Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-07-17

DR.. Hrdlicka attributes the pre-.
valence of gray hair and early bald
ness to the state of our civilization
The hair tends toward an earlier
senility and loss, he says, because ii
is of less organic use to man living
under modern conditions than it
has been in the past, and nature
does not tolerate for long what has
become useless or weakened. Both
early grazing and physiological loss
of hair are a part of the trend OF
present evolution in civilized hui
manity. The prophecy is also made
that women will probably lose their
hair at an increasing rate, though
not to the extent common in men
Coloring Is Useful
fermentation is now generally
understood to be a protective de-
vice. Primitive man is said to have
had a brown skin, hazel to dark
brown eyes, and reddish brown tc
black hair. He lived in a warn re-
gion and needed protection against
the hot rays of the sun. In a later
era tribes spread away to the north.
The climate there was damp anG
chill. Men sought shelter IN houses
and wore warm clothing. Large
amounts of pigment became less i'm
portant to these people, and nature
economically reduced the supply
Thus, the blond, Nordio race emery
ed. The people of central Europe
lost some of their earlier colorina
too and became intermediate iE
type. Southern Europeans and
tropical groups were still exposed tc
great heat from the sun, and in
consequence they retained as much
coloring substance as was proved
needful.
Fair haired people are in the min
GRITTY in the worlds population, and
we are apt to think of black hair
as fairly common. But out of al
most a thousand girls of Old Amer
can stock there were found some
seven per cent of real blends, and
only one per cent with fully black
hair. Red headed women were
slightly less usual than blondes
These three variations from brown
hair were not quite so frequent
among the men examined.
One of the unexpected revelations
of the study in Old Americans is
that there does not appear to be 6
vast amount of difference in the
! coloring of the typical American and
the typical E~nglishman. 1t must be
taken into consideration that these
Americans examined come of stock
which has been in this country some
years, and that recent immigration
would undoubtedly lower the per-
centage of blond Americans. What
the comparison indicates is that
both Americans and English fal
into the medium pigmented group.
neither race being typically fair.
While the modern man and wo-
J man are said to be gradually dis
1 pensing with hair as an accessory
| of doubtful importance, pigmenta-
ton is thought by some scientists tc
be on the increase in both America
and England, due to climate, habits
and food in these countries.
Information of this sort regarding
racial characteristics Is not merely
enlightening. Anthropoligists say
that it can be put to great useful
ness. Identifying and studying the
typical American of the present anC
of the past and future are matters
of Importance to the social sciences
One anthropologist points on
that the governments of Europe
have called in advisers in miliar.
and financial lines. They have useC
experts in transportation and sub
sistence. But they have neve
thought 1t necessary to have ethnol
ogical advisers. The Versatile
treaty, he thinks, would have beer
a more satisfactory document If at
tention had been paid to the racia
inheritance of the nations concern