Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-08-24
Are We Changing into Indians THE
Physical characteristics of
Americans.

M. Henri Berth0ud, q well-known
writer on popular science, has con-
| tributed his observations on ethnolo-
gy to Paris newspaper. We draw
upon him without making any COM
ment. M. Berthoud observes: "If
one pays little attention, he may
find everywhere in Paris opportuni-
ties to make scientific observations.
For instance, glovers make here for
North America gloves of peculiar
form, and which European hand
could not wear. The fingers are
made of length which seems un-
reasonable to us, and which, nevers
theless, barely suffices for the exigen>
cies of a Yankee hands conformation.
This is the demonstration of fact
long since observed, and which
scientific man of Philadelphia made
the subject of letter to M. Pruner
Bey. He says: "The Anglo~Ameri-
can presents from the second genera
ton characteristics of the type which
is not unlike that of the Lenni Lens
pes, the Iroquois and the Cherokee
Indians. The glandular system
shrinks to the minimum of its nor
NAL development. The skin becomes
dry as leather; it looses the warmth
Of color and ruddiness of cheeks; and
in their stead the color Of mud tinct-
ures it in men, and insipid paleness in
women. The head decreases in size
and becomes round or pointed. 1t
10 covered with smooth hair OF a dark
color. The neck lengthens. There
is great development of tho zygo-
matte and masseter bones. The eyes
are sunken in deep cavities which are
quite near each other. The iris be-
comes dark; the eyes expression
piercing and wild. The long bones
lengthen chiefly in the upper. extrem-
ity. Therefore England and France
make for importation to North
America gloves especially for this
market, whose fingers are unusually
long. The cavities of these fingers
bones are very narrow. Finger nails
are prone to take a heightened and
sharp form. The larynx is large
The voice is hoarse and shril. Wo,
mans pelvis becomes, in its extrem>
tiles, like that of the monkey's.-
Another scientific American adds:
"The language of Americans tends
more and more in its standard phases
to become like the red men's-Ind-
ians. There is too, growing ten
dency to exclude light from houses,
and growing fondness for garish
colors in clothes: tastes which are
common to all savages. Let us add
further, the proverbial phlegmatie
character of the English gradually
disappears in Yankees, and in its
stead there is found an uneasy, fever~
ish, and incessant activity, which
shows itself by a constant craving to
occupy the hands and by the univer-
sal habit of whiting wood. To
avoid the destruction Of furniture in
American hotels, all their proprietors
take care to provide each traveller
with sticks for them to white at
pleasure. Such is the force of the
mania the Federal government am
nually votes an appropriation of
money to provide the members of
Congress at Washington with sticks
to white, in order to prevents the
destruction Of the seats and desks of
the Capitol" These profound and
prompt notifications of the Anglo
Saxon should make deeper impress
sion on the mind when it is consider
ed America has been settled by this
race scarcely more than 200 years.
These phenomena strengthen the
opinion of those persons who insist
upon mans unity of Origin. Able
Brassour de Bourbourg asserts in his
works. on America, the physical and
moral characteristics of people of
European Origin who have made their
homes in the North have become like
the Iroquois, while those of the South
have become like the Cherokee. He
instances among other examples
family which has lived in Canada
since its earliest colonization, which
has never contracted alliance with
the aborigines; nevertheless the head
of the family said to him; eve have
remained Frenchmen and Normans
in heart and thought, but in our tea.
lures, hair, complexion and character
we have become Hurons.