Evening journal., 1897-02-22
BECOMING INDIANS.
CLAIM THAT AMERICANS ARE DEveL-
OPlNG ON THAT LINE.

Increasing resembinnco In Faces to the
Aboriginal Type A study OF Heads.
with Especial Attention TO the Resi-
dents Of Pennsylvania.
1t is an extraordinary question in an
thropologicl science which has been
propounded popularity of late The in
f1uence of environment upon the race
resident in the United States must in
the course of four centuries produce GER
tain marked and undeniable physical
results. 1t is not generally acknowledge
ed by American anthropologists that
there is tendency of reversion to the
type indigenous to the soil. But foreign
students Of race, with more perspective,
have offered interesting food for refec-
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 a 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
arc types even as tho STOUT, full faced
John Bull is type found in another
environment Both American favOrites
Of the cartoonist have high cheek bones
and usually excellont straight noses
These witnesses are not, of course, scien-
tifcally admissible Tho faces given us
by the caricaturc 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 pervasiye and be-
quilting Irish have intelmarIied some
what with these old Pennsylvania set
tiers, but in the main it is a very exclu-
sive, pure blooded Palatinato stock.
Data have heen secured relative to q
large number of school children and to
adult males from % to 90 years of age,
and many copies of portraits of original
settlers. 1t appears that stature in
creases and that other important gener-
allzations may be made, tentatively Of
course. The increase of finger reach is
marked, and the head measures are i'm
portant.
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 numerical express
sion, 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
long would have an index Of so; one
three-fourths as wide as long would
have an index of 70; 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 50
narrow as to have one OF 80. The higher
the index, of course the broader and
sounder The lead; the lower the index.
the longer and narrower tie head. Ger
mans generally are notably round head
ed. Topinard gives for sciac people Of
Lorraine the index OF 50. 3. The average
index of 100 Pennsylvania Germans is
Sl.9, which is notably less and mar
rover. The heads of our northern and
eastern Indians are still longer and mar
rover We cannot at present make "A
further comparison with profit. What
we have already said may prove erro-
neous when we learn the actual Palati-
nate type. We assume now that the
Palatinate Germans were of medium
stature, light haired, blue or light eyed
round headed, with finger reach Of
1.043. We find that the Pennsylvania
German children are dark in hair and
eyes, that the men are probably Of in
creased stature that heads appear to be
lengthening, that arm reach appears to
be increasing In all those respects the
Pennsylvania German varies from the
assumed Palatinatc type and in the di-
rection of the Indian. # our assumption
proves valid, we may claim that our
evidence shows change which, if con
tinued, may form an Indian type from
the German.
All this, it must be noted, is absO-
lutely 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
III the veins Of the white race From the
days of the old French and Indian wars
fireside tales Of New England inter1nix-
ture of that sort have been common
enough A recent novel has expressed
The country knowledge in New England
that there is an occasional "streaz'
from ancestry that approached New
England from the west as we'll as that
8 which approached it from the east across
& the Atlantic. In the western states and
territories the great numbers Of halt
breeds whose descendants find their way
into the life of cities brings 70 bear a
curious and unreckoned force in the de-
z sclopment Of the fiber and sinew Of the
race in North America. Boston Tran.
script.
salt luxury In Africa.
--....-a.-t .-f III ,