Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1899-07-08
WAS ADAM A NEGRop
CurlositIes of Human ColOrIng-Color
of the Original Man ny nm
English ScienttSt.

In the first of n series of articles
upon anthropological data Prof. Ar
thur Thompson discusses the original
color of mankind and weighs some evil
dence bearing upon the question
whether the earliest races were black
or white.
At the same time he mentions Alfred
Russell Wallace's idea that primitive
man was N1ongol This would infer
that our original color was yellow, and
when we consider the civilization of
remote times which existed among the
Chinese, that the people of Europe
sprang from Asiatic stock, and that
the identity of the earliest cave dwell
ers in this country and in France with
the Esliimos (also Mongols) has been
demonstrated, this view does not seem
so very unlikely. Prof. Thompson char
acterizes the theory as suggestive, but
goes into none of these outside details,
confining himself to study of skin,
hair, and their pigments.
Sorby, he says, isolated three pig
ments, using hair as the more con-
venient subject for experiment. In
low pigment occur, to which in black
hair black coloring matter is added,
and it is remarkable fact that there
may be in a negros wool as much
red pigment as in the European variety
sometimes alluded to as Carrots"
Again, when n piece of white skin is
grated, as is often done in modern sur
gerry, upon a black man, it becomes
lAack, while black upon n white man
loses its pigment. This, Prof. Thomp-
son thinks, supports the theory that
man has developed white skin from a
black, rather than the other alterna-
tive.
Other interesting points are brought
forward. For instance, there is always
certain amount of pigment in the
skin of even fair people, that is, of the
red and yellow kinds found in their
hair, but not enough to prevent the
blood in the vessels which do not come
nearer the surface than the true skin
showing through the semi-transparent
layers of the epidermis.
Bronzing through exposure to the
sun is due to an increased blood supply
and n corresponding development,
frecllles, and pigmented spots, similar
in structure to the general skins of
darker races, while darll-compleNioned
people among us have, in addition to
the ordinary pigments, a trace of
the black color of the negro, more COM
monty present in our hair. There is
not, however, enough TO destroy the
racial fairness of our skin, though in
exceptional situations (such as in the
arm pits) its presence may be very evil
dent.
AS to the use of black skin, Darwin
hinted that it might have been devel-
oped in correlation with the immunity
from malarial diseases which "darkies"
enjoy, as it is true that white sufferers
acquire darker complexion.
In support of the idea that the an
cestors of negros and white men more
nearly resembled the latter in color,
point not mentioned by Prof. Thomp-
son might be broHght forward, and that
is that 'pickaninnies" at their birth
are not black in color, but of a dirty
gray. Ii original man were black, just
us the original lion was spotted, we
should expect to find in the negro in
FAINT the black color, as we find in the
young cub the traces of spots.-Lon-
| don AToiI