JOURNAL OF THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. Carter Blake on the Anthropological Papers read at Newcastle C. R. Markham on Quartz Cutting Instruments from Chanduy Dr. F. R. Fairbank on Flint Arrow Heads from Canada C. Carter Blake on the alleged Peculiar Characters, and assumed Anti- quity of the Human Cranium from the Neanderthal ... Alfred R. Wallace on the Origin of Human Races, etc. Guppy on the Capabilities of the Negro for Civilisation Farrar on the Universality of Belief in God, and in a Future State Burton and Carter Blake on Skulls from Annabom in the West Thurnam on the Two Principal forms of Crania in the Early Britons Bendyshe on the Precautions which ought to have been taken to ensure the health of British Troops had any been sent to Copenhagen THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL REVIEW. FEBRUARY, 1864. ON HUMAN HAIR AS A RACE-CHARACTER, EXAMINED BY THE AID OF THE MICROSCOPE. BY DR. PRUNER-BEY.. PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. FROM the highest antiquity has the human hair attracted the attention of observers; but, down to a very recent period, it was merely the contour and the external aspect which were taken into consideration. These two characters were thus at all times indicated as distinguishing nations and individuals. The terms λειότριχες, συλότριχες, žavboi, #uppoì, etc., constantly occur in Greek authors and their suc cessors. Modern science has somewhat enlarged the field of observation as regards colour; but it was only by the use of the microscope that we are enabled to add fresh characters to those accessible to the naked eye. It is by these means that Heusinger was enabled to indicate the elliptic form of the hair of the Negro. Koelliker confirmed this observation, and added other characters. Erdl applied the microscope to the study of the colour in animals. Brown finally, according to the tendency of the American school, published in the remarkable work of Schoolcraft, his researches, in which he endeavours to establish specific characters, or nearly so, for the hair of the Aryan, the Negro, the Chinese, and the American, both in the form of the bulb and the body, and also in the structure of the latter, at least as regards the presence or the absence of the so-called medullary canal. This question has for many years excited my warmest interest. * Read before the Anthropological Society of Paris, March 19, 1863. VOL. II.-NO. IV. B What, an anatomical system at present considered merely as a secretion of the skin, or at any rate as a simple appendage, should this represent clearly defined distinctive characters in the races of man inhabiting the globe? What, a single hair sufficient finally to distinguish one stock from another? At first, this seemed to me absolutely impossible. Nevertheless, on turning our attention to the animal kingdom as a whole, and specially to the vertebrate animals, the variety and importance of these appendages become incontestable at In fishes and amphibia they assume the form of scales; that of feathers in birds; and even in certain mammifers prickles are substituted for fleece. The felt of wild animals presents some distinct and constant characters in colour, texture, and distribution. In man, excepting some regions, as the face (in the male), the armpits, the pubes, etc., the surface presents generally only the rudiments of the fleece of animals; it is the hair of the head which distinguishes man in this respect. once. I do not enter in this paper into the minute or elementary structure ́of the human hair. In this respect man differs no more from the animal than in the other organic systems, as regards their ultimate elements; hence there can obtain no difference between human races. But, as we shall presently see, there is a great difference in the conformation of the bulb or the body, as seen in transverse sections; and such there is also in the relative volume, the disposition and the contents of the medullary canal, which may even be absent. These characters can only be studied by the aid of the microscope. I have thought it proper microscopically to examine also the down on different regions of the body in individuals belonging to our race; the apes also, specially the anthropoids, seemed to me to deserve a place in this investigation. I take this opportunity to return my sincere thanks to those honourable savants who have furnished me with samples of hair for microscopic examination. Without the kind aid of Messrs. Quatrefages, E. Rousseau, de Montagu, d'Abbadie, l'Abbé Domeneck, E. Duhousset, and Potteau, this unpretending treatise would probably never have seen the light. I sincerely regret that, for certain races which inhabited or still inhabit North America and High Asia, I had no materials at hand. I would, however, fain believe that the varied forms of human hair are all represented by the samples I had at my disposal, and that, consequently, those peoples I was compelled to omit may be ranged by the side of such made known in these researches. |