The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-02-12
BECOMING INDIANS.
CLAIM THAT AMERICANS ARE pEvEl-
OPlNG ON THAT LINE.

II il an extraordinary question IN an
chronological science which has been
propounded popularity Of late. The in
fiuence Of environment upon the race
resident in the United States must In
the course Of four centuries produce GER
tain marked and undeniable physical
resulta 1t Is not generally acknowledge
ed by American anthropologists that
there is q tendency Of reversion to the
type indigenous 70 the soil. But foreign
students Of race, with more perspective,
have offered interesting food for refiec-
ton. A writer in the Chicago Times
Herald, commenting on the assertion OF
the French authors that on this CONT
nent the American white man has varied
toward the Indian type, offers support
ing study which is curiously fascinating
possibly vastly important
First, the familiar faces Of the carica-
turists' creation are called in as wit
nesses The Yankee and the southron-
large and loose limbed-of these pictures
are types, even as the stout, full faced
John Bull is a type found in another
environment Both American favorites
Of the cartoonist have high cheek bones
and usually excellent straight noses.
These witnesses are not, Of course, scien-
tifically admissible. The faces given US
by the caricature makers are impress
sions, not testimony.
Scientific, however, Is the study Of
: fered Of the Pennsylvania Germans
happy thrifty, frugal people, who have
been subjected to American conditions
for nearly two centuries, with very lit
tie intermingling with other races,
, much less than the English people IN
New England or in Virginia
1t is true that the pervasive and be-
, quilting Irish have intermarried some
8 what with these old Pennsylvania set
tiers, but in the main it is very exclu-
sive, pure blooded Palatinate stock.
Data have been secured relative to q
large number Of school children and TO
q adult males from rs to 80 years Of age,
D and many copies Of portraits OF original
= settlers. II appears that stature in
) creases and that other important gener-
alizations may be made, tentatively OF
, course. The increase of finger reach IS
q marked, and the head measures are i'm
portant.
: 1.-THE anthropologist pics consider
o able value upon certain Proportions or
y relations between measures" says the
| student Of the subject. "Thus the length
! Of the head and the breadth Of the head,
when compared, give numerical express
J sion, which is called the cephalic index
u To find it the length is divided into the
n breadth and the result multiplied by
l. 100. A head one-haH as wide as it Is
= long would have All index Of so; one
u three-fourths as wide - long would
70 have an index Of rs; one as wide as II
. was long would have an index Of 100.
IL There is no race whose head is normally
y 90 wide as to have an index Of 100 or &C
narrow as to have one Of co. The higher
70 the index, Of course the broader and
10 sounder the head: the lower the index,
u the longer and narrower the head Ger
mans generally are notably round head
n ed. Topinard gives for some people OF
e. Lorraine the index Of 85.S. The average
a. index Of 100 Pennsylvania Germans II
Re 8l.9, which is notably less and mar
= rover. The heads Of our northern ant
ID eastern Indians are still longer and mar
ID rover We cannot at present. make
ID further comparison with profit Wha
m we have already said may prove erro
en- neous when we learn the actual Palati
ss- nate type. We assume now that TN
ng Palatinate Germans were OF medium
he stature, light haired, blue or light eyed
lrs round headed, with finger reach G
d. l.O43. We find that the Pennsylvani
-, in hai a
st. eyes, that the men are probably OF II
be creased stature. that heads appear to
r., llengthening, that arm reach appears
OF be increasing. In all these respects tn
re- Pennsylvania German varies from th
he assumed Palatinate type and in the d
ted rection Of the Indian. -four assumptio
etc proves valid, we may claim that OF
IKE evidence shows change which, II col
ing tinued, may form an Indian type frol
the German.
I'd. All this, IL must be noted, Ii abs
The lutely distinct from any Of the reasol
ION for Disgusting the tendency Of American
ten to revert to original types from the i
ing filtration Of the red Indian blood itse
ack In the veins Of the white race From q
ing DAYS of the old French and Indian wa
'ar- fareside tales Of New England interim
ad- ture Of that sort have been CONNIE
owe enough. A recent novel has express
the the country knowledge in New Englal
his that there is an occasional "streal
uld from ancestry that approached Ne
nth England from the west a. well a. tn
me- which approached it from the east acre
re- the Atlantic. In the western states a
His territories the great numbers Of hi
his breeds whose descendants find their W
! he into the life Of cities brings to beal
aust curious and unreckoned force in the
!, BY velopment of the fiber and sinew Of I
hey race In North America Boston Ira
on script.
,uld ----
inch Salt . Luxury In Africa.
get. The greatest Of all luxuries in cent
mot Africa il salt. To say that man e.
hc..v a1x x.y;th hta victu Ia In tho sa,ua an ag