The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-17
First Men Were Brunettes.

But Dr. WOOdruH believes that the nrSt
 men were undoubtedly brunettes, from
 whom blondness has gradually evolved
 with the requirement of their higher char
 acters. This brunetteness, he points out,
 is still retained occasionally as vestigal
 feature even until some months after
 birth, for 1t Is the commonest occur
 renee to find that babies when born have
 black hair which subsequently becomes
 naxen." There is also the opposite ten-
 dency, perhaps not noted by pr. Woodruff
 for blond children to develop into bru-
 nettes.
 The evolution of blondness he terms a
 matter of thousands of years, and regards
 ten thousand years as q reasonable time
 for the evolution of blopdness from the
 original European brunetteness. Indeed
 1t may have taken much longer, and It
 would not be a great blunder to place at
 10000 B. c. the original causes which
 forced into the bleak north the ancestors
 of the future Aryans or blonds. The Asi- attic broadheads who invaded Europe
 about 10000 B. C.. whose descendants we
 call the Alpine type, have evolved by nat
 ural selection a wonderfully light skin, but not blondness by any means. Though they have had these milleniums for this
 selection, they have not had the right
 conditions for the evolution of blondness.
 The innumerable mixed types are hybrid forms, without relation to environment.
 While light hair and dark eyes are rare.
 the combination of dark hair with light
 eyes Is common, particularly among the
 Irish and Alpine races of Central Flu
 rope. One type of these the white skin like blonds, and dark or black hair and heavily colored iris retifa, is also common in American cities. This Dr. Woodruff deems derivative from both eastern and western types, and doubtless a late evo- luton in migrated forms. though not a crossment, because in youth these types often have either yellow or jet black hair.
 While his type Is well adapted to city life, it is not so well adapted as the sal- low or swarthy. It is stated that bru- nettes are at distinct advantage in ur- ban life, since cities are almost univer- sally more brunette than the surrounding countries Is this because there is more light in the cities than in the forest home of blonds making brunettes necessary. or is it also because city folk are not outdoor workers; as a rule but confined to warm houses, where blondness is no advantage as to warmth, as they are warm enough already? City life is more like Mediterranean life, warm and light. Perhaps the intense summer heat and light of cities is the real reason for the relative unfitness of blonds and the bet
 ter fitness of brunettes. The brunette Asiatic Jew 1ourishes in New York City. Any one living in a city can convince himself of the universal law that the cities are more brunette than the surrounding country. Even in Maryland, which is of | the latitude of Southern Spain and Italy, blond families still survive in the country to a degree not found In Baltimore or Washington. If one takes a summer walk | in the green fields and green woods, mo- | tices the amount of reflected light and | then compares it with the light reflected | from the houses and streets of this city, | he can well understand why the blond is better off in the country and survives much longer. Nevertheless. there is too much light there also, and my observa- | tions show that the country blonds are suffering so much more than the city brunettes that their eventual disappear ance is safe prophecy"
 Red Hair a Blond Compromise. The red haired or rufous type of man is called a probable adjustment through natural selecting of extremely light blonds with fiaxen yellow hair who have migrat- ed from a dark country to lighter, or who have been subjected to a change in climate which brought in more light, per haps by clearer skins or the destruction of thick forests. Americans are such q mixture of all types. European and Asi- atic. that we find quite a large number | of these rufous types or reversonasi in | families where the red ancestor was for gotten" This type is quoted as chosen !! in the early centuries. | If brunettes live in cities. blonds live | on the waters. The brunette Is a land lubber The blond is now and always has been the best sailor. "He takes to wa | ter like duck, even after several gener- ations have lived on land. He Is the ! byachtsman of the world. the boat builder.