Evening star., 1955-01-31
Of Metals
Decides Ruciul CoIors
Titonium. Copper
And Nickel Hold Key
By Thomos z. Henry

There are nickel men, tttaniun men
and copper men, otherwise white, yell
low and black races.
Differences In proportion Of these
elements are largely responsible for
color differences in both skin and hair,
according to report to the American
Association of Sciences by Drs. H. XIX
kawa, z. Ogita and s. Fdjito Of Osaka
University.
The japanese scientists are geneti-
cists. They were interested in the prob
lem primarily because of the inherit-
ableness of color and started their
work with chemical ANALYSIS of the
hair of black, yellow and white rabbits.
The major distinction was in the met
ais Essentially the same results were
obtained from analysis of human hair
samples.
Metallic Content Of Hairs.
"White hair Of any race 1t Is
said, contains nickel in quantity.
golden or brown hair of the Caucasian
race contains titanium or molybdenuni
in quantity. The black hair of the
Mongolian race is rich in copper, CO.
lumbium and iron In addition to small
amounts of titaniun and molybdenun.
The black hair Of the Negro race con-
tains abundantly only copper and iron.
It is expected that similar results VIII
be obtained with human skin, Thus.
in literal sense. the descriptions OF
white, yellow and black races may be
replaced by the terms nickel, titaniunt
and copper races"
The same general principle, the Osaka
group found, applies to flsll colors. In
general copper was detected from black
skin and scales. inolybdenuIn from
red, titanium from yellow and
nickel from white.
Preliminary studies on colors OF bird
feathers gave quite similar results.
White plumage, DR.. Kikkawa and his
colleagues find, is associated chiefly
with nickel, yellow with titaniunn, red
with molybdenum. blue with copper,
green with columbium and brown with
iron. Combinations OF copper and mo-
lybdenum give purplish plumages.
The japanese group believes each pig
ment is produced by some engine with
a particular influence over some metal
and that each engine is controlled by
particular gene.
Study of hairs from reputed scalp
of yeti, the so-called "abominable
snow man" Of the high FIimalyas. by
DR.. Leon A. Hausman of Rutgers Uni
versity, shows that it did not come
from member Of the ape OF monkey
family, or from bear
tc Avaa ~ the utn1lAta
leading authorities on hair. The very
ancient scalp, obtained from Buddhist
monastery high on the slope Of Mount
Pumori was submitted to him by the
Bombay Natural History Society.
The "snow man" has been a subject
OF legend for more than century. 1t
is reputedly a ferocious. man-like
creature living in desolate. snowy
heights which explorers can penetrate
only at great peril. 1t allegedly kidnaps
women. Nobody living claims ever to
have seen one and the animal gem
orally was believed to be only a tribal
superstition. But returning expeditions
in 1851 and 1852 brought back actual
photographs Of footprints Of something
approaching mans size which lived
at attitudes far above those at which
humans could survive very long.
Fail 10 Find Trail.
The Bombay Natural History Society
expedition to find yeti didn't even
find q trail, but the monks at the Mount
Pumori monastery were insistent that
their yeti scalp was genuine, obtained
very long ago. A few hairs were extrac-
ted from 1t by stealth. Scientific opinion
has leaned to the belief that the yeti
is a langur. a scarce ape. which thrives
at high attitudes.
But Or. Hausman's studies show
clearly that the hairs obtained from
the monastery are not those Of any
ape. He believes that they probably
are from cap, not scalp, made from
the fur OF some large mammal with
extremely coarse hair. They may have
come from some animal which Is not
a native to Tibet and have been brought
by some traveller from thousands Of
miles away.
But DR.. Hausman has not found any
hair which comes close to matching 1t.