domen,* and even to affect the whole body. Bomare, in an
article cited by Blumenbach, mentions a French peasant
whose abdomen became fentitoly black during each pregnancy
;f and Camper: has given a particular account* 6f a
female of rank, who had naturally a white skin and h^bfeajti-
tiful complexion, but whenever; she. became pregnant, begah
immediately to grow brown:—u Vers la fin d esa gros'sesse/’ he
says, “ elle d6venait une veritable; N6gresse.”:j: After delivery
the dark colour gradually »disappeared. Dr. Strack, in
a work on intermittent fevers, which is cited by Soemmerring,^
mentions the ease of a man "who became,'after a fever, as
black as a Negro. Blumenbach says, that he possesses a
part of the skin taken from the abdomen of a beggar, which
is as black as the skin of an African. Haller, Ludwig1,-and
Albums Tfave recorded similar ■ instances, jj These facts are
quite sufficient to prove that independently of th e ; influenc#
of solar heatr a physical change may take place, connected
with the state of the constitution, which imparts a black hue
to the skin, similar to that which is natural* to the Africari rafce:.
This colouring matter is also liable to disappear By^ffo^
sorption in skins to which it is natural. Instances ’ar^'not
unfrequently observed in different cotintries inwhich Negroes
gradually lose their black colour, and becomeas- - ^ h f e Ss
Europeans. An example of this kind is^- recorded in the
fifty-seventh volume of the Philosophical Transactions. Klin---
kosch mentioned the case of a Negro, who lost his blackness
and became yellow,| and Caldani declares that a Negro who
was a shoemaker at Venice, was black when brought during
infancy to that city, but became gradually lighter, and had
the hue of a person labouring under a slight jaundice.jf •'
The black substance is capable,* Hike other products of
vascular cutis, of bemg regenerated when partially destroyed. *§
* Soemmerring, loc. c.
+ Camper, Kleine Schriften, Soemmerring, 47.
X “ Une autre,” says the learned writer, “ a toujours la jambe gauche noire
dans cette circonstance.”
§ Klinkosch, de vera natura Cuticulas Prag, 1775. Soemmerring, 1. c*
|| Caldani Institut. Physiol, p. 170.
The contrary has been asserted, and it has often been said
that oj$,atiices in Negroes remain always white; an assertion
which has been, ascertained by Mr. Lawrence* to be altogether,
without ground.
From these facts'it appears evident that a substance analogous
Jo. the mqcous pellicle^ which covers the cutis in the Negro»
liable- .tptibpysecreted.occasionally in white persons, and
that in the;N§ep> this m a tte r ^ . capable*, of being absorbed.
| t is therefore1 .a^safevlinference that ai substance exists in
Europeans, although in white races-the rete mucosum has
fiever beenj!demonstrated,'f‘ which is analogous to it in its
nature.^, As the^cutis is always wbfte, and the cuticle inor-
gafeevand su^c§pt‘ibfe, of little variety ija its atate, there must
be something interposed ^between the two on. which coloration
depends, and this.is probably analogous to the cutaneous
pigment in the African.
I t cannot J ^ i;doubted that the other dark-haired races of
men have the^mge colouring membrane, if So it ought to be
termed, g? tj*e. $ e g ro .. Albinos born jp-iuch races.are, as we
have, seen, white if then the cutis and epidermis are as in
other individuals, t^eirwhitenessmust depend on the want
o f the rete muepsium, as it is known to do in white Negroes,
or albinos of African descent. |
Paragraph 3.—Of the Hair.
The hairs issue from bulbs or roots, situated in the cellular
web under the cutis, These bulbs have an external vascular
root, which is probably the source whence the hair derives
its nourishment; there is besides a membranous tube, or
sheath, whicB envelopes the hair, and passes out with it
through the different layers of the skin. The hair itself consists
of an external horny covering, and an internal or vascular
part, termed medulla, or pith. The pith or medulla
* Lawrence’s Lectures, 1. c..
X Mr. Lawrence says that there is in the Hunterian collection, a portion of
white skin with the cuticle turned down; a small portion of thm transparent
pellicle has been subsequently separated from the cutis. In the instance mentioned
by Soemmerring of the cuticle separable into two thin layers, it is not improbable
that the interior pellicle is the representative of the middle skin.