The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-21
ELECTRICITY WILL
BLEACH NEGROES
Provided Method Can Be Found
to Apply Current to Pig
mentary Cells.

1t is known throughout the world
OF science that electricity can exert
a characteristic action on the tissues
and liquids Of the organism. What
is the exact nature of this action?
what is its exact mechanism? Is it ex-
clusiVely chemical, or is 1t alternately
chemical and mechanical? Does 1t
act by eiectrolysis or by vibratory
massage? Over all these delicate
questions hangs still a pail of mystery
But this does not prevent physiolo-
gists and therapeutists from making
common use Of electricity in all it's
forms, and in particular by the meth
DDS of electro puncture, by which they
sometimes obtain results both curious
and encouraging.
The method is used not only for de-
stroying undesirable growths of hair,
Graduating birth-marks, warts, ETC.,
but also with success for erasing tattoo
marks that had been supposed to be In
delible. Electricity, therefore, modi-
fies the tissue and liquids of the living
body when it traverses them, either
by provoking certain chemical reac-
lions or certain changes of states, or
by suspending or disturbing the nu-
triton of blood vessels and nerves.
These facts are perhaps not easily
explained, but they are undeniable, and
although the laws that govern them
remain hidden in obscurity, they none
the less manifest themselves by visible
and tangible effects, one of the most
common of which is decoloration.
1t is extremely rare that in the cases
noted above of the surgical use of cleo
tricity, 1t does not leave scar so dis
tinct that 1t alters the color of the
skin, on which appears a white spot Of
considerable size. 1t is probable that
1t exerts a peculiar selective action on
the coloring matter or pigment Of the
epidermis.
The epidermis consists Of three dis
tinct layers of cells, one above the 9TH
er. In the deepest layer the so-called
mucous layer of Malpighi," is found
the coloring matter to which the skin
owes its hue, and which is known as
pigment"
The pigment exists in all races in
the form Of brown granulations, min
gled with the cells of the mucous lay
err" The only difference in this re-
gard between negro and a white man
Is that In the negro these granulations
are more numerous and larger.
If we could, by any process whatev-
er, destroy or disorganize these pig
mentary infiltrations, which are, as it
were, natural tattoo marhN the skin
would present in the spots so treated,
even If it were the skin of a negro,
the characteristics of the albino's skin,
whose popularity is that 1t lacks pig
ment altogether.
Now it is neither impossible nor
even improbable, that electricity acts
on the pigment We have a right to
suppose that 1t does, since it always
leaves behind 1t light colored scars.
Hence, If you wish to bleach a KAT
mr. or a Zulu, Yolof or an Abyssinian,
instead Of running yourself by buying
soap and rice powder, set to work
to depigmentize him electrically.
1t is true that we have not yet gone
beyond theory, pure and simple We
have not yet been informed how we
SHAH, in practice, succeed in treating
at a single stroke all the pigment in
Negroes skin without exposing our
selves to the charge Of doing a bad
job. 1t remains to be discovered, also,
whether the negroes desire to change
their color. Perhaps the majority of
them would rather keep on as they
Gre.-Panama Star and Herald.