The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1897-03-27
TIj lin q 10 IN Dr. ms.
We Are Growing More Like the
Aboriginal American


Il is an extraordinary question in
an thropological science which has been
propounded popularity Of late. The in
huence of environment upon the race
resident in the United States must in
the course Of four centuries produce
certain marked and undeniable physic
al results. It is not generally acknowl-.
edged by American anthropo logists
that there is a tendency Of reversion
to the type Indigenous to the soil. But
foreign students of race, with more
perspective, have offered interesting
food for reflection. A writer in the
Chicago Times-Herald, commenting on
the assertion of the French authors
that on this continent the American
white man has varied toward the In
dian type offers a supporting study
which is curiously fascinating-pos-
sibly vastly Important.
First, the familiar faces of the: carl
caturists' creation are called in as wit.
nesses. The Yankee and the Southron,
large and loose-limbed of these pic
lures are types, even as the stout, full
faced John Bull is a type found in an
other environment. Both American
favorites of the cartoonist have high
cheek bones, and usually excellent
straight noses. These witnesses are
not, of course, scientifically admissible.
The faces given us by the caricature-
makers are impressions, not testimony.
Scientific, however, is the study Of
fered of the Pennsylvania German
ahappy, 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.
It is true that the pervasive and be-.
quilting Irish have intermarried some
what with these old Pennsylvania set
tiers, but in the main it is a very ex-
elusive, pure-blooded Palatinate stock.
Data have been secured relative to
large number of school children, and
to adult males from Is to SO years of
age, and many copies of portraits of
original settlers. It appears that stat
ure increases and that other important
congratulations may be made, tentative.
ly, of course. The increase of finger
reach is marked and the head measures
are Important .c.~
''The anthropologist places consider
able value upon certain proportions or
relations between measures says the
student of the subject. ''Thus the
length of the head and the breadth Of
the head, when compared, give n1-
merical expression which is called the
cephalic index. To find it the length is
divided into the breadth and the result
multiplied by 100, a head one-half as
wide as it is Tong would have an index
of so; one three-fourths as wide as
long would have an index of IS; one as
wide as it was long would have an index
of 100. There is no race whose head is
normally so wide as to have an index
of 100, or so narrow as to have one of
SO. The higher the index, of course,
the broader and sounder the head; the
lower the index, the longer and narrow
er the head. Germans generally are
notably roundlheaded. Topinard gives
for some people of Lorraine the index
of S5.3. The average index of 100 Penn
sylvania Germans is 81.9, which is not
ably less and narrower. The heads of
our northern and eastern Indians are
still longer and narrower. We cannot
at present make further comparison
with profit. What we have already
said may prove erroneous when we
learn the actual Palatinate type. We
assume now that the Palatinate Ger
mans were of medium sta ture, light
haired, blue or light eyed, round head
ed, with a finger reach of 1,043. We
find that the Pennsylvania German
children are dark in hair and eyes; that
the men are probably of increased stat
ure; that heads appear to be length
ening; that arm reach appears to be
increasing. In all these respects the
Pennsylvania German varies from the
assumed Palatinate type and in the di-
rection Of the Indian. If our assump-
tion proves valid we may claim that our
evidence shows change, which, if con
tinued, may form an Indian type from
the German" .z.I--
All this, it must be noted, is absolute.
~ distinct from any of the reasons for
discussing the tendency of Americans
to revert to original types from the in
filtration of the red Indian blood itself
in the veins of the white race. From
the days of the old French and Indian
wars, ireside tales Of New Eng gland inter
mixture of that sort have been common
enough. A recent novel has expressed
the country lknowledgein New England
that there is an occasional ttstreak'
from ancestry that approached New
England from the west as well as thai
which approached it from the east
| across the Atlantic. In the western
states and territories the great mum
bers of half breeds whose descendants
find their way into the life of cities
brings to bear a. curious and unreck
oned force in the development Of thu
fiber and sinew Of the race in NORTH
/ america r. from ira MS c !; ~ 8.