Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-07-17
DROWNED HAIRED AMERICANS
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, July II - Two
thousand Americans whose ances.
try Is American-born for three gen.
erations have been used as labora.
tory subjects In a study of some
racial characteristics. DIR. Alex S
Hrdlicka, of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition, has spent twelve years col
lecting data on the coloring of eyes
hair, and skin of this many "Old
Americans" and he reports some in
teresting findings.
Everywhere about us we see Am
orleans with blue eyes, gray eyes
green, brown and black eyes, in
every possible shade and mixture.
American hair, too, runs the gamut
| of natural colors in hair. But what
is the typical American coloring,
stripped, of course, of any rouge
henna, whitewash, hair dye OF
other DISCUSSES?
DIR. Hrdlicka's answer to this par
ticular question is about what most
| of us would expect. Two-thirds oil
the men and three-fourths of the
women who come of established
American families are found to have
skin of intermediate coloring
brownish, but not dark enough tc
be termed dusky or swarthy. In
the majority of these cases medium
brown hair goes with this kind OF
skin.
SO far as the eyes are concerned,
however, the scientists definition Of
medium is not so closely in line with
popular ideas. Most people would
| probably say offhand that brown
| eyes are the most common. AS q
matter of fact less than one-flfth OF
the people examined had pure
brown eyes, either light or dark. The
majority of the Old Americans had
eyes that the scientist calls mixed,
that is, light in color with specks
rings, or other traces of brown. Al
a short distance or on casual In
spection many eyes of this class
would probably pass for brown,
| But the scientist who looks for the
fine variations in nature finds 1t ad-
| visable to divide the human eye in
to fourteen color classes, and ever
then some individuals refuse to fit
into any one class.
Thus, among the Old Americans
examined there were a few whose
eyes did not match. The right eye
of one of these subjects was green
ish, while the left was medium blue
In another, the right eye was gray
with traces of brown and the left
was medium brown with traces of
gray. One woman had gray eyes, one
| n~oticeably lighter than the other,
This mismated condition of the
eyes, not infrequently seen in white
cats, is comparatively rare in hui
man beings since it was observed
in only ii out of the 1000 subjects
The eyes Of American women fol-
some obscure reason proved to bt
eight per cent darker, in the genera
run than those of the men, though
women are inclined to have fairel
skins.
Fermentation in the human body
is a subject which needs a great deal
more investigation, scientists de-
clare. The exact nature of the col
oring substance, or substances, II
still uncertain. The differences be
tween the sexes are also mysterious
No Bald Headed Women
One study shows that out of 2Ol
women between 20 and so year
not one was bald or nearly so. Ye
81 per cent of the men between 81
-
and so years were entirely or two
thirds bald. Women do lose theil
hair to some extent as the investiga
lions show; but the loss is slight
even in most elderly women. In
good many men, on the other hand
badness begins to set in before 3
years, and once the condition start
it generally makes more or les
steady progress.
DR.. Hrdlicka suggests that tn
weight of a woman's hair may ac
as a tonic to the scalp, and thu
promote the vitality of the hair
That women do not wear tight ft
ting hats is another oft repeated ex
PLANTATION of the difference in los
of hair between women and men
The subject, however, has neve
been thoroughly investigated.
In grayness of hair there is an
other unexplained difference be
tween the sexes. Grayness long be
fore old age is frequent I'm both me
and women, but at every age me
have a stronger tendency to tur
|, gray than women have. In a grou
of men under 80 years. 26 in a hun
: bred had begun to turn gray, Will
only about IS in a hundred wome
have any gray at the same ages.