The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-06-12
WAS ADAM A NEGRO?
of the Original Man by
English Scientist.

In the first OF a series of articles
upon anthropological data Prof. Ar
thur Thompson discusses the original
color of mankind and weighs some ovi-
dence bearing upon the question
whether the earliest races were black
or white.
AT the same time he mentions Alfred
Russell Walace's idea that primitive
man was Mongol. 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 Eskimos (also MongoIs) has beer
demonstrated, this view does not seen
SO very unlikely. Prof. Thompson char
acterizes the theory as suggestive, but
goes into none of these outside details
combining himself to a study of skin
hair, and their pigments.
Sorby, he says. isolated three pig
ments, using hair as the more con-
venient subject for experiment. II
light-colored hair brown red and vel
low pigment occur, to which in black
hair a black coIoring matter is added
and il is a remarkable fact that there
may be in negro's wool as muct
red pigment as in the European variety
sometimes alluded to as carrots
Again, when a piece of white skin is
grated, as is often done in modt- i sur
gerry, upon a black man, it becomes
black. while black upon a white man
loses its pigment. This, Prof. Thomp-
son thinks, supports the theory that
man has developed white skin from
black, rather than the other alterna-
tive.
Other interesting points are brought
forward. For instance. there is always
a 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 a corresponding development
freckles, and pigmented spots. similar
in structure TO the general skins OF
darker races, while dark-complcxicned
people among US have, in addition &c
the ordinary pigments, trace ct
the black coiCr of the negro, more COM
monty present in our hair. There is
not, however, enough 10 destroy the
racial fairness of our skin. though In
exceptional situations (such as in the
arm PITS its presence may be very evi-
dent.
As to the use of black skin. Darwin
limited that II might have been deveI-
oped in correlation with the immunity
from maIariaI diseases which ''darkies''
enjoy, as it is true that white sufferers
acquire a darker complexion.
In support of the idea that the an
cestors Of neCros and white men more
nearly resembled the latter in color,
a point not mentioned by Prof. Thomp-
son might be brought forward, and that
is that "pickaninHies'' al their birth
are not black in color. but of a dirty
gray. Ii original man were black. Just
as 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 Mail.