The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-17
while engaged in preaching the gos,s, :,
Africa. O"e sospei IN

whereas he is really a son Of north
- uOplcs and has grown very dark in
80 lace the lines Of which have softened
N'U oroadened. The coIored clergyman
Ioned on the other hand has lived in
."e United States all his life. with the ex-
01PtHoh OF a short season when he trav-
eied In the Dark Continent.
" speaking of external climatic innu-
ences the well-known colored editor and
"iier' MI. Ross Taylor, who also lived for
0oihe time on the other side of the Medi-
'0iIdhean' said he observed a complete
chahse affecting al English sheep imported
INTO tropical Africa. The animal, shortly
aIter It's arrival, lost its coat of wool and
gradually began to develop one of hair.
FOR several years it grew on it's back hair
as Well as WOOL. finally losing the capac-
lily Tor wool production altogether and be-
coming a hair-bearing sheep after the
manner OF its species raised in those parts.
Here we have the most direct counter
part 10 the case of the colored preacher;
both man and beast obviously conformed
10 climatic influences. The change in
Bishop Taylor's appearance, on the other
nand, Is after all but a remarkable ex-
ample of tanning by the hot sun, such as
we observe in the Hindoos of India, who
constantly work in the tropical sun with
out head covering, and. in consequence,
have the appearance of negroes, while their
priestly caste. the Brahmans. who lead in
door lives, are of fair complexion.
ART VS.. NATURE.
DR.. Jacoby's assertion about the prev
alence Of albanism among negroes, not
withstanding negro bleaching is getting
to be a more and more lucrative occupa-
ton in New York and w Some
time ago an enterprising Chicago man adj
vertised for "a partner with capital to en-
gage in a most profitable and paying in
vestment. Nothing like It," he said;
there are millions in a scheme to make
negroes white" He further explained that
the majority of m were
fairly crazy" to be thought Caucasians;
that many are almost white now, while
their features nearly resemble those of
white people. Asked to explain his meth
DDS. he claimed to have discovered 4 med
ical property that effects a gradual elm
iration of the dark pigment in the black
mars skin.
This prophesied solution of the race ques-
tion has not materialized According to re-
liable information, the Chicagoan's epoch
making discovery has enriched the eau
casian world by a single cutaneous convert
only, the happy man being one Henry Per-
kins. since vanished. Whether Perkins
was born black and achieved his yellow
color or whether he was born yellow and
hal notoriety thrust upon him for a con-
sideration, l do not pretend to know.
A case resembling that of the Methodist
preacher is reported from Laurel, Del.
Thara M oi0htaap- .aorL ol5 woo.o bo-o. a.
turn white without any apparent cause.
His poverty would not permit him to pro-
cure quack medicines and his trade forced
him to live out of doors almost c~ontinu-
ously-facts that discount some theories on
color metamorphosis heretofore mentioned.
The change of color, it appears, began in a
small spot and gradually spread all over
his body until the lad has by this time de-
veloped into a notable specimen of the abb
solutely white Afro-American. His brand
new white cuticle is as clean and healthy
as that of a child. and no pain nor any un-
usual sensation attended the transforma-
ton.
DID HEREDITY FIGURE?
In this connection it should not go I'M
noticed that the Delaware negro was the
offspring of black parents, both Of whom
dIC nOlCQ LII NA4CA AAA11AAA5OANNs Nv AiA1A
members of the family seem to have fol-
lowed learned professions for the last thir-
ty or forty years, a circumstance that has
not been without refining influence, as ex-
empiifed in the formation of their skulls
and their general appearance. Taking these
circumstances into consideration it may be
argued that the whitened negro was natur-
ally predisposed for a change of condition.
-. - -. -
though the results of chronological research
oppose it.
Accident, too, plays a considerable part
in the matter of the color of the human
| skin. A story is reported from Shelbyville.
Ind, to the effect that Rita Glass, a ff-
teen year-old girl, has been declared a eau
casian by the courts. The girl it appears
was adopted at a very early age by the
negro family whose surname she bears
and was kept in ignorance of the fact that
she was merely her reputed parents foster
child. She grew up in the presumption
that she was a negress, and, strange to
say. her skin and general appearance ia
vored this conclusion. Some time ago Rita
discovered that she was descended from
white people. and as Mr.. Glass was unwill-
ing to release her from household obliga-
tions she began suit against hlm' Glass
when brought into court offered a pro-
digious amount of evidence to prove that
the girl was a negress, as her appearance
indicated. There was even some medical
testimony to that effect, but the records of
the orphan asylum from which he had
taken the girl upset all his and
in consequence the judge ordered that she
| should be allowed TO seek new associa-
lions BETTING her Caucasian origin
FROM CENSUS REPORT.
DIR. Shrady called your correspondents
attention TO a statement in the reports of
the eleventh census. In accounting for the
| apparently slight increase of the Afro
American population as compared with the
tenth census, COMMISSIONS Porter gives it
as his opinion that quite half a million
of mixed FLOODED ~ro-America had been
counted as whites, because the census
enumerators could not determine that they
were black, the Distinguishing marks of
their race having Disappeared" The
commissioner should have added as far as
they were able TO ascertain said DR..
Shrady, and explained that the offspring
of a negro and a white is a mulattO, the
offspring Of a mulatto and white a quad
room. A still higher intermixture of white