The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-24
THE COLOR OF THE SKIN.
Whitening of "a Negro by Vienna
Doctors Electric Treatment.


From the Baltimore Sun.
The Fremdenblatt of Vienna reports the
case of a white negro" resident Of the
Austrian capital, whose singular trans
formation from a colored into a white. or
rather whitened person, has created a
sensation among the public of the old
Kaiserstadt and is being studied with in
creaslng interest by the scientists of its
university. The question seems TO be
whether this extraordinary phenonenon
Is merely a freak of nature" or rna,-
furnish the basis for further experiunents
IN fWhitewashing," as it were. black
skinned individuals by an electric traat-
ment whose boundIess Applicability hills
ialr TO afford hopes for the gradual whit
enlng OF whole peoples, like our coIored
hauFes ana colonial fellow-citizens. Fill
plhos, Hawaiians, not to mention Sa
means. etc All that is necessary would
be the establishment of electric nlants
OF sufhcient capacity and power to nro-
Vlde Whole negro communities with the
needed electric baths. We refrain from
eXpatlating on the anthropological ana
political vistas thus opened by the acci-
dental discovery of a Viennese physician
put hasten to state the recorded miracle >
Ior sucn 1t appears to be, according to the
F'remdenblatt wy
TWO years ago an Austrian merchant
who had been on a business trin ~ 4 frin,
brought back with him from Eevnt MI
L-acho, Soudanese negro aged 10 wears
speedily acclimated, the black imnnisrant
soon learned the German dialect Of M
Nlehnese and surprised them by his clever
manners and the elegant dress he disnIav.
ca IN the cafes and upon the "nromen-
So, iIu'ihs last autumn he became af-
IeO'eu py nervous troubles, which a fam
Gus neuropathist of Vienna sun,actaS =,
electrical treatment Ibual T.onI,,ss "
uiton began to improve from dav 70 A..
anu strange to relate, in the same mo,
poftloh as the disease seemed 70 49,.
MN there disappeared the black d,,a -
ms SKIN Paler and paler he grew nntil
through the stages of Peruvian ana r.
toh mummy coloration and the noII,1
us Vi Snloalmed beef, he blanched into
I,,,,n9 tne true caucasian complexion
lpuals doctor explains the decoio,att..,
OF his patient from process b,- ,' e',ot
the black pigment in his skin u,ss ~.
tegrated, and finally eliminated thra,,ai-
electricity This chief co}orino ,,ao,4tI II
mesanin, or pigmentum nigrum fo,,,,A -
The eye, the hair and the skin oa,t Co.. ~
IRON, and strongly reacts upon elec,rio a,,
plication. N'i'c ap-
Inc hope is expressed that the rrni..a
:, US so'Nh A'ihVut' Wnlch, together Will,
,he most successful withdrawing inst
tutions it already possesses. hoasts ny ~
largest negro constituency among an oi,.
lli7ed nations on the globe. viii ma -.
lay giving its attention and fur,bor -
pioitation to the Niennese physictan,s -
raculous experiment. Il might solve ~
race problem, stop lynching and secnre
tor another generation the negro's vote
Was Adam Black ?
Speaking of skin characterlstics r,,,,,.
the fact that Prof. Arthur Thomson re
anthropologist, in recent discnssio, -
racial data and differences. exanines
some evidence upon the question wbether
the original color of mankind was hlao1,
or white or yellow He mentions Aifro1
Russell Wallace's view that prIniti,,o
man was Mongol and of yellow skin. y
theory which he considers s,,ggasti,,o
without according 1t either a close ev-
animation or refutation. Combining him
self 10 the study of the skin. hair and their
pigments, MIR. Thompson states mar IN
light-eolored hair brown red and a vel
low pigment occur, to which, in black
mar black coloring matter is added
and as a remarkabl fact that there NOV
be in a negro's wool as much RED nis,
ment as in the European variety some
times alluded to as carrots" Again
when piece Of white skin is grated ,s
Is OFTEN done in modern surgery uoon a
black man IL becomes black while hla,ly
upon white man loses its pigment This
Prof. Thompson things supports the tbeo
ry that man has developed a while sin
from black rather than the other ~
tentative.
Other interesting points he brings for
ward For instance. there is always a