The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-08-24

Some very interesting experiments
have just been made by Dr.. C~oIlignon.
Of Paris, with the view OF ascertain
ing the causes which brings about q
change Of color in negroes. 1t has
long been known that members OF the
colored race grow black as they grow
old. but apparently no one before DR..
Collignon thought It worth while to
find OF the q int OF their color
changes which IL undergoes before
they reach maturity. He q now de-
voted considerable time to this study.
and the results obtained by him are
Of interest to all anthropologists.
In order to find out the successive
tints the doctor used Broca's chroma-
tic gamut. This q small card on which
are depicted in thirty-four small
squares the varying shades OF color
from the palest cream to the deepest
black. With this card as his guide
he doctor began his studies on a little
Soudanese, who was recently born in
the Champs de Mars, in Paris. Tn 4,
birth took place at ten minutes after
10 O'Clock in the morning, and ten min
utes later the doctor notified the fact
that the baby was more rosy than
No. "a Of Broca, with a back ground OF
scattered pigments, which were al
ready beginning to hide the tint, and
which gave the child the aspect of a
pale lilac" Ten days later the infant
bore a tint extremely like hat of pow
dered cocoa, and DR.. Collignon regis
tered this tint as No. % Of Broca. The
feet and the hands, however, a re-
manned red, we'll as the upper part of
the arms. Gradually they, too. began
to change, and in a few weeks they
were of a chamois color, which imper-
ceptibly deepened into chocolate sim
liar to that Of the rest of the body.
The of the metamorphosis
is supposed to be due to the fact that
the sun in Paris is not as bright as it
is in the baby's ancestral home, name
ly in Soudan The sun, however, is
evidently not the most potent factor
in such cases. If it were, how can We
explain the fact that at Bordeaux re-
Gently a young S~oudanese changed
from white to black within a space Of
two hours, and that a Marseilles the
same phenomenon actually occurred
within the space Of five minutes? DR..
Collignon that he witnessed these phe-
nomena, out he does not attempt to
account for them.
Another curious fact about h
Champs-de-Mars baby is hat at birth
it's hair was unusually long. fine, wavy
n not at ALI woolly, after the usual
fashion OF negroes hair. In view or
this fact, which has now been record
ed for the first time, certain famous
anthropologists claim hat the common
ancestor of Europeans and Of Hotten-
tots cannot have had woOlly hair. If
this be true" says Fernand Honore.
we cannot be descended from a ne
gro, and the only hope that remains
to us is that our ancestor was a
monkey, whose genealogical tree We
have not yet discovered.
Commenting on Dr.. Collignon's ex-
periments, the same writer avs
1.-THE doctor has the good sense not
to attach too much Importance to this
matter. Who can say that a future
T%oussaint L'Ouverture will not under
take the task of discovering his peo-
pie and will adopt for this purpose
the simple plan of bringing up all the
dusky children in dark chambers?
This would surely be a new emancipa-
ton. Until it takes place, philosophers
may we'll spend some time in study
ing his subject, for surely there are
few which are more worthy Of study"
New York Herald.