof anthropologyseem to have interestedhim morethan that of colourin connectionwith race. The termsXanthochroi and Melanochroi,with the thingsdenoted thereby, remain to testifyto that interest. The late Sir Henry IRawlinson,a widely-travelledman and a good observer, once remarked-to me that " colour was no part oftype." As one who had given some years of his leisure to the subject, I felt somewhat discouraged by this dictumof a reveredsenior. " No ! " said he, " and I will give you a case in point. iHerodotussays the Egyptians planted a colonyin Colchis, whose descendants survived there in his day-dark and curly-haired. Well, the Minigreliansat the present day have curly hair,' but it is quite frequentlyyellow or fair; the type remains, but the colourhas altered." So said Sir Helnry,and there are still some of his opinion. There is an ingenioustheory which attributesthe deep and brilliant "Highland red" hair, found in the so-called Kelts or Gael of the British Isles, to the effectof a northernclimate in depigmentingDeniker's Littoral race, by some designated Atlantean. Anyhow,it is a prevalentidea that colourin man,beilng merely superficial, is of very small account compared with his osteology. But this is really an exaggeration. If colouris mutable,so too is bone-form,less quickly or visibly, maybe,but mutable for all that. In Egypt, in Ruissia, in Bohemia, Bavaria, Mecklenburg,it is difficultto believe that wideningof the skull has or would not have taken place, even if the influenceof admixture of blood had been excluded; and when Egyptologiststell us that the Egyptianskull, barrinlg this little increase in breadth,is verylike what it was six or eightthousand years ago, we may reply, "WWhy should it have altered? The circumstances,the nledia,have not altered I Deniker,Races of Man (transl.),p. 355. It occursamong the Guriels,too, but I am not aware thatit does amongthe Lazes, ofwhom I have seen a greatdeal. VOL. XXXV. Q This content downloaded from 185.44.78.156 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 03:00:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 220 JOHNBEDDOE.-Colour and Race. much; and the successivehordes of immigrantsor invaders,from their paucity of numbers,from theirunsuitability to the climate,or fromthe mutualbalancing of theirphysical characters, were not verylikely to affectit much." The great changesthat appear to have taken place in Swabia and Bavaria, and about Hallstadt, are quite explicable, as I at least, who was a mute Ammonitebefore Ammon and De Lapouge, am disposed to believe, without callinog in the operation of anything like spontaneous variation in form. Still the cases of the Mecklenburgers,of the Bohemians, of the people of the Rouergue, cited by De Lapouge, and of the Muscovites, which convinced no less an authority than Bogdanoff,do certainly make one a little doubtful. On the other hand, consider the case of the Budini, plausiblyidentified with the Vod or Votiaks,still foundin or lnear their ancient locality. They were noted as redhairedin the classic age, and now, after 2,000 years,they have amongthem a larger proportionof redhaired persons than any othertribe or nation. The principal drawbacks to colour as a mark of race are the following, relatingespecially to hair: 1. The change which occurs in individuals with advancing age. In this countrythe index of nigresceniceof school childrendarkens, usually, about twenty degreesbefore they arrive at earlymiddle age; and even afterthat the hair continues to darkenslowly until it begins to turn grey. Red hair does not darken in the same way,as a rule,but in those cases whichVirchow would have looked on as defectivebrunets, it may even changeinto somethingnot far removedfrom black. The iris-colouralso changeswith age, thoughvery slowlyafter infancy. At firstit darkens,but later on pales again. Such instability,besides increasing difficulties of observation,is suggestiveof small value in the attribute. 2. Again, the apparent fugitivenessof the colour of hair afterdeath lessens its value as historicalevidence. Brown pigmentseems to be less permanent thanred. 3. The operation of various formsof selection,-social, conjugal, morbid, is of considerableimportance in impairing the evidence of permanency. I believe De Candolle and I were earliest in the field on this subject; but Ammon, De Lapouge, Closson and Ripley and Shrubsall, have developed the idea very extensively,and with promiseof yet greaterresults. Virchow'sand Von Mayr's extensive statistics,and my own observations,showed darker colourin hair,and still more in eyes,in cities than in rural districts,even afterallowing somewhat for the greater attraction of towns for alien (in Germany usually darker) immigrants. Livi has shown that the same rule holds good in Italy to a large extent,though there alien immigrantswould be morelikely to be comparatively blond. And Shrubsall has already given us some solid grouindsfor basing the differenceon morbid selection,weeding out more possible parents from among the youngerblonds, whereas the diseases which more affectthe brunets,such as cancer,usually operatemore in later life. This content downloaded from 185.44.78.156 on Sat, 14 Jun 2014 03:00:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions JOHNBEDDOE.-Colour and Race. 221 4. The difficultiesarising out of the personal equation of the observerare verygreat: I will returnto thempresently. These drawbacks seem then,nay, they are, considerable,but either they, or analogousdisadvantages, apply to the head-formalso. Durand de Gros,and after him Ammonand De Lapouge and Muffangand Livi, have shownhow the citizen develops, by some process of selection, a longer and narrowerhead than the countryman; and though the process is not so conspicuous in English towns, Dr. McDonell's figuresfor London, and mine forBristol, make it probablethat it is reallyoperative here. Such changes implya converseprocess at workin country districts,- and other fountains of emigration; anid thus may be explained the developmentof brachycephalyin, for example, some Frisialnislands and Alpine valleys. Difficultiesput in the way of the observerby modes or fashionsof dyeing the hair find theiranalogues in the various processeswhereby the head is wilfullyor unintentionallydeformed. Even in Germany-there is no doubt that brachycephalyis exaggeratedin many cases by the pressureof a hard cradle. Again, ProfessorOloriz has well shownhow the persoiial equation affectsthe measurementof the skull as well as of the livinghead: we need not thereforebe quite discouraged,when we discoverthe many impedimentsthat stand in the way of him who would observethe colour of the hair and eyes. Some of these concern light and distance. Topinard directs his pupils to work " en pleine lumiere,"and in using his standardsamples forcomparison, this must be kept in mind. One cannotalways choose; and one oughtto be able to make proper allowance for differentlights, as a rifle-marksmandoes fordistanice and wind; but I preferthe shady side of a streeton a sunnyday. As for the best distance, M. Bertillonworking for identification and police purposes,and dividing his eyes into 7 and his hair into 10 classes, directs the observerto place himselfat 30 centimetresor about 1 foot fromthe object. This is far too near forordinary purposes. The aim should be to workat distancesat which the iris-coloursfall naturally into three or at most four divisions,light, neutral and dark,the firstembracing class 1 and part of 2 as depictedin Bertillon's Albulm,the third including roughlyhis classes 5, 6, and 7, most of 4 and a little of 3, while the neutral includes his remainingexamples. Having always had good sight,I have found from2 or 3 to 5 or 6 feet the most suitable distances. The hair-shadesare of course capable of appreciationfurther away; but as red or yellow, for example, can be well discriminatedat a greater