Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1886-10-14
THE NEGRO,S BLACKNESS.
Reasons offered for the Color of the
Africans Skin.

Africans Skin.
Mr.. Mattieu Williams. in his 'tScience
Notes" in the current number of the Gen
tleman's Magazine, says this question has
puzzled all the Psychologists who have CIV
en- it any amount of thought. Not only
are human beings black or dark in hot
climates, but other resembling animals vary
in like manner. Pigs are usually las far as
1 have SEEM invariably black in hot eli
mates Blumenbach included this varia
ton among the resemblances of pigs to
ourselves. If we expose two surfaces SINH
lar in all respects but cooler to the glare
of the sun, the black becomes the hottest,
and other colors graduate according to
their degrees of darkness on to white
which is the least heated. Franklin's cole
brated experiment of placing pieces of diff
ferent cloth on the snow while the sun was
shining, and observing the depth to which
they respectively sunk in the snow, illus
trates this very strikingly.
According to this a black skin should be
specially unfit for enduring the fierce radi-
alton of the tropical sun. Many specula-
tions, some rather far fetched and pedan-
tic, have been offered to account for this
apparent paradox, but the only satisfactory
one have met with suggested lately
by a correspondent to Nature. He states
good reasons for believing that the pene-
tration of light through the skin to the in
ternal organs of the body is injurious, and
he further suggests that such penetration
may occur to a considerable extent unless
special provision is made against it. One
of my schoolboy experiments was to shut
myself up in windowless storeroom, the
side of which was freely exposed to the
sun, and then place my hand over the key
hole or crevice of the door. Sufficient
light passed through to illuminate my hand
especially the fingers, and show therein
the position of the bones. I have not re-
pested it since my hand has become full
grown, and therefore cannot say whether it
is still as translucent as then. It has late
ly been proposed to examine the stomach
by causing the patient to swallow an cleo
trio lamp, which will illuminate it suffi-
GENTLY to show something of its condition
through the integuments. 1 say proposed,
but suspect that the lamp is too hot. The
carbon layer in the rete mucosum of the
negro being opaque like other forms of
carbon must form an effectual veil and
thus protect that most important organ be-
low, the cults vera or true skin, a bodily
envelope of vacular tissue presenting vast
surface of circular blood, which is certain
ly subject to brilliant illumination when
only protected from sunlight by the thin
translucent cuticle.
We know that sunlight has considerable
chemical energy, and also that sunstroke, to
which light complsxioned people are es-
pecially liable, is more dependent on light
than on mere temperature; and such being
the case, the value of an effective veil or
screen extending over the whole of the body
may be very great, even though accompanied
with considerable absorption of heat and
roasting of the cuticle, which is itself in
sensible The shading effect of the black
ness is in fact due to the conversion of light
into heat