Weekly independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 1887-1914, 1897-04-04
TURNING TO INDIANS.
We Are Growing More Like the
Aboriginal American.
Foreign AnthropoIosists Soy This IL
Fact, But American Stu sntS
Enter n Vigorous Pro- :,
toat,

1t is an extraordinary question in
nnthropological science which has been
propounded popularity of late. The in
iluence of environment upon the race
resident in the United States must in
the course of tour centuries produce
certain marked and undeniablc physic
al results. 1t is not generally acknowl-
edged by American anthropologists
that there is a tendency of reversion
to the type Indigenous TO the soil. But
foreign students of race, with moro
: perspective, have offered interesting
food for reflection. A writer in the
Chicago Times-Herald, commenting ON
the assertion Of the French authore
that OH 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 Curl
caturists' creation are called in as wit.
ncsses. The Yankee md the Southron,
large and loose-limbed of these pic
lures are types, even as the stout, full
faced John Bull is n type found in an
other environment. Both American
favorites of the c%artoorist have high
check 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 Virginin.
1t is true that the p~ervasivc and be-
quilting Irish have intermnrried some.
what with these old Pennsylvania set
tiers, but in the main it is u very cx-
elusive, pure-blooded Palatinnte stock.
Data have been secured relative to q
large number of school children, and
to adult males from % to so years OF
age, and many copies of portraits Of
original settlers. 1t appears that stat
ure increases and that other important
CONGRATULATIONS may be made, tentative.
~, of course. The increase OF finger
reach is marked and the head measures
are Important
The anthropologist places consider
able value upon certain proportions or
relations between measures" says the
student OF the subject. "Thus tho
length of the head and the breadth of
the head, when compared, give nr-
merical expression which. is called the
cephalic index. To find il the length is
divided into the breadth and the result
multiplied by 100, a head onc-half IA
wide as it is long would have an index
OF so; one three-fourths us wide as
long would have an index Of IS; one MS
wide as it was long would have an ndcX
OF 100. There is no race whose head Ia
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 souDder the head; the
lower the index, the longer and narrow
err the head. Germans generally are
notably round+headed. Topinard gives
for some people of Lorraine the index
of $50. The average index OF 100 Penn,
s%ylvania Germans is $40, which is Of
ably less and narrower, The heads OF
our northern and eastern Indians are
still longer and TOW We cannot
Mt present make n further comparison
with profit, What we have already
said may prove when VIC
learn the actual Palatinate type. We
assume now that the Palatinate Ger
mans were OF medium stature, ligh.
haired, blue or light eyed, round head
cd, with o finger reach of 1,043. We
find that the Pennsylvania German
children are dirk in hair and eyes; that
the men arc probably OF increased stat
ure; that heads appear to be length
cning; that arm reach appears TO be
increasing. In oil these respects the
Pennsylvania German varies from the
assumed Palatinate type and in the di.
rection OF tn" Indian. If our assump.
ton proves valid we may claim that our
evidence shows change, which, IL con.
tinued, may form an Indian type from
the German"
All this, II must he 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, hresidc tales ofNew EnRlaDdinter.
d%nixture Of that sort have been common
enough. a recent novel has expressed
the country knowledge in New England
that there Ia an occasional 'streak''
from ancestry that approached New
England from the west us well as that
which approached r. from the east
noross the Atlantic. In the western
states and territories the great num-
bers OF hnlf-brccds whose descendants
find their why into the life of cities
brings to bear q curious md unreck.
oned force in the development OF tho
fiber and sincw OF the race In North
Americn.--Bostron Transcript.