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The eminent cul- tural anthropologist discusses the rela- tion between race and culture; nation- alism; international relations; interracial relations; and the comparison of prim- itive culture with modern civilization.

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ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

FRANZ BOAS

With a New Introduction by RUTH BUNZEL

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The Norton Library W • W • NORTON & COMPANY

NEW YORK

INC

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Copyright (r) 1962 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright 1928 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Renewed 1956 by Norman Boas

Copyright 1932 by W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Renewed I960 by Helene Boas Yampolsky

FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE NORTON LIBRARY 1962

Books That Live

The Norton imprint on a book means that in the pubhsher's

estimation it is a book not for a single season but for the years.

W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 34567 89

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CONTENTS
Introduction	4
I, What Is Anthropology?	II
II. The Problem of Race	i8
III, The Interrelation of Races	63
IV, Nationalism	81
V, Eugenics	106
VI, Criminology	122
VII, Stability of Culture	132
VIII, Education	168
IX, Modern Life and Primitive Culture	202

INTRODUCTION

"The American Anthropological Association repudiates statements now appearing in the United States that Negroes are biologically and in innate mental ability inferior to whites, and reaffirms the fact that there is no scientifically established evidence to justify the exclusion of any race from the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. The basic principles of equality of opportunity and equality before the law are compatible with all that is known about human biology. All races possess the abilities needed to participate fully in the democratic way of life and in modern technological civilization."

— Passed at the Annual Meeting of the Council of Fellows of the American Anthropological Association, November 17, 1961.

On November 17, 1961, the Council of Fellows of the American Anthropological Association meeting at Philadelphia, the cradle of American democracy, passed this resolution, thus once more providing scientific support for those fighters for equality and brotherhood for whom democracy is a moral issue. At this moment of history when the specter of racism is once more walking abroad, it is especially fortunate and appropriate to have reissued in a popular edition the definitive statement on race and culture by the man who more than anyone else was responsible for providing the conceptual framework and scientific underpinnings for the anthropological position on this important con- temporary problem. Franz Boas wrote Anthropology and Modern Life as a declaration of faith after more than thirty years of research in the field of race and culture. An earlier publication on the same theme was translated into German {Kultur und Rasse, Leipzig, 1914) and was eventually honored by a prominent place in the Nazi auto-da-je.

ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE 5

When Boas first turned to anthropology in the closing decades of the nineteenth century, "ethnography" consisted largely of unsyste- matic observations of primitives by untrained observers and travelers, while "ethnology" consisted mainly of speculations on the history of civilization, with little reference to observed facts. Both approaches to the science of man were equally unrelated to the problems of modern life. So long as "savages" were regarded as a different species or an inferior and undeveloped branch of the human race, little could be learned from them, and the study of their strange customs had a purely antiquarian and collector's interest. Boas, however, early rec- ognized the broader implications of anthropological studies. Writing in 1889 he said, "Investigations [of the different forms of family structure] show that emotional reactions which we feel as natural are in reality culturally determined. It is not easy for us to understand that the emotional relation between father and son should be different from the one to which we are accustomed, but knowledge of the life of people with a social organization different from ours brings about situations in which conflicts or mutual obligations arise of a character quite opposed to those we are accustomed to and that run counter to what we consider "natural' emotional reactions to those to whom we are related by blood. The data of ethnology prove that not only our knowledge, but also our emotions are the result of the forms of our social life and of the history of the people to whom we belong. If we desire to understand the development of human culture we must try to free ourselves of these shackles. . . . We must lay aside many points of view that seem to us self-evident, because in early times they were not self-evident. It is impossible to determine a priori those parts of our mental life that are common to mankind as a whole and those due to the culture in which we live. A knowledge of the data of ethnology enables us to attain this insight. Therefore it enables us also to view our own civilization objectively."

One of the first controversies of the many that filled Boas' turbulent life was over the arrangement of museum collections, Boas staunchly defending his geographical and tribal classification against upholders of the more traditional arrangements by types of artifacts. He felt that one of the functions of a museum was to "educate and entertain" and that ethnological collections should be presented so as to illustrate ways of life rather than scientific typologies. His principles won out in all American museums (except the United States National Museum) as well as in many European museums. This was one of the many ways

6 INTRODUCTION

in which Boas sought to use anthropology to free men's minds of the yoke of traditional patterns of thought by confronting audiences with different and coherent styles of life.

Boas was educated in the tradition of liberal romanticism that pro- duced Carl Schurz and the philosophical anarchists of the nineteenth century. He was the essential protestant; he valued autonomy above all things and respected the unique potentialities of each individual. He believed that man was a rational animal and could, with persistent effort, emancipate himself from superstition and irrationality and lead a sane and reasonable life in a good society — although he was fully aware that humanity had a long way to go to achieve this goal. This partly explains his unalterable opposition to Freud and psychoanalysis with its essentially tragic view of life and its acceptance of irrationality as an essential part of the human condition. During the last years of his life (he died during World War II) a deep depression over- whelmed him as he watched the rising tides of hatred and war. But although age and illness made him feel helpless, his faith in man never wavered. ""If I were young I would do something," he said to a colleague who had remarked how difficult it must be for their stu- dents growing up in the midst of the Depression and under the threat of war. Always the activist!

For Boas, "doing something" always meant using his science in the cause of man. His object was the enlightenment of mankind through anthropology. He was a tireless lecturer, although he disliked public appearances and partial paralysis made speaking difficult for him. He was an indefatigable contributor to scientific journals and mass media, and a constant writer of "'letters to the editor." As a teacher his influ- ence was inestimable. He established anthropology as an academic discipline in America. Alexander F. Chamberlain, his student at Clark University, won the first doctorate in anthropology to be granted by an American university, and for more than forty years almost every anthropologist in America came directly or indirectly under Boas' in- fluence. Among his students in the early days at Columbia were such distinguished anthropologists as Alfred L. Kroeber, Robert Lowie, Alexander Goldenweiser, Edward Sapir, Clark Wissler, Paul Radin, and Leslie Spier. During the twenties Ruth Benedict, Margaret Mead, Melville J. Herskovits and Otto Klineberg were all Boas students, as> well as a host of less well-known scholars who set up departments and conducted research in all parts of the world. As a teacher Boas was a stern taskmaster; he made no concessions to ignorance. He gave

ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE 7

students no reading lists or other aids; he opened his course in Bio- metrics with the statement, "I assume that you all know the calculus. If not, you will learn it." In his seminar he assigned books in Dutch or Portuguese; no student would dare to say to Boas, "I don't read Dutch." Somehow or other the student learned to cope. Boas rarely suggested subjects for dissertations; a student who had been studying anthropology for two years and had found no problem he wished to pursue was not worth bothering with. He would discuss general prob- lems with students, but would not criticize or look at unfinished work. His criticisms were terse — "You have entirely missed the point" — and he almost never praised. One had to be tough, independent, and dedi- cated to survive. He was a formidable teacher and a formidable man. Yet, in spite of his apparent aloofness he was deeply concerned about his students, their lives and their careers, but generally in terms of what he thought was good for them. Although he valued autonomy, he was frequently high-handed. He arranged field trips and wangled jobs for students without consulting them and was deeply hurt if they refused to accept his arrangements. But he never wavered in his loyalty to students, however much he might disapprove of them. And his students, on their part, though some of them quarreled bitterly with him on theoretical and personal grounds, never lost their respect and loyalty. An esprit de corps united the group that shared the struggle to establish their science and communicate their ideas. It would be hard to duplicate today the ties that bound student to teacher and student to fellow sudent.

One of the areas in which Boas felt enlightenment was needed was in the problem of race. In the early paper already quoted he was pointing out the need to distinguish between those characteristics of a people which were biological and inherited and those which were acquired as part of that people's culture. This problem continued to occupy him throughout his life; it provides the unifying theme of Anthropology and Modern Life. Whenever he was examining the distribution of physical types of man, or national characteristics, or crime, or the rates of growth and maturation of children, he endeav- ored in carefully designed researches to separate man's culturally acquired characteristics from his innate endowment. Calling on his- tory as his witness, he always insisted that the burden of proof was on those who would attribute differences to biological causes. Boas was trained in the natural sciences; what he carried over to his anthro- pological studies from his training in physics was not a specific method,

8 INTRODUCTION

for he realized early in his career that the methods of one discipline could not be applied to another and that the formulations of a social science must be of a different order from those of a laboratory science. He brought to anthropology rigorous standards of proof, a critical skepticism toward all generalizations, and the physicist's unwillingness to accept any generalization or explanation as anything more than a useful hypothesis until it had been clearly demonstrated that no other explanation was possible. This aspect of Boas' theoretic approach especially irked those of his colleagues who would have liked more facile generalization and who regarded Boas' standards of proof as a "methodological strait jacket."

In the field of physical anthropology he was a great innovator; he was interested only in the study of living people. The study of fossils and skeletal materials, which constituted a large part of the physical anthropology of the nineteenth century, did not interest him. He was dissatisfied with current definitions of race based on the selection of extreme forms as "pure" types, or the equally unsatisfactory definitions based on crude statistical "averages." He substituted populations, localized in space and time, for those vague entities, "races," as the units of study, thus foreshadowing contemporary trends in genetics. His observations on the instability of human types ("Changes in the Bodily Form of the Descendants of Immigrants," 1911) struck a body blow to theories of the immutability of racial characteristics. His conclusions aroused storms of criticism but were later fully corrobo- rated. His studies of the growth of children had far-reaching results ; r not only did he introduce the concept of physiological as distinct from 1 chronological age, with its influence on pediatrics and education, but his studies of children in different socio-economic backgrounds and especially his observations on the retardation of children in orphanages were instrumental in altering child-care programs and in the adoption of the foster-home plan.

In his emphasis on family lines, rather than race, as the mechanism of inheritance, he was establishing the scientific basis of individualism. Equality of races did not mean equality of individuals. Each individual human being is unique, the product of his own particular heredity, shared only by an identical twin, and of his life experience, including his culture. In a truly democratic society each individual, regardless of color, class, or sex is entitled to equal participation in the rewards of his culture, and the fullest development of his unique potentialities. Boas made his declaration of human rights in the name of science.

ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE 9

When Boas first visited the Eskimo he was confronted with the paradox of the unity and variety of human cultures — plus ga change plus c'est la meme chose. Of the Eskimo he wrote: "After a long and intimate intercourse with the Eskimo, it was with feelings of sorrow and regret that I parted from my Arctic friends. I had seen that they enjoyed life, and a hard life, as we do; that nature is also beautiful to them; that feelings of friendship also root in the Eskimo heart; that, although the character of their life is so rude as compared to civilized life, the Eskimo is a man as we are; that his feelings, his virtues and his shortcomings are based in human nature, like ours."^

These two aspects of cultural anthropology were always present in his thinking and writing — the unity of man as a species, the univer- sality of the basic pattern of his culture — the human biogram, as it came to be called — and human ingenuity in finding solutions to the problems of living in the various situations in which the accidents of time and history had placed him.

But Boas was no "cultural relativist" in the sense of thinking that there were no ethical absolutes. Eating one's neighbor is not a desirable or acceptable practice merely because the Eskimos do it from need and the Papuans from religious convictions. Such practices serve a function within the particular cultural settings in which they are found. The anthropologist must bring to the study of these phenomena the same detachment with which the biologist observes the predatory habits of tigers — who are not so predatory as the common stereotype would make them. But because anthropologists are studying human beings, and because we are involved with mankind and, in a deep sense, are our brothers* keepers, this detachment is hard to achieve without confusing moral sensibilities. We have not had to live with the daily prospect of starvation; we have not been taught to believe that the earth must be fertilized with human blood- if it is to bear. We can afford to value each human life.

One of the popular misconceptions about Boas was that he was an anti-evolutionist. True, he did oppose the ethnocentric nineteenth- century version of cultural evolution — that mankind had evolved in a uniform series of stages from "savagery" to mid- Victorian England, and that all existing forms of culture were to be evaluated in terms of their similarity or dissimilarity to this most highly evolved culture.

^ Quoted by Melville J. Herskovits in Franz Boas: The Science of Man in the Making, 1953.

lo INTRODUCTION

But he believed, as must all who look at the long record of man's life on this planet, in cultural evolution. It was the method and the ethno- centric bias that he sought to correct. He believed not only in evolu- tion, but in progress — specifically in two fields of human activity ; in the growth of knowledge with its corollary of technology and man's increased control of his environment, and in man's growing control of his aggression which has enabled him to live at peace with ever larger groups of his fellows. Boas did not have available to him the great mass of material on primate behavior now extant which docu- ments the devices in the animal world for maintaining peace within the group and between groups. He shared the nineteenth-century "tooth and claw" view of the animal world and visualized early man as living in a state of constant conflict. But he was right in recognizing the constant trend toward integrating larger and larger groups that was not only the result but the necessary condition of the advance in technology. In 1928 he saw that the inevitable next step was the in- tegration of all mankind into one fellowship, since the interdependence of nations was making national rivalry untenable. Boas died in 1942, before the bomb fell on Hiroshima and the development of man's capacity to destroy himself made integration into one social system within which warfare was interdicted the very basis of survival.

Anthropology and Modern Life and its predecessor. The Mind of Primitive Man, are unpretentious books; they are written without jargon or pedantry; descriptive and illustrative material is cut to a minimum. But they are among the books which have changed men's minds. If some of the ideas developed in them now seem self-evident it is because they have become part of our thinking in the course of the more than thirty years since they were written. But old ways of thinking die hard and lingering deaths. It was necessary in I96I for the American Anthropological Association to reaffirm its stand on racial equality. There are many who feel that only social systems that resemble ours are deserving of support; that the riches with which nature has blessed this country should be shared only with those who share our views. As we face the emerging nations of Africa and Asia we must take a long look backward at man's history on this earth and a long look forward to the next step in his evolution.

Columbia University

New York

January 15, 1962 RuTH BuNZEL

CHAPTER I WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?

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Anthropology is often considered a collection of J~\. curious facts, telling about the peculiar appear- ance of exotic people and describing their strange cus- toms and beliefs. It is looked upon as an entertaining diversion, apparently without any bearing upon the conduct of life of civilized communities.

This opinion is mistaken. More than that, I hope to demonstrate that a clear understanding of the principles of anthropology illuminates the social proc- esses of our own times and may show us, if we are ready to listen to its teachings, what to do and what to avoid.

To prove my thesis I must explain briefly what anthropologists are trying to do.

It might appear that the domain of anthropology, of "the science of man," is preoccupied by a whole array of sciences. The anthropologist who studies bodily form is confronted by the anatomist who has spent centuries in researches on the gross form and minute structure of the human body. The physiologist and the psychologist devote themselves to inquiries

12 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

into the functioning of body and mind. Is there, then, any justification for the anthropologist to claim that he can add to our fund of knowledge?

There is a difference between the work of the anthropologist and that of the anatomist, physi- ologist, and psychologist. They deal primarily with the typical form and function of the human body and mind. Minor differences such as appear in any series of individuals are either disregarded or considered as peculiarities without particular significance for the type, although sometimes suggestive of its rise from lower forms. The interest centers always in the individual as a type, and in the significance of his appearance and functions from a morphological, physiological or psychological point of view. y To the anthropologist, on the contrary, the indi- / vidual appears important only as a member of a racial or a social group. The distribution and range of dif- ferences between individuals, and the characteristics as determined by the group to which each individual belongs are the phenomena to be investigated. The distribution of anatomical features, of physiological functions and of mental reactions are the subject mat- ter of anthropological studies.

It might be said that anthropology is not a single science, for the anthropologist presupposes a knowl- edge of individual anatomy, physiology and psychol- ogy, and applies this knowledge to groups. Every one of these sciences may be and is being studied from an anthropological point of view.

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? 13

The group, not the individual, is always the pri-- mary concern of the anthropologist. We may investi- gate a racial or social group in regard to the distribu- tion of size of body as measured by weight and stature. The individual is important only as a member of the group, for we are interested in the factors that determine the distribution of forms or functions in the group. The physiologist may study the effect of strenuous exercise upon the function of the heart. The anthropologist accepts these data and investi- gates a group in which the general conditions of life make for strenuous exercise. He is interested in their effect upon the distribution of form, function and be- havior among the individuals composing the group or upon the group as a whole.

The individual develops and acts as a member of a racial or a social group. His bodily form is de- termined by his ancestry and by the conditions under which he lives. The functions of the body, while con- trolled by bodily build, depend upon external condi- tions. If the people live by choice or necessity on an exclusive meat diet, their bodily functions will differ from those of other groups of the same build that live on a purely vegetable diet; or, conversely, different racial groups that are nourished in the same way may show a certain parallelism in physiological behavior. ^ Many examples can be given showing that people of essentially the same descent behave differently in different types of social setting. The mental reactions / of the Indians of the western plateaus, a people of

14 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

simple culture, differ from those of the ancient Mexi- cans, a people of the same race, but of more complex organization. The European peasants differ from the inhabitants of large cities ; the American-born descend- ants of immigrants differ from their European ances- tors; the Norse Viking from the Norwegian farmer in the northwestern States; the Roman republican from his degenerate descendants of the imperial period; the Russian peasant before the present revolution from the same peasant after the revolution.

The phenomena of anatomy, physiology and psychology are amenable to an individual, nonan- thropoiogical treatment, because it seems theoretically possible to isolate the individual and to formulate the problems of the variation of form and function in such a way that the social or racial factor is appar- ently excluded. This is quite impossible in all basically social phenomena, such as economic life, social organ- ization of a group, religious ideas and art.

The psychologist may try to investigate the mental processes of artistic creation. Although the processes may be fundamentally the same everywhere, the very act of creation implies that we are not dealing with the artist alone as a creator but also with his reaction to the culture in which he lives and that of his fellows to the work he has created.

The economist who tries to unravel economic proc- esses must operate with the social group, not with individuals. The same may be said of the student of social organization. It is possible to treat social

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? 15

organization from a purely formal point of view, to demonstrate by careful analysis the fundamental con- cepts underlying it. For the anthropologist this is the starting point for a consideration of the dynamic effects of such organization as manifested in the life of the individual and of the group.

The student of linguistics may investigate the "norm" of linguistic expression at a given time and the mechanical processes that give rise to phonetic changes; the psychological attitude expressed in lan- guage; and the conditions that bring about changes of meaning. The anthropologist is more deeply inter- ested in the social aspect of the linguistic phenome- non, in language as a means of communication and in the interrelation between language and culture.

In short, when discussing the reactions of the indi- vidual to his fellows we are compelled to concentrate our attention upon the society in which he lives. We cannot treat the individual as an isolated unit. He must be studied in his social setting, and the question is relevant whether generalizations are possible by which a functional relation between generalized social data and the form and expression of individual life can be discovered; in other words, whether any gen- erally valid laws exist that govern the life of society.

A scientific inquiry of this type is concerned only with the interrelations between the observed phe- nomena, in the same way as physics and chemistry are interested in the forms of equilibrium and move- ment of matter, as they appear to our senses. The

i6 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

question of the usefulness of the knowledge gained is entirely irrelevant. The interest of the physicist and chemist centers in the development of a complete understanding of the intricacies of the outer world. A discovery has value only from the point of view of shedding new light upon the general problems of these sciences. The applicability of experience to technical problems does not concern the physicist. What may be of greatest value in our practical life does not need to be of any interest to him, and what is of no value in our daily occupations may to him be of fundamental value. The only valuation of dis- coveries that can be admitted by pure science is their significance in the solution of general abstract prob- lems.

While this standpoint of pure science is applicable also to social phenomena, it is easily recognized that these concern our own selves much more immediately, for almost every anthropological problem touches our most intimate life.

The course of development of a group of children depends upon their racial descent, the economic con- dition of their parents and their general well-being. A knowledge of the interaction of these factors may give us the power to control growth and to secure the best possible conditions of life for the group. All vital and social statistics are so intimately related to policies to be adopted or to be discarded that it is not quite easy to see that the interest in our problems, when considered from a purely scientific point of

WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? 17

view, is not related to the practical values that we ascribe to the results.

[" It is the object of the following pages to discuss problems of modern life in the light of the results of anthropological studies carried on from a purely analytical point of view. r For this purpose it will be necessary to gain clarity I in regard to two fundamental concepts: race and stability of culture. These will be discussed in their proper places.

CHAPTER II THE PROBLEM OF RACE

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IN THE present cultural conditions of mankind we observe, or observed at least until very recent time, a cleavage of cultural forms according to racial types. The contrast between European and East Asiatic civilizations was striking, until the Japanese began to introduce European patterns. Still greater appeared the contrasts between Europeans, native Australians, African Negroes and American Indians. It is, therefore, but natural that much thought has been given to the problem of the interrelation between race and culture. Even in Europe are found striking cultural differences between North Europeans and people of the Mediterranean, between West and East Europeans, and these are correlated with differences in physical appearance. This explains why number- less books and essays have been and are being written based on the assumption that each race has its own mental character determining its cultural or social behavior. In America particularly, fears are being expressed of the effects of intermixture of races, of a

modification or deterioration of national character on

18

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 19

account of the influx of new types into the population of our country, and policies of controlling the growth of the population are being proposed and laws based on these assumptions have been enacted.

In Melanesia the conflict of races finds expression in another way. In cases of intermarriages between a White man and a native woman the widow is liable to lose both the property left by her husband and the control of her children, and she is compelled, even if well educated, either to starve or to marry a native and to resume native life. This has happened even when the husband willed his property to his wife.

In South Africa the economic needs of natives and Whites have created sharp conflicts. A law was passed reserving certain districts exclusively for Whites, others exclusively for natives. The immedi- ate result of this action has been that the natives were driven out by force from the White reserva- tions, while the Whites who had settled in native reservations refused to go. The general policy of the Boers has been an attempt to suppress and exploit the native population.

The differences of cultural outlook and of bodily appearance have given rise to antagonisms that are rationalized as due to instinctive racial antipathies.

There is little clarity in regard to the term "race." We know only populations and we have to determine in how far population (or local race) and race are identical or distinct. When we speak of racial char-

20 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

acteristics we mean those traits that are determined by heredity in each race and in which all members of the race participate. Comparing the color of skin, eyes and hair of Swedes and Negroes, slight pig- mentation is a hereditary racial characteristic of the Swede, deep pigmentation of the Negro. The straight or wavy hair of the Swede, the frizzly hair of the Negro, the narrowness and elevation of the nose among the Swedes, its width and flatness among the Negroes, all these are hereditary racial traits because practically all the Swedes have the one group of char- acteristics, all the Negroes the other.

In other respects it is not so easy to define racial traits. Anatomists cannot with certainty differentiate between the brains of a Swede and of a Negro. The brains of individuals of each group vary so much in form that it is often difficult to say, if we have no other criteria, whether a certain brain belongs to a Swede or to a Negro.

The nearer two populations are related the more traits they will have in common. A knowledge of all the bodily traits of a particular individual from Den- mark does not enable us to identify him as a Dane. If he is tall, blond, blue-eyed, long-headed and so on he might as well be a Swede. We also find individuals of the same bodily form in Germany, in France and we may even find them in Italy. Identification of an individual as a member of a definite population (or local race) is not possible.

Whenever these conditions prevail, we cannot

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 21

speak of racial heredity. In a strict sense the identifi- cation of a population as a race would require that all the members of the population partake of certain traits, — such as the hair, pigmentation and nose form of the Negro, as compared to the corresponding fea- tures among the North European. When only some members of each population have such distinguishing traits, while others are, in regard to their outer appearance or functioning, alike, then these traits are no longer true racial characteristics. Their significance is the less, the greater the number of individuals of each population that in regard to the feature in ques- tion may be matched. North Italians are round- headed, Scandinavians long-headed. Still, so many different forms are represented in either series, and other bodily forms are so much alike that it would be impossible to claim that an individual selected at random viust be a North Italian or a Scandinavian. Extreme forms in which the local characteristics are most pronounced might be identified with a fair de- gree of probability, but intermediate forms might belong to either group. The bodily traits of the two groups are not racial characteristics in the strict sense of the term. Although it is possible to describe the most common types of these groups by certain metric and descriptive traits, not all the members of the groups conform to them.

The bodily forms of Italians may serve as an ex- ample. The two most strongly contrasting types in Italy are the Piemontese and the Sardinians. We have

22 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

records of the head forms, stature and hair color of these two groups. If I should assign, according to these three traits, individuals belonging to two iden- tical populations entirely by chance to the one or the other I should err 125 times in 1,000 attempts. If I should have to decide whether they are Piemontese or Sardinians I should err 43 times in 1,000 attempts. Notwithstanding the great differences between the two groups the certainty of assignment is only one third of that of a chance assignment.

We are easily misled by general impressions. Most of the Swedes are blond, blue-eyed, tall and long- headed. This causes us to formulate in our minds the ideal of a Swede and we forget the variations that occur in Scandinavia. If we talk of a Sicilian we think of a swarthy, short person, with dark eyes and dark hair. Individuals differing from this type are not in our mind when we think of a "typical" Sicilian. The more uniform a people the more strongly are we impressed by the "type." Every country impresses us as inhabited by a certain type, the traits of which are determined by the most frequently occurring forms. This, however, does not tell us anything in regard to its hereditary composition and the range of its variations. The "type" is formed quite subjectively ^<v on the basis of our everyday experience.

We must also remember that the "type" is more or less an abstraction. The characteristic traits are found rarely combined in one and the same individual, although their frequency in the mass of the popula-

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 23

tion induces us to imagine a typical individual in which all these traits appear combined.

The subjective value of the "type" appears also from the following consideration. Suppose a Swede, from a region in which blondness, blue eyes, tall stature prevail in almost the whole population, should visit Scotland and express his experiences naively. He would say that there are many individuals of Swedish type, but that besides this another type inhabits the country, of dark complexion, dark hair and eyes, but tall and long-headed. The population would seem to represent two tjq^es, not that biologi- cally the proof would have been given of race mix- ture; it would merely be an expression due to earlier experiences. The unfamiliar type stands out as something new and the inclination prevails to con- sider the new type as racially distinct. Conversely, a Scotchman who visits Sweden would be struck by the similarity between most Swedes and the blond Scotch, and he would say that there is a very large number of the blond Scotch with whom he is familiar, without reaching the conclusion that his own type is mixed.

We speak of racial types in a similar way. When we see American Indians we recognize some as look- ing like Asiatics, others like East Europeans, still others are said to be of a Jewish cast. We classify the variety of forms according to our previous experiences and we are inclined to consider the divergent forms that are well established in our consciousness as pure types, particularly if they appear as extreme forms.

24 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

Thus the North European blond and the Armenian with his high nose and his remarkably high head which, when seen in profile, rises abruptly without a backward bulge, from the nape of the neck, appear as pure types.

Biologically speaking, this is an unjustifiable as- sumption. Extreme forms are not necessarily pure racial types. We do not know how much their de- scendants may vary among themselves and what their ancestry may have been. Even if it were shown that the extreme types were of homogeneous descent, this would not prove that the intermediate types might not be equally homogeneous.

It is well to remember that heredity means the transmission of anatomical and functional character- istics from ancestor to offspring. A population con- sists of many family lines whose descent from com- mon ancestors cannot be proved.

The children of each couple represent the heredi- tarily transmitted qualities of their ancestors. Such a group of brothers and sisters is called a fraternity.

Not all the members of a fraternity are alike. They scatter around a certain middle value. If the typical distribution of forms in all the groups of brothers and sisters that constitute the population were alike, then we could talk of racial heredity, for each fra- ternity would represent the racial characteristics. We cannot speak of racial heredity if the fraternities are different, so that the distribution of forms in one family is different from that found in another one.

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 25

In this case the fraternities represent distinctive hereditary family lines. Actually in all the known populations the single family lines as represented by fraternities show a considerable amount of variation which indicates that the hereditary characteristics of the families are not the same, a result that may be expected whenever the ancestors have distinct or separable heritable characteristics. In addition to this we may observe that a fraternity found in one race may be duplicated by another one in another race; in other words, that the hereditary characteristics found in one race may not belong to it exclusively, but may belong also to other races.

This may be illustrated by an extreme case. If I wish to know "the type" of the New Yorker, I may not pick out any one particular family and claim that it is a good representative of the type. I might happen to select a family of pure English descent; and I might happen to strike an Irish, Italian, Jewish, Ger- man, Armenian or Negro family. All these types are so different and, if inbred, continue their types so con- sistently that none of them can possibly be taken as a representative New Yorker. Conditions in France are similar. I cannot select at random a French family and consider its members as typical of France. They may be blond Northwest Europeans, darker Central Europeans or of Mediterranean type. In New York as well as in France the family lines are so diverse that there is no racial unity and no racial heredity.

Matters are different in old, inbred communities.

26 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

If a number of families have intermarried for cen- turies without appreciable addition of foreign blood they will all be closely related and the same ancestral traits will appear in all the families. Brothers and sisters in any one family may be quite unlike among themselves, but all the family lines will have consider- able likeness. It is much more feasible to obtain an impression of the general character of the population by examining a single family than in the preceding cases, and a few families would give us a good pic- ture of the whole group. Conditions of this type pre- vail among the landowners in small European villages. They are found in the high nobility of Europe and also among some isolated tribes. The Eskimos of North Greenland, for instance, have been isolated for centuries. Their number can never have exceeded a few hundred. There are no rigid rules prescribing marriages between relatives, so that we may expect that unions were largely dictated by chance. The an- cestors of the tribe were presumably a small number of families who happened to settle there and whose blood flows in the veins of all the members of the present generation. The people all bear a considerable likeness, but unfortunately we do not know in how far the family lines are alike.

We have information of this kind from one of the isolated Tennessee valleys in which people have inter- married among themselves for a century. The family lines in this community are very much alike.

In cases of this kind it does not matter whether

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 27

the ancestry is homogeneous or belongs to quite dis- tinct races. As long as there is continued inbreeding the family lines will become alike. The differences of racial descent will rather appear in the differences between brothers and sisters, some of whom will lean towards one of the ancestral strains, others to the other. The distribution of different racial forms in all the various families will be the more the same, the longer the inbreeding without selection continues. We have a few examples of this kind. The Bastaards of South Africa, largely an old mixture of Dutch and Hottentot, and the Chippewa of eastern Canada, de- scendants of French and Indians, the mixed blood of Kisar, one of the islands of the Malay archipelago, descendants of Dutch and Malay, are inbred com- munities. Accordingly, the family lines among them are quite similar, while the brothers and sisters in each family differ strongly among themselves.

In modern society, particularly in cities, conditions are not favorable to inbreeding. The larger the area inhabited by a people, the denser and the more mobile the population, the less are the families inbred and the more may we expect very diverse types of family lines.

The truth of this statement may readily be demon- strated. Notwithstanding the apparent homogeneity of the Swedish nation, there are many different family lines represented. Many are "typical" blond Swedes, but in other families dark hair and brown eyes are

28 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

hereditary. The range of hereditary forms is consider- able.

It has been stated before that many individuals of Swedish type may be duplicated in neighboring countries. The same is true of family lines. It would not be difficult to find in Denmark, Germany, Hol- land or northern France families that might appar- ently just as well be Swedes; or in Sweden families that might as well be French or German.

This may be interpreted in one of two ways. It may be that the Swedish, German, Dutch, and north- ern French types are each of homogeneous ancestry but so variable that similar lines occur in all the groups; or the variations may be due to an intermin- gling of fundamentally different racial types, each of which is quite stable.

If we assume the former alternative we must say that the hereditary characteristics are not "racially" determined, but belong to family lines that occur in all these local groups. In this case the term "racial heredity" loses its meaning. We can speak solely of "heredity in family lines."

We may also assume that the population has origi- nated through a mixture of distinct types. We have seen that our concept of types is based on subjective experience. On account of the preponderance of "typi- cal" Swedes we are inclined to consider all those of different type as not belonging to the racial type, as foreign admixtures. There is a somewhat distinct t3^e in Sweden in the old mining districts which were first

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 29

worked by Walloons and it is more than probable that the greater darkness of complexion in this region is due to the influx of Walloon blood. We are very ready to explain every deviation from a type in this way. In many cases this is undoubtedly correct, for intermingling of distinct types of people has been going on for thousands of years; but we do not know to what extent a type may vary when no admixture of foreign blood has occurred. The experience of ani- mal breeders proves that even with intensive inbreed- ing of pure stock there always remains a considerable amount of variation between individuals. We have no evidence to show to what extent variations of this kind might develop in a pure human race and it is not probable that satisfactory evidence will ever be forthcoming, because we have no pure races.

Even with the most intense amount of inbreeding and the most uniform characteristics of ancestors we must always expect a certain amount of variation of family lines, because the heritable characteristics are separable. Certain heritable forms may occur in one group of offspring, others in another. Uniformity could result only if all the traits of the ancestors were absolute units, unable to split up, a condition that does not occur in man.

To give an example: skin color may depend upon peculiar heritable characteristics in such a way that if the structure of the fertilized ovum varies in one direction pigmentation may be darker than if it varies in another direction. Then the members of the fra-

30 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

ternity developing from these ova would vary in heritable skin color and the family lines established by them would differ, because the heritable character has been separated into distinct lines.

The history of the human races, as far as we can follow it, shows us mankind constantly on the move; people from eastern Asia migrating to Europe; those of western and central Asia invading southern Asia; North Europeans sweeping over Mediterranean coun- tries; Central Africans extending their territories over almost the whole of South Africa; people from Alaska spreading to northern Mexico or vice versa; South Americans settling almost over the whole eastern part of the continent here and there; the Malay extending their migrations westward to Madagascar and east- ward far over the Pacific Ocean — in short, from earliest times on we have a picture of continued movements, and with it of mixtures of diverse peoples.

It may well be that the lack of clean-cut geographi- cal and biological lines between populations of differ- ent areas, even between the principal races of man is entirely due to these circumstances. The conditions are quite like those found in the animal world. Local races of remote districts may readily be recognized, but in many cases they are united by intermediate forms.

The assumption that each population consists of a mixture of racial types has led to the attempt to analyse it and to discover its component racial ele-

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 31

ments. In populations as similar as those of Europe, and without an intimate knowledge of the degree of morphologic stability of traits and of the detailed laws of heredity, types can be segregated only accord- ing to a purely subjective evaluation of traits. The effects of everyday experience in the establishment of types has been pointed out before. In the numerous attempts at such analysis pigmentation, form of hair, head, nose, and face, bodily build have been utilized, but no proof has ever been given that these may be genetically valid types and that the population is actually derived from such artificially constructed pure types. Even blue eyes, an apparently genetically fixed character, may have developed independently among various types due to the effect of domestica- tion of man, as it has developed in many species of domesticated animals. In modern, mixed populations derived from fundamentally distinct races, like the Eurasians, Mulattoes, Zambos or American Mestizos we know the component elements and their influences can be studied in the family lines of the mixed popu- lation. If, conversely, we were required to reconstruct from the mixed population the unknown distinct types from which it is derived, we might be entirely misled in regard to their characteristic features. The estab- lishment of "pure ancestral races" by means of analysis of populations is a venturous undertaking.

We have seen that on account of the lack of sharp distinctions between neighboring populations it hap- pens that apparently identical family lines occur in

32 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

both, and that an individual in one may resemble in bodily form an individual in another. Notwithstand- ing their resemblance it can be demonstrated that they are not by any means genetically equivalent, for when we compare their children they will be found to revert more or less to the type of the popu- lation to which the parents belong. To give an ex- ample: the Bohemians have, on the average, round heads, the Swedes long heads. Nevertheless it is pos- sible to find among both populations parents that have the same head forms. The selected group among the Swedes will naturally be more round-headed than the average Swede, and the selected Bohemians will be more long-headed than the average Bohemian. The children of the selected group of Swedes are found to be more long-headed than their parents, those of the selected group of Bohemians more short- headed than their parents.

The cause of this is not difficult to understand. If we pick out short-headed individuals among the Swedes, short-headedness may be an individual non- hereditary trait. Furthermore the general run of their relatives will be similar to the long-headed Swedish type and since the form of the offspring depends not only upon the parent, but also upon the character- istics of his whole family line, at least of his four grandparents, a reversion to the general population may be expected. The same is true among the Bohemians.

We must conclude that individuals of the same

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 33

bodily appearance, if sprung from populations of dis- tinct type, are genetically not necessarily the same. For this reason it is quite unjustifiable to select from a population a certain type and claim that it is iden- tical with the corresponding type of another popula- tion. Each individual must be studied as a member of the group from which he has sprung. We may not assume that the round-headed or brunette individuals in Denmark are identical with the corresponding forms from Switzerland. Even if no anatomical dif- ferences between two series of such individuals are discernible they represent genetically distinctive strains. Identity can occur in exceptional individuals only.

If we were to select a group of tall, blond Sicilians, men and women, who marry among themselves, we must expect that their offspring in later generations will revert more or less to the Sicilian type, and, con- versely, if we select a group of brunette, brown-eyed Swedes, their offspring will revert more or less to the blond, blue-eyed Swedish type.

We have spoken so far only of the hereditary con- ditions of stable races. We imply by the term racial heredity that the composition of succeeding genera- tions is identical. When one generation dies, the next one is assumed to represent the same type of popula- tion. This can be true only if random matings, due to chance only, occur in each generation. If in the first generation there was a random selection of mates the

34 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

same condition must prevail in the following genera- tions. Any preferential mating, any selective change brought about by differential mortality or fertility, or by migration, must modify the genetic composition of the group.

For these reasons none of our modern populations is stable from a hereditary point of view. The hetero- geneous family lines in a population that has origi- nated through migration will gradually become more homogeneous, if the descendants continue to reside in the same spot. In our cities and mixed farming com- munities, on account of changes in selective mating, constant changes in the hereditary composition are going on, even after immigration has ceased. Local inbreeding produces local types; avoidance of mar- riages between near relatives favors increasing like- ness of all the family lines constituting the popula- tion; favored or prescribed cousin marriages which are customary among many tribes establish separate family types and increase in this sense the hetero- geneity of the population.

Another question presents itself. We have consid- ered only the hereditary stability of genetic lines. We must ask ourselves also whether environmental conditions exert an influence over races.

It is quite obvious that the forms of lower organ- isms are subject to environmental influences. Plants taken from low altitudes to high mountains develop short stems; leaves of semi-aquatic plants growing

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 35

under water have a form differing from that of their subaerial leaves. Cultivated plants transform their stamens into petals. Plants may be dwarfed or stimu- lated in their growth by appropriate treatment. Each plant is so organized that it develops a certain form under given environmental conditions. Microorgan- isms differ so much in different environmental set- tings that it is often difficult to establish their specific identity.

The question arises whether the same kind of vari- ability occurs in higher organisms. The general impression is that their forms are determined by heredity, not by environment. The young of a grey- hound is a greyhound, that of a shorthorn a short- horn, that of a Norway rat a Norway rat. The child of a European is European in type, that of a China- man of Mongolic type, that of an African Negro a Negro.

Nevertheless detailed study shows that the form and size of the body are not entirely shaped by heredity. Records of stature that date back to the middle of the past century show that in almost all countries of Europe the average statures have in- creased by more than an inch. It is true, this is not a satisfactory proof of an actual change, because improvement in public health has changed the com- position of the populations, and although it is not likely that this should be the cause of an increase in stature, it is conceivable. A better proof is found in the change of stature among descendants of Euro-

36 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

peans who settle in America. In this case it has been shown that in many nationahties the children are taller than their own parents, presumably on account of more favorable conditions of life.

It has also been observed that the forms of the body are influenced by occupation. The hand of a person who has to do heavy manual labor differs from that of a musician who develops the independ- ence of all the muscles of his hand. The proportions and forms of the limbs are influenced by habitual posture and use. The legs of the oriental who squats flat on the ground are somewhat modified by this habit.

Other modifications cannot be explained by better nutrition or by the use of the muscles. Forms of the head and face are not quite stable, but are in some way influenced by the environment in which the people live, so that after a migration into a new en- vironment the child will not be quite like the parent.

All the observed changes are slight and do not modify the essential character of the hereditary forms. Still they are not negligible. We do not know how great the modifications may be that ultimately result from such changes, nor have we any evidence that the changes would persist if the people were taken back to their old environment. Although a Negro will never become a European, it is not impos- sible that some of the minor differences between European populations may be due to environment rather than to heredity.

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 37

So far we have discussed solely the anatomical forms of races with a view of gaining a clearer under- standing of what we mean by the term race. It may be well to repeat the principal result of our discussion.

We have found that the term "racial heredity" is strictly applicable only when all the individuals of a race participate in certain anatomical features. In each race taken as a whole the family lines differ appreciably in their hereditary traits. The distribution of family lines is such that a considerable number of lines similar or even identical in one or many re- spects occur in contiguous territories. The vague im- pression of "types," abstracted from our everyday experience, does not prove that these are biologically distinct races, and the inference that various popula- tions are composed of individuals belonging to various races is subjectively intelligible, objectively unproved. It is particularly not admissible to identify types apparently identical that occur in populations of different composition. Each individual can be under- stood only as a member of his group.

These considerations seem necessary, because they clear up the vagueness of the term "race" as usually applied. When we speak of heredity we are ordinarily concerned with family lines, not with races. The hereditary traits of families constituting the most homogeneous population differ very much among themselves and they are not sharply set off from neighboring populations that may give a quite dis- tinctive impression.

38 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

The relation of racial types may be looked at in another way. It may be granted that in closely related types the identification of an individual as a member of each type cannot be made with any degree of cer- tainty. Nevertheless the distribution of individuals and of family lines in the various races differs. When we select among the Europeans a group with large brains, their frequency will be relatively high, while among the Negroes the frequency of occurrence of the corresponding group will be low. If, for instance, there are 50 per cent of a European population who have a brain weight of more than, let us say, 1,500 grams, there may be only 20 per cent of Negroes of the same class. Therefore 30 per cent of the large- brained Europeans cannot be matched by any corre- sponding group of Negroes.

/ It is justifiable to compare races from this point of view, as long as we avoid an application of our results to individuals.

On general biological grounds it is important to know whether any one of the human races is, in re- gard to form or function, further removed from the ancestral animal form than another, whether the races can be arranged in an ascending series. Although we do not know the ancestral form with any degree of certainty, some of its characteristics can be inferred by a comparison of the anatomical forms of man and of the apes. Single traits can be brought into ascend- ing series in which the racial forms differ more and

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 39

more from animal forms, but the arrangement is a different one for each independent trait.

The ancestral form had a flat nose. Bushmen, Negroes and Australians have flat, broad noses. Mon- goloids, Europeans and particularly Armenians have narrow, prominent noses. They are in this sense farthest removed from the animal forms.

Apes have narrow lips. The lips of the Whites are thin, those of many Mongoloid types are fuller. The Negroes have the thickest, most excessively ''human" lips.

The hair coat of apes is moderately strong. Among human races the Australians, Europeans and a few scattered tribes among other races have the amplest body hair; Mongols have the least.

Similar remarks may be made in regard to the forms of the foot, of the spinal column, of the pro- portions of the limbs. The order of the degree to which human races differ from animals is not the same in regard to these traits.

Particular stress has been laid on the size of the brain, which also differs in various races. Setting aside the pygmy Bushmen and other very small races, the Negroid races have smaller brains than the Mongo- loids, and these in general smaller ones than the Europeans, although some Mongoloid types, like the Eskimo, exceed in size of the brain many European groups.

The brain in each race is very variable in size and the "overlapping" of individuals in the races is

40 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

marked. It is not possible to identify an individual as a Negro or White according to the size and form of the brain, but serially the Negro brain is less ex- tremely human than that of the White.

We are apt to identify the size of the brain with its functioning. This is true to a limited extent only. Among the higher mammals the proportionate size of the brain is larger in animals that have greater intelligence; but size alone is not an adequate cri- terion. Complexity of structure is much more im- portant than mere size. Some birds have brains much larger proportionately than those of the higher mam- mals without evidencing superior intelligence.

The size of the brain is measured by its weight which does not depend upon the nerve cells and fibers alone, but includes a large amount of material that is not directly relevant for the functioning of the central nervous system.

Superior intelligence in man is in a way related to size of the brain. Microcephalic individuals whose brains remain considerably under normal size are mentally defective, but an individual with an excep- tionally large brain is not necessarily a genius. There are many causes that affect the size of the brain. The larger the body, the larger the brain. Therefore well- nourished people who have a larger bulk of body than those poorly nourished have larger brains, not be- cause their brains are structurally more highly de- veloped, but because the larger bulk is a characteristic feature of the entire bodily form. Eminent people

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 41

belong generally to the better nourished class and the cause of the greater brain is, therefore, uncertain. The variation in the size of the brain of eminent men is also very considerable, some falling way be- neath the norm.

The real problem to be solved is the relation be- tween the structure of the brain and its function. The correlation between gross structure in the races of man and function is so slight that no safe infer^ ences may be drawn on the basis of the slight differ- ences between races which are of such character that up to this time the racial identification of a brain is impossible, except in so far as elongated and rounded heads, high and low heads and similar gross forms may be distinguished which do not seem to have any relation to minute structure or function. At least it has never been proved to exist and it does not seem likely that there is any kind of intimate relation.

The differences between races are so small that they lie within the narrow range in the limits of which all forms may function equally well. We cannot say that the ratio of inadequate brains and nervous systems, that function noticeably worse than the norm, is the same in every race, nor that those of rare excellence are equally frequent. It is not im- probable that such differences may exist in the same way as we find different ranges of adjustability in other organs.

If the anatomical structure of the brain is a doubt- ful indication of mental excellence, this is still more

42 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

the case with differences in other parts of the body. So far as we can judge, the form of the foot and the sHght development of the calves of the Negro; the prominence of his teeth and the size of his Hps; the heaviness of the face of the Mongol ; or the difference in degree of pigmentation of the races have no rela- tion to mentality. At least every attempt to prove such relation has failed.

In any attempt to place the human races in an evolutionary series we must also remember that mod- ern races are not wild but domesticated forms. In regard to nutrition and artificial protection the mode of life of man is like that of domesticated animals. The artificial modification of food by the use of fire and the invention of tools were the steps that brought about the self-domestication of man. Both belong to a very early period, to a time before the last extensive glaciation of Europe. Man must be considered the oldest domesticated form. The most characteristic features of human races bear evidence of this. The loss of pigmentation in the blond, blue-eyed races; the blackness of the hair of the Negro are traits that do not occur in any wild mammal form. Exceptions are the blackness of the hair coat of the black panther, of the black bear and of the subterranean mole. The frizzliness of the Negro hair and the curli- ness of the hair of other races, the long hair of the head, do not occur in wild mammals. The permanence rather than periodicity of the sexual functions and of the female breast; the anomalies of sexual behavior

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 43

are in most cases characteristics of domesticated ani- mals. The kind of domestication of man is Hke that of the animals raised by primitive tribes that do not breed certain strains by selection. Nevertheless, forms differing from the wild forms develop in their herds.

Some of the traits of man that might be considered as indicating a lower evolutionary stage may as well be due to domestication. Reduction or imusual length- ening of the face occur. The excessive reduction of the face in some White types and the elongation of the mouth parts of the Negro may be due to this cause. It may be a secondary development from an intermediate form. The brain of domesticated forms is generally smaller than that of wild forms. In ex- ceptional cases it may be larger. Pygmy forms and giants develop in domestication. The so-called "primi- tive traits" of races are not necessarily indications of an early arrest. They may be later acquisitions stabilized in domestication.

All this, however, has little to do with the biologi- cally determined mentality of races, which is often assumed to be the basis of social behavior. Mental behavior is closely related to the physiological func- tioning of the body and the problem may be formu- lated as an investigation of the functioning of the body, in the widest sense of the term "functioning."

We have seen that the description of the ana- tomical traits of a race in general terms involves a faulty generalization based on the impression made by the majority of individuals. This is no less true

44 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

in regard to the functions, and particularly the mental functions, of a population. Our characterization of the mentality of a people is merely a conceptualiza- tion of those traits that are found in a large number of individuals and that are, for this reason, impres- sive. In another population other traits impress them- selves upon the mind and are conceptualized. This does not prove that, if in a third population both types are found, its functional behavior is due to a mixed origin. The objective value of generalizations of this type is not self-evident, because they are merely the result of the subjective construction of types, the wide variability of which is disregarded.

Actually the functions exhibited by a whole race can be defined as hereditary even less than its ana- tomical traits, because individually and in family lines the variations are so great that not all the members of the race react alike.

When the body has completed its growth its fea- tures remain the same for a considerable length of time, — until the changes due to old age set in. It does not matter at what time we examine the body, the results will always be nearly the same. Fluctua- tions of weight, of the amount of fat, of muscle do occur, but these are comparatively slight, and under normal conditions of health, nutrition and exercise, insignificant until senility sets in.

It is different with the functions of the body. The heart beat depends upon transient conditions. In sleep it is slow; in waking, during meals, during ex-

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 45

ercise more rapid. The range of the number of heart beats for the individual is very wide. The condition of our digestive tract depends upon the amount and kind of food present; our eyes act differently in in- tense light and in darkness. The variation in the func- tions of an individual is considerable. Furthermore, the individuals constituting a population do not all function in the same way. Variability, which in re- gard to anatomical traits has only one source, namely, the differences between individuals, has in physio- logical functions an added source, the different be- havior of the individual at different times. It is, therefore, not surprising that functionally the indi- viduals composing a population exhibit a considerable variability.

The average values expressing the functioning of various races living under the same conditions are not the same, but the differences are not great as com- pared to the variations that occur in each racial group. Investigations of the functioning of the same sense organs of various races, such as Whites, In- dians, Filipinos and people of New Guinea, indicate that their sensitiveness is very much the same. The popular belief in an unusual keenness of eyesight or hearing of primitive people is not corroborated by careful observations. The impression is due to the training of their power of observation which is di- rected to phenomena with which we are not familiar. Differences that may be significant have been found in the basal metabolism of Mongols and Whites, but

46 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

these are contradicted by observations made on natives of Yucatan. While East Asiatics, residents of the United States, showed on the average a low value of basal metabolism that of the Yucatec in Yucatan was high. There are probably differences be- tween Whites and Negroes in the functioning of the digestive tract and of the skin. Much remains to be done in the study of physiological functions of dif- ferent races before we can determine the quantitative differences between them.

The variability of many functions is well known. We referred before to the heart beat. Let us imagine an individual who lives in New York and leads a sedentary life without bodily exercise. Transport this person to the high plateaus of the Bolivian Andes where he has to do physical work. He will find diffi- culties for a while, but, if he is healthy, he will finally become adjusted to the new conditions. His normal heart beat, however, will have changed. His lungs also will act differently in the rarefied air. It is the same individual who in the new environment will exhibit a quantitatively different functioning of the body.

The condition is analogous to the one found in the variability of bodily form of lower organisms which is subject to important modifications brought about by the environment. The functions of the organs are adjustable to different requirements. Every organ has — to use Dr. Meltzer's term — a margin of safety. Within limits it can function normally according to

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 47

environmental requirements. Even a partly disabled organ can be sufficient for the needs of the body. Inadequacy develops only when these limits are ex- ceeded. There are certain conditions that are most favorable, but the loss of adequacy is very slight when the conditions change within the margins of safety.

In most cases of the kind here referred to the en- vironmental influence acts upon different individuals in the same direction. If we bring two organically different individuals into the same environment they may, therefore, become alike in their functional re- sponses and we may gain the impression of a func- tional likeness of distinct anatomical forms that is due to environment, not to their internal structure. Only in those cases in which the environment acts with different intensity or perhaps even in different directions upon the organism may we expect increased unlikeness under the same environmental conditions. When, for instance, for one individual the margin of safety is so narrow that the environmental conditions are excessive, for another one so wide that adequate adjustment is possible, the former will become sick, while the other will remain healthy. Davenport has called attention to a typical case of this kind, when two individuals of similar complexion are exposed to sunlight, the one may develop red color, the other may tan brown.

What is true of the physiological functioning of the body is still more true of mental reactions. A simple

48 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

example may illustrate this. When we are asked to react to a stimulus, for instance by tapping in re- sponse to a signal given by a bell, we can establish a certain basal or minimum time interval between signal and tapping which is found when we are rested and concentrate our attention upon the signal. As soon as we are tired and when our attention is dis- tracted the time increases. We may even become so much absorbed in other matters that the signal will go unnoticed. Environmental conditions determine the reaction time. The basal time for two individuals may differ quite considerably, still under varying environmental conditions they will react in the same way. If the conditions of life compel the one to con- centrate his attention while the other has never been required to do so, they may react in the same way, although structurally they represent different types. In more complex mental and social phenomena this adjustment of different types to a common standard is of frequent occurrence. The pronunciation of indi- viduals in a small community is so uniform that an expert ear can identify the home of a person by his articulation. Anatomically the forms of the mouth, inner nose and larynx of all the individuals partici- pating in this pronunciation vary considerably. The mouth may be large or small, the tongue thin or thick, the palate arched or flat. There are differences in the pitch of the voice and in timbre. Still the dialect will be the same for all. The articulation does not depend

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 49

to any considerable extent upon the form of the mouth, but upon its use.

In all our everyday habits imitation of habits of the society to which we belong exerts its influence over the functioning of our minds and bodies and a degree of uniformity of thought and action is brought about among individuals who differ considerably in structure.

It would not be justifiable to claim that bodily form has no relation whatever to physiological or mental functioning. I do not believe that Watson is right when he claims that the mental activities of man are entirely due to his individual experiences and that what is called character or ability is due to outer conditions, not to organic structure. It seems to me that this goes counter to the observation of mental activities in the animal world as well as among men. The mental activities of a family of idiots will not, even under the most favorable conditions, equal those of a highly intelligent family, and what is true in this extreme case must be true also when the dif- ferences are less pronounced. Although it is never possible to eliminate environmental influences that bring about similarity or dissimilarity, it seems un- reasonable to assume that in the mental domain organically determined sameness of all individuals should exist while in all other traits we do find dif- ferences; but we must admit that the organic differ- ences are liable to be overlaid and overshadowed by environmental influences.

so ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

Under these conditions it is well-nigh impossible to determine with certainty the hereditary traits in mental behavior. In a well-integrated society we find people of most diverse descent who all react so much in the same way that it is impossible to tell from their reactions alone to what race they belong. Individual differences and those belonging to family lines occur in such a society, but among healthy individuals these are so slightly correlated with bodily form that an identification of an individual on the basis of his functions as belonging to a family or race of definite hereditary functional qualities is also impossible.

In this case, even more than in that of anatomical form, the range of variation of hereditary lines con- stituting a "race" is so wide that the same types of lines may be found in different races. While so far as anatomical form is concerned Negroes and Whites have hereditary racial traits, this is not true of func- tion. The mental life of each of the individuals con- stituting these races is so varied that from its form alone an individual cannot be assigned to the one or the other. It is true that in regard to a few races, like the Bushmen of South Africa, we have no evidence in regard to this point, and we may suspend judg- ment, although I do not anticipate that any funda- mental differences will be found.

So far as our experience goes we may safely say that the differences between family lines are much greater than the differences between races. It may happen that members of one family line, extreme in

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 51

form and function, are quite different from those of a family line of the opposite extreme, although both belong to the same race; while it may be very difficult to find individuals or family lines in one racial type that may not be duplicated in a neighboring type.

The assumption of fundamental, hereditary mental characteristics of races is often based on an analogy with the mental traits of races of domesticated ani- mals. Certainly the mentality of the poodle dog is quite different from that of the bulldog, or that of a race horse from that of a dray horse.

This analogy is not well founded, because the races of domesticated animals are comparable to family lines, not to human races. They are developed by carefully controlled inbreeding. Their family lines are uniform; in man they are diverse. The types con- stituting breeds are parallel to the family lines that occur in all human races, which, however, do not be- come stabilized on account of the lack of rigid in- breeding. In this respect human races must be compared to wild animals, not to selected, domesti- cated breeds.

All these considerations are apparently contradicted by the results of the so-called intelligence tests which were originally intended to determine innate intellec- tuality. Actually these tests show considerable dif- ferences not only between individuals but also between racial and social groups. The test is an expression of mental function. Like other functions the responses to mental tests show overlapping of

52 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

individuals belonging to different groups and ordi- narily it is not possible to assign an individual to his proper group according to his response.

The test itself shows only that a task set to a person can be performed by him more or less satis- factorily. That the result is solely or primarily a re- sult of organically determined intelligence is an as- sumption that has to be proved. Defective individuals cannot perform certain acts required in the tests. Within narrower limits of performance we must ask in how far the structure of the organism, in how far outer, environmental conditions may determine the result of the test. Since all functions are strongly in- fluenced by environment it is likely that here also environmental influences may prevail and obscure the structurally determined part of the reaction.

Let us illustrate this by an example. One of the simplest tests consists in the task of fitting blocks of various forms into holes of corresponding forms. There are primitive people who devote much time to decorative work in which fitting of forms plays an important part. It may be applique work, mosaic, or stencil work. Others have no experience whatever in the use of forms.

Dr. Klineberg has tested the ability of Indian girls who were still somewhat familiar with the old style of bead work, in regard to their ability to reproduce geometrical forms of varying complexity. He found that the girls among the Sac and Fox, a tribe in which bead work is still alive, had the greatest ability to

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 53

reproduce forms. Next to them were the Dakota girls who were markedly superior to White girls. All girls were much superior to boys, Whites and Indians, who are not familiar with bead work. Experience enabled the girls to grasp new, previously unknown forms rapidly and easily.

He has also investigated the reactions to simple tests of various races living under very different con- ditions. He found that all races investigated by him respond under city conditions quickly and inaccu- rately, that the same races in remote country districts react slowly and more accurately. The hurry and pressure for efficiency of city life result in a different attitude that has nothing to do with innate intelli- gence, but is an effect of a cultural condition.

An experiment made in Germany, but based on entirely different sets of tests, has had a similar re- sult. Children belonging to different types of schools were tested. The social groups attending elementary schools and higher schools of various types differ in their cultural attitudes. It is unlikely that they belong by descent to different racial groups. On the contrary, the population as a whole is fairly uniform. The re- sponses in various schools were quite different. There is no particular reason why we should assume a dif- ference in organic structure between the groups and it seems more likely that we are dealing with the effects of cultural differentiation.

In all tests based on language the effect of the lin- guistic experience of the subject plays an important

54 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

part. The familiarity with a language, the ease of understanding what is demanded in the test has a decided influence upon the result. This may be ac- centuated when the test is given in a foreign or any imperfectly acquired language. Besides this, our whole sense experience is classified according to lin- guistic principles and our thought is deeply influenced by the classification of our experience. Often the scope of a concept expressed by a word determines the cur- rent of our thought and the categories which the grammatical form of the language compels us to ex- press keep certain types of modality or connection before our minds. When language compels me to dif- ferentiate sharply between elder and younger brother, between father's brother and mother's brother, direc- tions of thought that our vaguer terms permit will be excluded. When the terms for son and brother's son are not distinguished the flow of thought may run in currents unexpected to us who differentiate clearly between these terms. When a language states clearly in every case the forms of objects, as round, long or flat; or the instrumentality with which an action is done, as with the hand, with a knife, with a point; or the source of knowledge of a statement, as observed, known by evidence or by hearsay, these forms may establish lines of association. Comparison of reactions of individuals that speak fundamentally distinct lan- guages may, therefore, express the influence of lan- guage upon the current of thought, not any innate difference in the form of thought.

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 55

All these considerations cause us to doubt whether it is possible to differentiate between environmental and organic determination of responses, as soon as the environment of two individuals is different.

It is exceedingly difficult to secure an identical en- vironment even in our own culture. Every home, every street, every family group and school has its own character which is difficult to evaluate. In large masses of individuals we may assume a somewhat equal environmental setting for a group in similar economic and social position, and it is justifiable to assume in this case that the variability of environ- mental influence is much restricted and that or- ganically determined differences between individuals appear more clearly.

Just as soon as we compare different social groups the relative uniformity of social background disap- pears and, if we are dealing with populations of the same descent, there is a strong probability that dif- ferences in the type of responses are primarily due to the effect of environment rather than to organic dif- ferences between the groups.

The responses to tests may be based on recognition of sensory impressions, on motor experience, such as the results of complex movements; or on the use of acquired knowledge. All of these contain experience. A city boy who has been brought up by reading, familiar with the conveniences of city life, accustomed to the rush of traffic and the watchfulness demanded on the streets has a general setting entirely different

56 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

from that of a boy brought up on a lonely farm, who has had no contact with the machinery of modern city life. His sense experience, motor habits and the cur- rents of his thoughts differ from those of the city boy.

Certainly in none of the tests that have ever been applied is individual experience eliminated and I doubt that it can be done.

We must remember how we acquire our manner of acting and thinking. From our earliest days we imi- tate the behavior of our environment and our be- havior in later years is determined by what we learn as infants and children. The response to any stimulus depends upon these early habits. Individually it may be influenced by organic, hereditary conditions. In the large mass of a population these vary. In a homo- geneous social group the experience gained in child- hood is fairly uniform, so that its influence will be more marked than that of organic structure.

The dilemma of the investigator appears clearly in the results of mental tests taken on Negroes of Louisiana and Chicago. During the World War the enlisted men belonging to the two groups were tested and showed quite distinct responses. There is no very great difference in the pigmentation of the two groups. Both are largely mulattoes. The Northern Negroes passed the tests much more successfully than those from the South. Chicago Negroes are adjusted to city surroundings. They work with Whites and are accustomed to a certain degree of equality, owing to similarity of occupation and constant con-

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 57

tact. All these are lacking among the Louisiana rural Negroes. Dr. Klineberg has shown what is actually happening. He studied the results of intelligence tests applied to Negroes who had moved from the country to the city and also to those who had moved from southern, more leisurely communities, to New York. He found that within a number of years they became adjusted to their new environment. While the results of the tests taken on those who had just moved to the city or to New York showed low averages, those who had lived in the cities or in New York showed the better results the longer they had lived in their new environment. The reason must be looked for in the character of the tests which are based on the experi- ences of city life and not on that of a rural community.

It has been claimed that the observed differences between rural and urban populations are due to selec- tive migration, that a more energetic and intelligent group of Negroes has migrated to the cities and to New York and that the weak and unintelligent have stayed behind. Dr. Klineberg has tested this assump- tion in a number of cases and has compared the results of intelligence tests of those who stayed be- hind and of the migrants, taken before their migra- tion. The results do not show any appreciable difference between the two groups, rather a very slight, presumably insignificant advantage for those who did not migrate.

It seems gratuitous to disregard the effect of social environment. We know that the environment is dis-

SS ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

tinct and that human behavior is strikingly modified by it. According to the few tests made selection plays no important part in the migration of the Southern Negro to Northern cities. It is quite arbitrary to ascribe the difference in mental behavior solely to the latter, doubtful cause and to disregard the former entirely. Those who claim that there is an organic difference must prove it by showing the differences between the two groups before their migration.

Even if it were true that selection accounts for the differences in the responses to tests among these two groups, it would not have any bearing upon the prob- lem of racial characteristics, for we should have here merely a selection of better endowed individuals or family lines, all belonging to the same race, a condi- tion similar to the often quoted, but never proved, result of the emigration from New England to the West. The question would still remain, whether there is any difference in racial composition in the two groups. So far as we know the amount of Negro and White blood in the two groups is about the same.

Other tests intended to investigate differences be- tween the mental reactions of Negroes, Mulattoes and Whites due to the racial composition of the groups are not convincing, because due caution has not been taken to insure an equal social background. The study of mental achievement of a socially uni- form group undertaken by Dr. Herskovits does not show any relation between the intensity of negroid features and mental attainment. Up to this time none

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 59

of the mental tests gives us any insight into signifi- cant racial differences that might not be adequately explained by the effect of social experience. Even Dr. Woodworth's observations on the Filipino pygmies are not convincing, because the cultural background of the groups tested is unknown.

A critical examination of all studies of this type in which differences between racial groups in regard to mental reactions are demonstrated, leaves us in doubt whether the determining factor is cultural ex- perience or racial descent. We must emphasize again that differences between selected groups of the same descent, such as between poor orphan children, often of defective parentage, and of normal children; and those between unselected groups of individuals repre- senting various races are phenomena quite distinct in character. In the former case the results of tests may express differences in family lines. Similar peculiari- ties might be found, although with much greater diffi- culty, when comparing small inbred communities, for inbred communities are liable to differ in social be- havior. For large racial groups acceptable proof of marked mental differences due to organic, not social, causes has never been given.

Students of ethnology have always been so much impressed by the general similarity of fundamental traits of human culture that they have never found it necessary to take into account the racial descent of a people when discussing its culture. This is true of all schools of modern ethnology. Edward B. Tylor and

6o ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

Herbert Spencer in their studies of the evolution of culture, Adolf Bastian in his insistence on the same- ness of the fundamental forms of thought among all races, Lewis Morgan in his study of social forms, Westermarck in his inquiries into the history of moral ideas and of marriage — they all have carried on their work without any regard to race.

Friedrich Ratzel, who followed the historical dis- semination of cultural forms does not pay attention to race, except in so far as he sometimes falls back upon vague mental characteristics of racial groups, a belief which he inherited from the older school of deductive ethnologists like Klemm and Carus. It may also be recognized that those investigators who try to reconstruct exceedingly ancient primitive cultural strata, like Graebner, Pater Schmidt and Dr. Koppers, are easily led to associate these with fundamental racial groups, without, however, giving any proof of the way in which social traits are dependent upon racial character.

The general experience of ethnologists who deal with recent ethnological phenomena indicate that whatever organic differences between the great races there may be, they are insignificant when considered in their effect upon cultural life.

It does not matter from which point of view we consider culture, its forms are not dependent upon race. In economic life and in regard to the extent of their inventions the Eskimos, the Bushmen and the Australians may well be compared. The position of

THE PROBLEM OF RACE 6i

the Magdalenian race, which lived at the end of the ice age, is quite similar to that of the Eskimo. On the other hand, the complexities of inventions and of economic life of the Negroes of the Sudan, of the ancient Pueblos, of our early European ancestors who used stone tools, and of the early Chinese are comparable.

In the study of material culture we are constantly compelled to compare similar inventions used by people of the most diverse descent. Devices for throw- ing spears from Australia and America; armor from the Pacific Islands and America; games of Africa and Asia; blowguns of Malaysia and South America; dec- orative designs from almost every continent; musical instruments from Asia, the Pacific Islands and Amer- ica; head rests from Africa and Melanesia; the be- ginning of the art of writing in America and in the Old World; the use of the zero in America, Asia and Europe; the use of bronze, of methods of firemaking in many parts of the world cannot be studied on the basis of their distribution by races, but only by their geographical and historical distribution, or as independent achievements, without any reference to the bodily forms of the races using these inventions.

Other aspects of cultural life are perhaps still more impressive, because they characterize the general cul- tural life more deeply than inventions: the use of standards of value in Africa, America, Asia, Europe and on the islands of the Pacific Ocean; analogous types of family organization, such as small families,

62 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

or extended sibs with maternal or paternal succession; totemic ideas; avoidance of close relatives; the exclusion of women from sacred ceremonials; the formation of age societies; all these are found in fundamentally similar forms among all races. In their study we are compelled to disregard the racial posi- tion of the people we study, for similarities and dis- similarities have no relation whatever to racial types. It does not matter how the similar traits in diverse races may have originated, by diffusion or independ- ent origin. They convince us of the independence of race and culture because their distribution does not follow racial lines.

CHAPTER III THE INTERRELATION OF RACES

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WE HAVE seen that from a purely biological point of view the concept of race unity breaks down. The multitude of genealogical lines, the diversity of individual and family types contained in each race is so great that no race can be considered as a unit. Furthermore, similarities between neighboring races and, in regard to function, even between distant races are so great that individuals cannot be assigned with certainty to one group or another.

Nevertheless, race consciousness exists and we have to investigate its source. It is customary to speak of an instinctive race consciousness. Even Romain Rolland says of it, "Ce vieux levain d'antipathie in- stinctive, qui couve au fond des cceurs de tous les hommes du Nord pour les hommes du Midi."

The feeling between Whites and Negroes in our country is decidedly of this character. There is an immediate feeling of contrast that is expressed in the popular conviction of the superiority of the White race. The feeling extends even to cases in which the Negro admixture is very slight and in which there is

63

64 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

no certainty of the racial position of the individual. Proof of this are the numerous divorce suits based on alleged Negro descent. In this case the popular belief in the possible reversion of the offspring to a pure Negro t5^e may be a determinant. This consideration does not enter law suits instituted to set aside adop- tion of children on account of their racial descent; or in the difficulties experienced by child-placing agencies which endeavor to find homes for children of suspected Negro descent, — no matter how little this may be expressed in their outer appearance.

It is necessary to make clear to ourselves what we mean when we speak of instinctive race consciousness.

We have to inquire whether race consciousness and race antipathies are truly instinctive or whether they are established by habits developed in childhood.

The basis of race consciousness and race antipa- thies is the dogmatic belief in the existence of well- defined races all the members of which possess the same fundamental bodily and mental characters. The results which we have reached in regard to the lack of clarity of the concept of race induces us to inquire whether these feelings are universal and whether other types of groups develop analogous feelings of contrast.

Race consciousness differs considerably in intensity. In the United States, taken as a whole, the feeling of aloofness between White and Negro is strongest. On the Pacific coast it is locally equalled by the feeling of the Whites against Asiatics and Indians. The feel-

THE INTERRELATION OF RACES 65

ing against the Japanese is most strikingly manifested by the enactment of a law forbidding marriages be- tween Whites and Japanese. It has led to the anoma- lous position of American-born children of Japanese parents who have become completely Americanized and who nevertheless have no place in the White Community.

I have been told by those familiar with conditions in Humboldt County, California, that the White set- tlers will readily eat with Negroes, but not with In- dians. In general, feeling of aversion to the Indian is rather slight. There is even a marked tendency of individuals with admixture of Indian blood to be proud of their ancestry, at least until recently, when early intermingling of Negroes and eastern Indians became better known.

Race feeling between Whites, Negroes, and Indians in Brazil seems to be quite different from what it is among ourselves. On the coast there is a large Negro population. The admixture of Indian is also quite marked. The discrimination between these three races is very much less than it is among ourselves, and the social obstacles for race mixture or for social ad- vancement are not marked. Similar conditions prevail on the island of Santo Domingo where Spaniards and Negroes have intermarried. Perhaps it would be too much to claim that in these cases race consciousness is nonexistent; it is certainly much less pronounced than among ourselves.

If it is true that race antipathy among different

66 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

groups of mankind takes distinctive forms and ex- presses itself with varying intensity, we may doubt whether we are dealing with an instinctive phe- nomenon.

It will be found advantageous to investigate simi- lar phenomena in the animal world. We know the peculiar antipathies between certain animals, such as dog and cat, horse and camel. These are organically determined, although they may be individually over- come. They might be considered analogous to the feeling between races if we had the same instinctive hostility or fear between individuals of different human races; but this has never been observed. On the contrary, under favorable conditions the reaction seems to be one of friendly curiosity.

The first view of an entirely foreign type is likely to impress us with consciousness of contrast, that may well take the form of antipathy. An example of this is the terror which the blue-eyed blond hordes of Ariovistus spread among the Roman legions. The first reaction to strange appearance should not be mis- taken for race antipathy for it is strictly analogous to the revulsion against ugliness of appearance, strong body odor, deformities or even bad manners occurring in our midst. They are not determined by race but by certain esthetic standards that determine our pref- erences and antipathies. Constant familiarity with strange types modifies our standards to such an extent that the consciousness of contrast becomes very slight. The examples given before illustrate this process.

THE INTERRELATION OF RACES 67

Conditions analogous to those found in racial groups occur in animal societies. Gregarious animals live either in open or in closed societies. Open societies are those in which any outside individual may join a herd. They are found among mammals and birds, but particularly among fishes, insects, and other lower animals. A swarm of mosquitoes, a shoal of fish keep together but do not exclude newcomers of the same species, sometimes even of other species. Herds of ruminants are often organized under leaders but may not exclude newcomers. The behavior of animals that occupy a definite area as their feeding ground is quite different. They treat every newcomer as an enemy and while he may succeed in gaining admission after a number of combats, the first endeavor of the herd is to drive away or to kill the intruder. Many herds of monkeys are said to behave in this way. Penguins on their breeding places will drive away stray visitors, while admitting their neighbors. The best known example is that of the Pariah dogs of Oriental towns. The dogs of one street did not admit one from another street and the stranger was killed by them if he did not beat a hasty retreat. The most perfect forms of closed societies are found in the in- sect states. Ants of the same hill recognize one an- other by the scent of the hill and attack every strange ant. Even insects of another species, if only they participate in the scent of the particular hill, are welcomed. Sameness of species does not decide the attitude towards the individual. Participation in the

68 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

scent of the hill is the feature by which membership in the group is determined.

The groups do not need to be related by descent. They may be thrown together by accident. Neverthe- less, according to the habits of the species, they will form a closed society.

In primitive human society every tribe forms a closed society. It behaves like the Oriental Pariah dogs.

In the early days of mankind our earth was thinly settled. Small groups of human beings were scattered here and there; the members of each horde were one in speech, one in customs, one in superstitious beliefs. In their habitat they roamed from place to place, following the game that furnished their subsistence, or digging roots and picking the fruits of trees and bushes to allay the pangs of hunger. They were held together by the strong bands of habit. The gain of one member of the horde was the gain of the whole group, the loss and harm done to one was loss and harm to the whole community. No one had funda- mental interests at stake that were not more or less also the interests of his fellows.

Beyond the limits of the hunting grounds lived other groups, different in speech, different in customs, perhaps even different in appearance, whose very ex- istence was a source of danger. They preyed upon the game, they threatened inroads upon the harvest of roots and fruits. They acted in a different manner; their reasoning and feeling were unintelligible; they

THE INTERRELATION OF RACES 69

had no part in the interests of the horde. Thus they stood opposed to it as beings of another kind, with whom there could be no community of interest. To harm them, if possible to annihilate them, was a self- evident act of self-preservation.

Thus the most primitive form of society presents to us the picture of continuous strife. The hand of each member of one horde was raised against each member of all other hordes. Always on the alert to protect himself and his kindred, man considered it an act of high merit to kill the stranger.

The tendency to form closed societies is not by any means confined to primitive tribes. It exists to a marked extent in our own civilization. Until quite recent times, and in many cases even now, the old nobility formed a closed society. The patricians and plebeians, Greeks and barbarians, the gangs of our streets, Mohammedans and infidels, — and our own modern nations are in this sense closed societies that cannot exist without antagonisms.

The principles that hold societies together vary enormously, but common to all of them is the feeling of antagonism against other parallel groups.

Racial groups differ in one respect from the socie- ties here enumerated. While the position of an indi- vidual as a member of one of the socially determined groups is not evident, it is apparent when the group- ing is made according to bodily appearance. If the belief should prevail, as it once did, that all red-haired individuals have an undesirable character, they would

70 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

at once be socially segregated and no red-haired per- son could escape from his class. The Negro who may at once be recognized by his bodily build is auto- matically placed in his class and not one of them can escape from the effect of being excluded from the closed group of Whites.

When individuals are to be herded together in a closed group the dominant group may prescribe for them a distinguishing symbol, — like the garb of the medieval Jews or the stripes of the convict, — so that each individual who may otherwise have no distin- guishing characteristic, may at once be assigned to his group and treated accordingly.

The assignment to a closed group may also be effected by a classifying name, like the term Dago for Italians which is intended to evoke the thought of all the supposed characteristics that are without reflection ascribed to all the members of the nation. Perhaps one of the most striking illustrations of this tendency in the present life of the United States is the assignment of anyone with a Jewish name to an undesirable group whose members are, according to the fancy of the owner, not allowed to dwell in certain buildings, not admitted in hotels or clubs and are in other ways discriminated against by the unthinking, who can see in the individual solely the representative of a class.

We have seen that from a biological point of view there is no reason for drawing a clean-cut line between races, because the lines of descent in each are physio-

THE INTERRELATION OF RACES 71

logically and psychologically diverse, and because functionally similar lines occur in all races.

The formation of the racial groups in our midst must be understood on a social basis. In a commu- nity comprising two distinct types which are socially clearly separated, the social grouping is reenforced by the outer appearance of the individuals and each is at once and automatically assigned to his own group. In other communities, — as among Moham- medans or in Brazil, — where the social and racial groupings do not coincide, the result is different. The socially coherent groups are racially not uniform. Hence the assignment of an individual to a racial group does not develop as easily, the less so the more equal the groups in their social composition. A char- acteristic case occurs in South Africa where Whites, Negroes and Malay from southern Asia form three distinct groups. Suaheli Negroes who are Mohamme- dans like the Malay do not belong to the Negro group but to the Malay.

Dr. Manuel Andrade, in a personal communication, describes the interracial conditions in the Dominican Republic as follows: "There is no restaurant, hotel, or club in which color distinctions are observed. Gov- ernment positions, of course, are open to all, and we do find Negroes and Mulattoes in all classes of gov- ernment posts, including the presidency.

"I had occasion to see a review of a portion of the army. The main officer was almost White, but most of the captains and lieutenants were Negroes. On the

72 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

Other hand, there were several Whites among the common soldiers.

"In the evenings people promenade in the Plazas as in all Spanish-speaking countries. Married and en- gaged couples may be seen showing all varieties of color combination, including Negroes with light com- plexioned women. My impression is, however, that it is more frequent to find Black men married to White or nearly White women, than White men married to Black women. Economical considerations may be a factor here. A White woman may accept a dark man because of his lucrative occupation or political posi- tion.

"I was invited to a ball given by a social and lit- erary club in the town of La Vega. The members and guests present showed the same range and variety of colors prevalent anywhere in the Republic. They were supposed to represent the best social elements in the town. Among the dancing couples, there were several extreme combinations of apparently pure Negro men and White women.

"The two ladies who own the Hotel de las Dos Hermanas in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros and their brother would be considered White any- where. Especially the brother, who has light gray eyes and reddish hair. In the course of conversation he asked me in what part of Spain I was born. He pro- ceeded to tell me from what part of Spain his father and his mother's father had come, and added hu- morously that were it not for the little African blood

THE INTERRELATION OF RACES 73

he had in his veins, he could very well say that he was my fellow-countryman. I think this candid refer- ence to his African ancestors, in the unconcerned manner in which he said it, is a significant index to the prevalent feeling. We must consider he was trying to promote cordial relations toward a guest in his sisters' hotel. I find in this instance a corroboration of my general impression, that it makes no difference whether one has Negro blood in him, though it may make some difference for such admixture to be in evidence in his features or color.

"It seems to me that racial differences are felt to a certain extent in matters pertaining to marriage or sexual relations, but that the division is not one of pure White against other admixtures. The difference may be felt in proportion to the divergence in color, but the prevalence of marriages between Negroes and White women would seem to indicate that the objection is not very strong.

"In the current social intercourse between man and man I was not able to detect the slightest indication of prejudice. In one instance, a nearly White man try- ing to describe a certain individual had forgotten whether he was White or 'pardito'."

It is a characteristic feature of closed groups that the feeling of solidarity is expressed by an idealiza- tion of the group and by the desire for its perpetua- tion. When the groups are denominational, there is strong antagonism against marriages outside of the

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groups. The group must be kept pure, although de- nomination and descent are in no way related. If the social groups are racial groups we encounter in the same way the desire for racial exogamy in order to maintain racial purity. This, however, has no relation to sexual antipathy, for it is solely a result of social pressure. The weakening of race consciousness in communities in which children grow up as an almost homogeneous group ; the occurrence of equally strong antipathies between denominational groups, or be- tween social strata — as witnessed even now by the exclusiveness of European nobility and the Indian castes, in earlier times by the Roman patricians and plebeians, the Spartan Lacedemonians, Perioeci and Helots, and the Egyptian castes — all these show that antipathies are social phenomena. The variety of in- cest groups which occur in human society also shows that sexual aversion is not organically determined but due to social customs. Otherwise it would be unin- telligible why in some societies cousin marriages are shunned, in others prescribed, why among some tribes the young men and women of the same social group are forbidden, among others compelled to intermarry; why sometimes everybody is required to marry in his own generation, while in other cases no attention is paid to generation.

In all these cases there is no instinctive sexual aver- sion. Neither does it exist in the relation between Whites and Negroes. The free intermingling of slave owners with their female slaves and the resulting

THE INTERRELATION OF RACES 75

striking decrease in the number of full-blood Negroes is ample proof of the absence of any sexual antipathy. The rarity of the reverse intermixture, that of male Negroes and female Whites, can be fully understood on the basis of social conditions. In view of the be- havior of the male White and of the forms of mix- ture in other societies it does not seem likely that it is reducible to innate sexual antipathy. The White master sought his colored mates who had little power to resist him. The colored slave was in an entirely different position towards his mistress and to other White women.

The intermingling of Indian and White throws an interesting light upon this subject. Owing to other reasons the early intermingling between the two races was also between White males and Indian females. It was caused not by the relation of master and slave woman but by the absence of White women. The general development has been such that Mestizo women — that is, those of Indian-White descent — are liable to marry Whites. Their descendants gradually pass out of the Indian population unless economic privileges, such as the right to hold valuable lands belonging to the Indians, serve as an attraction to the Indian community. The men, on the other hand, are more liable to marry Indian or Mestizo women and remain in the tribe. The male descendants of Mestizo women who no longer belong to a segregated group marry freely among the Whites, while the male

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descendants of Mestizo men are ordinarily not in the position to marry outside of their own race.

There is no doubt that the strangeness of a foreign racial type plays an important role in these relations. The ideal of beauty of a person who is growing up in an exclusively White society is different from that of a Negro who lives in a Negro society and the later in life a White person comes into contact with a Negro the more keenly will he be conscious of the strangeness of the type and, while there is curiosity, there is also reluctance to close association. The same attitude develops when racial and social groupings coincide, so that reluctance to entering into social contact may be reinterpreted as racial dislike.

Here again the question arises whether these in- fluences would act in the same.way if the groups were socially not separated. We can find an answer to this question solely by a consideration of conditions in countries in which there is no pronounced race feeling. It would seem that there the attractiveness of forms has a much wider range, and is not determined by pigmentation and other racial traits alone. Aversion is not expressed on racial lines but on the ground of the repulsiveness of other features. Preferences and aversions differ individually.

Unfortunately these conditions cannot be proven by actual numerical observations that would be con- vincing. All we can give are the results of general observations. These are, however, so striking that their validity seems well established.

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Since the abolition of slavery the intermingling of Negroes and Whites has taken a curious course. Legitimate and illegitimate mating bciv/een Whites and Negroes has undoubtedly decreased and we find essentially marriages among Negroes and Mulattoes. Dr. Melville J. Herskovits has collected statistics on this subject. He found that, on the average, dark individuals will marry those of dark, though slightly lighter complexion, light ones those of light, though slightly darker complexion. This indicates that there is a decided preference in the mating of those of simi- lar color, — an expression of the transfer of our own race feeling to the colored people who live among us and participate in our culture. But, furthermore, the darker man marries on the average a lighter woman. Since there is no difference in the pigmentation of the two sexes this indicates a preference on the part of the men, — another manifestation of the adoption of our valuations by the Negroes.

The effect of this selective process, if it continues for many generations, will be the passing of many of the lightest men out of the Negro community. Either they die as bachelors or they are merged in the gen- eral population. For the remainder it must inevitably lead to a darkening of the whole colored population, for the daughters of each generation, whose fathers are dark and whose mothers are light, will be darker than their mothers. When they again become mothers, their children will be still darker, provided the same conditions continue. Thus there will come to be a

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constantly increasing intensity of Negro character- istics and a sharper contrast between the two principal races of the country.

During the time of slavery the condition was the reverse. On account of the numerous unions between White men and Negro women the new generation was lighter than their mothers. A constant lightening of the Negro population resulted and hence a lessening of the racial contrast without any modification of the descendants of White females.

An evenly mixed population can result only if the number of matings between males of one race and females of the other is equal to that of matings in the opposite direction. Otherwise the racial type of the group descended in the female line will be unstable.

When social divisions follow racial lines, as they do among ourselves, the degree of difference between racial forms is an important element in establishing racial groupings and in accentuating racial conflicts. From this point of view the present tendency is most undesirable.

Under prevailing circumstances complete freedom of matrimonial union between the two races cannot be expected. The causes that operate against the unions of colored men and White women are almost as potent as in the days of slavery. Looking forward towards a lessening of the intensity of race feeling an increase of unions of White men and colored women would be desirable. The present policy of

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many of the Southern States tends to accentuate the lack of homogeneity of our nation.

The biological arguments that have been brought forward against race crossing are not convincing. Equally good reasons can be given in favor of cross- ings of the best elements of various races, and for closely related groups these arguments seem incon- trovertible.

If we were to select the most intelligent, imagina- tive, energetic and emotionally stable third of man- kind, all races would be represented. The mere fact that a person is a healthy European, or a blond Euro- pean would not be proof that he would belong to this elite. Nobody has ever given proof that the mixed descendants of such a select group would be inferior.

If a selection of immigrants is to be made it should never be made by a rough racial classification, but by a careful examination of the individual and of his family history.

No matter how weak the case of racial purity may be, we cannot hope easily to overcome its appeal. As long as the social groups are racial groups we shall also encounter the desire for racial purity. When con- siderable racial differences are encountered in the same social group, they are disregarded unless there are introduced artificial ideals of bodily form that tend to establish new social divisions. This is occur- ring in some social groups in Europe and America who idealize the blond, blue-eyed type.

It follows that the "instinctive" race antipathy

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can be broken down, if we succeed in creating among young children social groups that are not divided according to the principles of race and which have principles of cohesion that weld the group into a whole. Under the pressure of present popular feeling it will not be easy to establish such groups. Never- theless, cultural cooperation cannot be reached with- out it.

Those who fear miscegenation, which I, personally, do not consider as in any way dangerous — not for the White race or for the Negro, or for mankind — may console themselves with their belief in a race consciousness, which would manifest itself in selec- tive mating. Then matters would remain as they are.

CHAPTER IV NATIONALISM

THE TERM "nationality" has two meanings. It is applied to designate collectively the citizens of one State, as when we describe a person's nationality as American, French, or Italian, meaning by this that he is a citizen of the United States, France, or Italy. It is also used to designate persons who belong to one linguistic and cultural group, as when we say that the many irregularly distributed communities of the Balkan Peninsula are of Bulgarian, Servian, Greek, or Turkish nationality.

The term "nation" is somewhat less ambiguous, for it is generally used to designate a political unit, a State, although it is also occasionally used collectively for the members of a nationality regardless of their political affiliations. Italians and Germans before the political unification of their countries were sometimes designated as the Italian or German nation.

The term "nationalism" is as ambiguous as the term "nationality." It is used to express the feeling of solidarity and of devotion to the interests of the State on the part of its citizens. It is also used to

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designate the desire of a nationality that feels its cultural unity for unity in political and economic organization.

In the following I use the term "nationality" to designate groups the same in culture and speech with- out reference to political affiliation. In this sense there are States that embrace several nationalities, like Czecho-Slovakia and Poland. A nationality may also be divided and constitute several States, like the Span- iards in a few States of South America, or the Italians and Germans before the unification of Italy and Ger- many; or the members of one nationality may be included in several States, like the Germans in Ger- many, Austria, France, Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Italy and the Baltic States.

While the significance of the term "nationalism" is quite clear in so far as it relates to devotion to the interests of the State, it is not so clear in so far as it refers to the desires of a nationality, because there is little clarity in regard to the concept of nationality as a group characterized by unity of language and culture.

Since the general conditions of life prevailing in a State, particularly its institutions, mould to a certain extent the behavior of its citizens, the characteristics of a nationality are in part coincident with those of nations.

Furthermore the theory has been advanced that the cultural life of a people is dependent upon bodily build, and on this basis confusion between the con-

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cepts of race and of nationality as a linguistic and cultural group has arisen. In the terminology of the United States Immigration Commission English, French, German, and Russian are designated as races. In common parlance also no clear distinction is made between cultural groups and racial strains. The blond is supposed to represent the Teuton; the short and dark, Spaniard or Italian; the heavy built brunette, the Slav, and the observed characteristics of these groups are ascribed to their bodily build.

We have seen before (pp. 43 ct seq.) that the exist- ence of hereditary mental characteristics in large groups of man, particularly in closely allied groups, has never been satisfactorily established. Never- theless the belief persists that a particular type and a correlated mentality are the characteristic ele- ments among the great variety of forms that consti- tute a population which has in common cultural and linguistic traits. Thus it happens that the blond, blue- eyed type is considered as endowed with energy, intel- ligence and other traits that make him the real bearer of the culture of northwestern Europe and the true representative of northwest European nationalities.

It has been claimed that all the achievements of Greece are due to the blond immigrants who reached that country before the beginning of the historic era, although the presence of a blond element does not prove that its cultural advance was due to it. It might be said with equal justice that the rise of North Euro- pean civilization did not begin until South and Cen-

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tral European blood became intermingled with that of the North European.

The same thought was in Haupt's mind when he tried to prove that Christ could not have been a Jew, but must have been by descent an Aryan, that means a North European; or Henry Fairfield Osborn who maintained that Columbus must have been a blond, or Sir Henry Keith who contrasted the types of Lord Kitchener and Hindenburg and assigned the differ- ence in type as the cause of their supposed mental qualities.

This erroneous identification of a race as the true representative of a culture within a nationality, the assumption of a close correlation between race and culture has taken hold of the mind wherever the Teu- tonic, German, or Anglo-Saxon type — however it may be called — prevails; or where the Italian "race" glories in its past greatness and virtues.

Although Europeans begin to understand that each nationality embraces individuals of many different types, the belief prevails that in this mixture certain pure types continue to persist which possess qualities that make them the true bearers of national culture. Local "races" among which these "pure" types have disappeared or are disappearing are believed to be in danger of losing their national culture and the ideal type is admonished to see to it that it may not be swamped by so-called inferior types and that it preserve its purity and with it its national culture. Examples of this are the associations in Germany

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that admit only blond members, and the more numer- ous ones that exclude Jews.

The notion prevails among ourselves with equal force, for we are haunted by fear of the ominous influx of "inferior" races from eastern and southern Europe, of the mongrelization of the American people by intermixture with these types, because it is be- lieved that we may lose in this way the characteristic mental traits that belong to the Northwest Europeans.

We should remember that people of pure descent or of a pure racial type are not found in any part of Europe. This is proved by the distribution of bodily forms. Even if it is true that the blond type is found at present preeminently among Teutonic people, it is not confined to them alone. Among the Finns, Poles, French, North Italians, not to speak of the North African Berbers and the Kurds of western Asia, there are individuals of this type. The heavy-set, darker East European type is common to many of the Slavic peoples of eastern Europe, to the Germans of Austria and southern Germany, to the North Italians, and to the French of the Alps and of central France. The Mediterranean type is spread widely over Spain, Italy, Greece, and the coast of Asia Minor, without regard to national boundaries. Other local types may be readily distinguished, if we take into consideration other differences in form. These are also confined to definite territories.

In western Europe, types are on the whole dis- tributed in strata that follow one another from north

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to south, — in the north the blond, in the center a darker, short-headed type, in the south the slightly built Mediterranean.

National boundaries in central Europe, on the other hand, run north and south: and so we find many individuals in northern France, Belgium, Holland, Germany and northwestern Russia similar in type and descent; many of the central French, South Germans, Swiss, North Italians, Austrians, Servians and central Russians, belonging to similar varieties of man; and also persons in southern France, closely related to the types of the eastern and western Mediterranean area.

Ample historical evidence is available to show how this has come about. The relation of German and Slav is instructive. During the period of Teutonic migrations, in the first few centuries of our era, the Slavs settled in the region from which Teutonic tribes had moved away. They occupied the whole of what is now eastern Germany, but the population seems to have been sparse. In the Middle Ages, with the growth of the German Empire, a slow backward movement set in. Germans settled as colonists in Slavic territory, and by degrees German speech prevailed over the Slavic and a population of mixed descent developed. In Germany survivals of the gradual process may be found in a remote locality where Slavic speech still persists.

As by contact with the more advanced Germans the cultural and economic conditions of the Slavs

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improved and their numbers and their wealth in- creased, their resistance to Germanization became greater and greater, — earhest among the Czechs and Poles, later in the other Slavic groups. Later on, through a similar process, a mixed population of Poles, Lithuanians and Russians originated farther to the east.

This process has led to the present distribution of languages, which expresses a fossilization of Ger- man colonization in the east, and illustrates in a most striking way the penetration of peoples. Poland and part of Russia, Slavonic and Magyar territories are interspersed with small German settlements, which are the more sparse and scattered the farther east they are located, the more continuous the nearer they lie to Germany, — at least until the recent systematic persecution of Germans in Poland.

With the increased economic and cultural strength of the Slav, the German lost his ability to impose his mode of life upon him, and with it his power to assimi- late the numerically stronger people in its own home. But by blood all these people, no matter what their speech, are the same.

A process analogous to the medieval Germanization of Slavic tribes may at present be observed in Mexico, where Indian speech and culture give way to Spanish. Each town forms a center of Spanish speech which, owing to the economic and cultural strength of the town, spreads over the surrounding country.

The French Huguenots who escaped from religious

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persecution and settled in Germany have been com- pletely assimilated, although the French school in which their children were educated is still in existence as a French gymnasium. Alsatians who migrated to Paris have become French in language and spirit; Germans have been absorbed by Russians ; the Swed- ish nobility count among their numbers many de- scendants of the nobility of foreign countries. An analysis of the descent of the population of every part of Europe proves that intermingling has been going on for long periods.

The movements of tribes in prehistoric times and during antiquity also illustrate the ways in which different strains became mixed: the Doric migration into Greece, the movements of the Kelts into Spain, Italy and eastward as far as Asia Minor; the Teu- tonic migrations which swept through Europe from the Black Sea into Italy, France, Spain and on into Africa; the invasion of the Balkan Peninsula by Slavs, and their extension over eastern Russia and into Siberia; Phoenician, Greek and Roman coloniza- tion; the roving Normans; the expansion of the Arabs; the Crusades, are a few of the important events that have contributed to the intermingling of the European population.

In every single nationality of Europe the various elements of the continental population are repre- sented. Proof that a selected type within a nationality is the carrier of definite mental and cultural traits has never been given. On the contrary, we find individuals

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of the same type but members of different nationali- ties behaving according to the national pattern, and individuals of the most diverse types, but members of the same nationality behaving in similar ways.

The readiness with which we recognize individuals, according to their outer appearance, as members of certain nationalities confirms this view. Such identifi- cations, which are far from certain, are based only in part on the essential elements of the form of the body, such as hair and eye color, face form and stature. We are led much more by the mannerisms of wearing hair and beard, and by the characteristic expressions and motions of the body, which are de- termined not so much by hereditary causes as by habit. The latter are more impressive than the former; and among the nations of Europe no funda- mental traits of the body occur that belong to one to the exclusion of the others. It is a common experi- ence that Americans of European descent, French, Italian or German, are recognized as Americans, not- withstanding their pure descent and solely on account of their appearance and habits. These are expressions of their nationality, of their cultural life.

Racial descent has significance in determining na- tionality in those countries in which fundamentally distinct races live side by side. Everybody will agree that American Whites, Negroes and native-bom Asiatics are members of the same nation, but they would hardly be called members of the same nation- ality, because of the social barriers between these

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groups and the consciousness that they are derived from races that continue to be distinct. They are separated by divergence in bodily form which causes, at least for the time being, permanent segregation. In Mexico, where the intermingling of Indian and White has produced a numerous mixed population which is not permanently separated by social barriers, the distinction between Indian, Mestizo and Spanish Creole is weak and all are not only members of the Mexican nation, but also of Mexican nationality, provided they participate in the general social and political life of the country.

The social, not racial, significance of the term "na- tionality" appears also clearly in the position of the Jew in modern society. When the Jew is separated from the rest of the people among whom he lives by endogamy within the Jewish community, by habits, occupation and appearance, he is not entirely a mem- ber of the nationality, although a member of the na- tion, for he participates in part only in the interests of the community and endogamy keeps him perma- nently separated. When he is completely assimilated he is a member of the nationality. This appears most clearly in those North European countries in which the number of Jews is small and intermarriage and assimilation correspondingly rapid.

If community of racial descent is not the basis of nationality, is it community of language?

When we glance at the national aspirations that have characterized a large part of the nineteenth cen-

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tury, community of language might seem to be the background of national life. It touches the most sym- pathetic chords in our hearts. Italians worked for the overthrow of the small local and great foreign inter- ests that were opposed to the national unity of all Italian-speaking people. German patriots strove and will strive for the federation of the German-speaking people in one empire. The struggles in the Balkans are largely due to a desire for national independence according to the limits of speech. The Poles have for more than a century longed for a reestablishment of their state which is to embrace all those of Polish tongue.

It is, however, not very long that the bonds of lan- guage have been felt so intensely. Language estab- lishes a basis of mutual understanding on which a community of interests may arise. The pleasure of hearing one's own tongue spoken in a foreign country creates at once between its speakers a feeling of comradeship that is quite real, and strong in propor- tion to the smallness of the number of speakers of the idiom. The necessity of easy communication between the members of one nation has also led generally to the endeavor to make one language the ruling lan- guage throughout the whole state. When there is a great difference of languages, as in the former Austria- Hungary, the national unity is liable to be feeble.

Notwithstanding unity of language severe internal conflicts may arise that do not allow the feeling for the unity of a nationality to arise. It may be all but

/

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lost owing to local or social conflicts, as in the case of the ancient Greek and the medieval cities; in dif- ferences between religious and cultural tradition, as among the Croatians and Servians; in social revolu- tion; or in wars of religion.

Unity of language is more an ideal than a real bond; not only that divergence of dialects makes communication difficult, but community of thought among the members of different social classes is also so slight that no communication of deeper thought and feeling is possible. The Provengal and the North French, the Bavarian and the Westphalian peasant, the Sicilian and the Florentine are hopelessly divided, owing to differences of language. The transition of Italian into French is so gradual that only the politi- cal boundaries and the language imposed by Govern- ment, school and cultural relations determines whether we count a district as Italian or French. Unity is found in the educated groups that share the same language and the same emotional reactions.

In many ways the educated Americans, English- men, Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Spanish, and Russians have more in common than each has with the uneducated classes of his own nation.

Neither the bonds of blood nor those of language alone make a nationality. It is rather the community of emotional life that rises from our everyday habits, from the forms of thoughts, feelings, and actions, which constitute the medium in which every individ- ual can unfold freely his activities.

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Language and nationality are so often identified, because we feel that among a people that use the same language every one can find the widest field for un- restricted activity. Thus is created the feeling for the existence of a national unit. Nevertheless it is perfectly clear that there is no individual, and no group of individuals that actually represent the na- tionality. The concept is an abstraction based on community of language which is felt by all as their mother tongue, and on the current forms of thought, feeling, and action — an abstraction of high emotional value, enhanced by the consciousness of political power, or by the desire for the power of independent control of the lives of the group.

Unity of language does not comprise the whole of nationalism, for no less ardent is the patriotism of trilingual Switzerland. Even here in America we see that the bond of tongue is not the only one. Else we should feel that there is no reason for a division be- tween Canada and the United States or between the States of Spanish America, and that the political ties between western Canada and French Quebec must be artificial.

For the full development of his faculties, the indi- vidual needs the widest possible field in which to live and act according to his modes of thought and inner feeling. Since, in most cases, the opportunity is given among a group that possesses unity of speech, we feel full sympathy with the intense desire to throw down the artificial barriers of small political units. This

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process has characterized the development of modern nations.

When, however, these limits are overstepped, and a fictitious racial or alleged national unit is set up that has no existence in actual conditions, the free unfolding of the mind, for which we are striving, is liable to become an excuse for ambitious lust for power. The dream of a Pan-Latin Union, the Pan- Germanic wish for a union of all groups speaking Germanic languages, the Pan-Slavistic agitation, the Pan-American idea, are all prompted by the wish for power. A fictitious common culture and common racial origin is assumed on the basis of a relationship of language, discovered by philological research, but un- related to modern culture. In all these cases the use- fulness of the nationalistic idea was lost sight of and it was made the cover for the desire of imperialistic expansion.

The nationalism of modern times presupposes that the group held together as a nationality has developed the desire to strengthen its common social life, to determine its own actions, in other words, to become a nation which has the power to control its own desti- nies. Thus it has come to be the ferment that has broken up dynastic States comprising people that felt as distinct nationalities, and has led to the struggles for unity of those separated by the dynastic history of States.

The growth of modern, powerful States is the con- dition for the development of a strong nationalism.

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Without a State conceived as an organization that can enforce and develop national aspirations nation- ality can never become the basis of a driving force.

This may readily be recognized when modern na- tionalism is compared with the intense group feelings of earlier periods. In small, tribal communities same- ness of race, language and culture does not form a uniting tie. Each small social unit looks with suspi- cion, if not with enmity, upon its neighbors. It is con- scious only of tribal solidarity. When a number of tribes form an organized confederation, like the Iroquois Indians, the community of interests and the centralization of social power in which all participate create a condition that may well be compared with modern nationalism. The question of linguistic unity is not determinant, but community of organization in peace and war. Among the Zulu in South Africa a rigid military organization created a national spirit, while the African States among which outlying dis- tricts were held to a central authority by looser bands had no stability and no national feeling.

Still more instructive is the absence of nationalistic feeling during the Middle Ages. In its place we find devotion to feudal lords and ruling dynasties. French battled against French, Italians against Italians ac- cording to their allegiance. While feudalism broke up the unity of what we should call nowadays a na- tionality, the unity of Christianity against Moham- medanism ov stepped by far the limits of people of one speech. Both of these aspects of medieval life

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made impossible the feeling for a nationality as a uniting bond. The national State in our sense was non- existent.

It is well to bear in mind that nationalities may be created by a variety of circumstances. Economic in- terests and cultural contrasts may break a nation and create new nationalities. The break between the United States and England illustrates this. The feel- ing of national unity of the Southern States during the War of the Rebellion, created by community of economic interests and by the centralization of power made necessary by the war is another example.

An interesting phase of national life is developing in Russia. While the policy of the Czarist government consisted in the forcible suppression of all non- Russian speech, even of local dialects, the Soviet Republic has adopted the policy of protecting the right of every group to their own language, trusting the bond of a great, radical economic experiment to unite all the people as one nationality opposed to the capitalistic world.

There is no doubt that the idea of nationality has been a creative force, making possible the fuller de- velopment of powers by widening the field of indi- vidual activity, and by setting definite ideals to large cooperating masses; but we feel with Fichte and Mazzini that the political power of a nation is im- portant only when the national unit is the carrier of ideals that are of value to mankind.

Together with the positive, creative side of na-

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tionalism there has developed everywhere an aggres- sive intolerance of foreign forms of thought that can be satisfied only by the strongest emphasis laid upon the value and interest of one national unit against all others.

On a larger scale the conditions are repeated now that less than a century ago prevented the ready formation of modern nations. The narrow-minded local interests of cities and other small political units resisted unification or federation on account of the supposed conflicts between their interests and ideals and those of other units of comparable size. Govern- mental organization strengthened the tendency to iso- lation, and the unavoidable, ever-present desire of self-preservation of the existing order stood in the way of amalgamation. It was only after long years of agitation and of bloody struggle that the larger idea prevailed.

Those of us who recognize in the realization of national ideals a definite advance that has benefited mankind cannot fail to see that the task before us at the present time is a repetition of the process of nationalization on a larger scale; not with a view to leveling down all local differences, but with the avowed purpose of making them all subserve the same end.

The federation of nations is the next necessary step in the evolution of mankind.

It is the expansion of the fundamental idea under- lying the organization of the United States, of

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Switzerland, and of Germany. The weakness of the League of Nations and of the modern peace move- ment lies in this, that they are not sufficiently clear and radical in their demands, for their logical aim cannot be arbitration of disagreement, or formal out- lawing of war. It must be the recognition of common aims of all the nations.

Such federation of nations is not an Utopian idea, any more than nationalism was a century ago. In fact, the whole development of mankind shows that this condition is destined to come.

Fundamentally, the nation must be considered a closed society like those previously discussed. The differentiation between citizen and alien is not so intense as in the closed primitive horde, but it exists.

It would be instructive to follow in detail the de- velopment of modern nations from tribal units that considered every alien an enemy who must be slain, but we can only imagine the course of the gradual changes that have taken place.

Human inventions improved. The herd of hunters and food-gatherers learned the art of better provid- ing for their needs. They stored up food and thus provided for the future. With the greater regularity of the food supply and a decreased frequency of periods of starvation the number of members of the community increased. Weaker hordes, which still fol- lowed the older methods of hunting and food gather- ing, were exterminated or, profiting by the experience of their neighbors, acquired new arts and also in-

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creased in numbers. Thus the groups that felt a solidarity among themselves became larger and by the extermination of small, isolated hordes, that re- mained in more primitive conditions, the total number of groups that stood opposed to one another became gradually less.

It is impossible to trace with any degree of cer- tainty the steps by which the homogeneous groups became diversified and lost their unity, or by which the opposing groups came into closer contact. We may imagine that the widows and daughters of the slain, who became a welcome prey of the victors, established in time kindlier relations between their new masters and their kin ; we may imagine that the economic advantages of peacefully acquiring the coveted property of neighbors rather than taking it by main force added their share to establishing kindlier relations; we may attribute an important in- fluence to the weakening of old bonds of unity due to the gradual dispersion of the increasing number of members of the community. No matter how the next steps in political development happened, we see that, with increasing economic complexity, the hostility be- tween the groups becomes less. If it was right before to slay every one outside of the small horde, we find now tribes that have a limited community of interests, that under normal conditions live at peace, although enmities may spring up at slight provocation. The group that lives normally at peace has much increased

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in size, and, while the feeling of solidarity may have decreased, its scope has become immensely wider.

This process of enlargement of political units and the reduction of the number of those that were naturally at war with one another began in the earliest times, and has continued without interruption, al- most always in the same direction. Even though hos- tilities have broken out frequently between parts of j\ what had come to be a large political unit, the / j tendency for unification has in the long run been more f powerful than that of disintegration. We see the powers at work in antiquity, when the urban states of Greece and of Italy were gradually welded into larger wholes ; we see it again at work after the break- ing up of ancient society in the development of new states from the fragments of the old ones; and later on in the disappearance of the small feudal states.

In the nations of our days we find the greatest numbers of people united in political units that the world has seen. In these war is excluded, because all members are subject to the same law, and excessive strains in the community, that lead to internal blood- shed, have decreased in frequency, although perhaps not in violence, as long as the whole masses of the people in a nation enjoy somewhat equal advantages. The World War has resulted in a setback to this movement that seems from our viewpoint as an anachronism. The breaking up of the old empire of Austria-Hungary is a step backward in a development that is steadily gaining in force. Notwithstanding the

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resistance of the governing class to the development of a confederation rather than of a centralized empire, the force of circumstances was operating in this di- rection. Hungary had attained a status of inde- pendence and the recognition of the rights of the South-Slavs was coming. How much better would the peacemakers have served humanity if they had cre- ated a confederacy of language groups of equal rights rather than a number of rival nations each of which is bent only upon the attainment of its own selfish ^ ends!

Thus the history of mankind shows us the spectacle of the grouping of man in more or less firmly knit • units of ever-increasing size that live together in peace, and that are ready to go to war only with other groups outside of their own limits. Notwithstanding all temporary revolutions and the shattering of larger units for the time being, the progress in the direction of recognition of common interests in larger groups, and consequent political federation has been so regular and so marked that we must needs conclude that the tendencies which have swayed this develop- -jr ment in the past will govern our history in the future. The concept of thoroughly integrated nations of the size to which we are now accustomed would have been just as inconceivable in earlier times of the his- tory of mankind as appears now the concept of unity of interests of all the peoples of the world, or at least of all those who share the same type of civilization and are subject to the same economic conditions. The

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historical development shows, however, that such a feeling of opposition of one group towards another is solely an expression of existing conditions, and does not by any means indicate their permanence.

It is not any rational cause that forms opposing groups, but solely the emotional appeal of an idea that holds together the members of each group and exalts their feeling of solidarity and greatness to such an extent that compromises with other groups become impossible. In this mental attitude we may readily recognize the survival of the feeling of specific dif- ferences between the hordes, transferred in part from the feeling of physical differences to that of mental differences. The modern enthusiasm for race superior- ity must be understood in this light. It is the old feeling of specific differences between social groups in a new guise.

Progress has been slow and halting in the direction of expanding the political units from hordes to tribes, from tribes to small states, confederations, and na- tions. The concept of the foreigner as a specifically distinct being has been so modified that we are be- ginning to see in him a member of mankind.

Enlargement of circles of association, and equaliza- tion of rights of distinct local communities have been so consistently the general tendency of human de- velopment that we may look forward confidently to their consummation.

It is obvious that the standards of ethical conduct must be quite distinct between those who have

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grasped this ideal and those who still believe in the preservation of the isolated nationality in opposition to all others.

Once we recognize this truth we are brought clearly face to face with those forces that will ultimately abolish warfare between nations as well as legislative conflicts; that will put an end not only to the whole- sale slaughter of those representing distinct ideals, but also prevent the passage of laws that favor the members of one nation at the expense of all other members of mankind.

It should not be understood that such universalism is opposed to the development of individuality in na- tions. A large political unit may still be diverse in local culture and we should hesitate to foster any process that would bring us down to such a uni- formity that the stimulus given by contact between different cultures should be lost, for contact between different attitudes and points of view has always been a force in keeping alive the intellectual and emotional activities of mankind.

In primitive society existed an immense variety of cultural forms in contiguous areas. Isolation prevented leveling down of differences, although a trickling through of cultural streams may be observed. We have lost much of this diversity, but local character- istics of culture persist, expressed in emotional attitudes, forms of social intercourse, intellectual in- terests and occupations, in the valuation of the char- acter and activities of man.

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Much fuller developed than in primitive society are the differences in cultural outlook of the various strata of civilized society. Notwithstanding the sameness of the products of the civilization in which we all live, fundamental differences are found, and when the iso- lation between the strata comes to be great or the contrasts are accompanied by economic distress in some of the strata, forcible oppression or revolt results.

The suppression of cultural differences or isolation of the different groups cannot be the aim of intelligent endeavor in directing human development.

However, in our educational systems cultural na- tionalism is hardly mentioned, political nationalism is stressed. Devotion to the political interests of the na- tion, to political power, is taught as the paramount duty and is instilled into the minds of the young in such a form that with it grows up and is perpetuated the feeling of rivalry and of hostility against all other nations.

Conditions in modern states are intelligible only when we remember that through education patriotism is surrounded with a halo of sanctity and that national self-preservation is considered the first duty. Often the demands of national and international duty are hopelessly at variance.

The interests of mankind are ill served if we try to instill into the minds of the young a passionate desire for national power; if we teach the preponder- ance of national interest over human interest, aggres-

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sive nationalism rather than national idealism, expansion rather than inner development, admiration of warlike, heroic deeds rather than of the object for which they are performed.

CHAPTER V EUGENICS

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THE POSSIBILITY of raising the standards of hu- man physique and mentality by judicious means has been preached for years by the apostles of eugenics, and has taken hold of the public mind to such an extent that eugenic measures have found a place on the statute books of a number of States, and that the public conscience disapproves of marriages that are thought bound to produce unhealthy off- spring.

The thought that it may be possible by these means to eliminate suffering and to strive for higher ideals is a beautiful one, and makes a strong appeal to those who have at heart the advance of humanity.

Our experiences in stock and plant breeding have shown that it is feasible, by appropriate selection, to change a breed in almost any direction that we may choose: in size, form, color. Even physiological func- tions may be modified. Fertility may be increased, speed of movement improved, the sensitiveness of sense organs modified, and mental traits may be turned in special directions. It is, therefore, more

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than probable that similar results might be obtained in man by careful mating of appropriately selected individuals, — provided that man allowed himself to be selected in the same manner as we select animals. We have also the right to assume that, by preventing the propagation of mentally or physically inferior strains, the gross average standing of a population may be raised.

Although these methods sound attractive, there are serious limitations to their applicability. Eugenic se- lection can affect only hereditary features. If an indi- vidual possesses a desirable quality the development of which is wholly due to environmental causes, and that will not be repeated in the descendants, its selec- tion will have no influence upon the following gen- erations. It is, therefore, of fundamental importance to know what is hereditary and what not. Features, and color of eyes, hair and skin, are more or less rigidly hereditary; in other words, in these respects children resemble organically their parents, no mat- ter in what environment they may have been brought up. In other cases, however, the determining influence of heredity is not so clear. We know that stature de- pends upon hereditary causes, but that it is also greatly influenced by environmental conditions pre- vailing during the period of growth. Rapidity of de- velopment is no less influenced by these two causes, and in general the more subject an anatomical or physiological trait to the influence of environment the less definitely can we speak of a controlling in-

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fluence of heredity, and the less are we justified in claiming that nature, not nurture, is the deciding element.

It would seem, therefore, that the first duty of the eugenist should be to determine empirically and with- out bias what features are hereditary and what not.

Unfortunately this has not been the method pur- sued; but the battle cry of the eugenists, "Nature not nurture," has been raised to the rank of a dogma, and the environmental conditions that make and unmake man, physically and mentally, have been relegated to the background.

It is easy to see that in many cases environmental causes may convey the erroneous impression of he- reditary phenomena. Poor people develop slowly and remain short of stature as compared to wealthy people. We find, therefore, in a poor area, apparently a low hereditary stature, that, however, would change if the economic life of the people were changed. We find proportions of the body determined by occupa- tions, and apparently transmitted from father to son, provided both father and son follow the same occupa- tion. The more far-reaching the environmental in- fluences are that act upon successive generations the more readily will a false impression of heredity be given.

Here we reach a parting of the ways of the bi- ological eugenist and the student of human society. Most modern biologists are so entirely dominated by the notion that function depends upon form that they

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seek for an anatomical basis for all differences of function. The stress laid upon the relation between anatomical form or constitution and pathological con- ditions of the most varied character is an expression of this tendency. Whenever the anatomical and patho- logical conditions are actually physiologically inter- dependent such relations are found. In other cases, as for instance in the relation of anatomical form and mental disturbances, the relation may be quite remote. This is still more the case when a relation between social phenomena and bodily form is sought. Many biologists are inclined to assume that higher civiliza- tion is due to a higher type; that better social health depends solely upon a better hereditary stock; that national characteristics are determined by the bodily forms represented in the nation.

The anthropologist is convinced that many differ- ent anatomical forms can be adapted to the same social functions; and he ascribes greater weight to these and believes that in many cases differences of form may be due to adaptations to different functions. He believes that different types of man may reach the same civilization, that for any type of man better health may be secured by better nurture.

The anatomical differences and those in chemical constitution to which the biologist reduces social phe- nomena are hereditary; the environmental causes which the anthropologist sees reflected in human form are individually acquired, and not transmitted by heredity.

no ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE

In view of what has been said before it will suffice to point out a very few examples.

Sameness of language is acquired under the same linguistic environment by members of the most di- verse human types; the same kinds of foods are selected from among the products of nature by people belonging to the same cultural area; similarity of movements is required in industrial pursuits; the habits of sedentary or nomadic life do not depend upon race but upon occupation. All of these are dis- tributed without any reference to physical type, and give ample evidence of the lack of relation between social habits and racial position.

The serious demand must be made that eugenists cease to look at the forms, functions, and activities of man from the dogmatic point of view according to which each feature is assumed to be hereditary, but that they begin to examine them from a more critical point of view, requiring that in each and every case the hereditary character of a trait must be estab- lished before it can be assumed to exist.

The question at issue is well illustrated by the ex- tended statistics of cacogenics, of the histories of de- fective families. Setting aside for a moment cases of hereditary pathological conditions, we find that alco- holism and criminality are particularly ascribed to hereditary causes. When we study the family histories in question, we can see often, that, if the individuals had been protected by favorable home surroundings and by possession of adequate means of support

EUGENICS III

against the abuse of alcohol or other drugs as well as against criminality, many of them would have been no more likely to fall victims to their alleged heredi- tary tendencies, than many a weakling who is brought up under favorable circumstances. If they had re- sisted the temptations of their environment they would have been entitled to be classed as moral heroes. The scales applied to the criminal family and to the well-to-do are clearly quite distinct; and, so far as heredity is concerned, not much more follows from the collected data of social deficiencies than would follow from the fact that in an agricultural community the occupation of farmers descends from father to son.

Whether or not constitutional debility based on hereditary causes may also be proved in these cases is a question by itself that deserves attention. It remains to be proved in how far it exists, and further- more it cannot be assumed without proof that the elimination of the descendants of delinquents would free us of all those who possess equal constitutional debility. Of these matters more anon.

It is an observed fact that the most diverse types of man may adapt themselves to the same forms of life and, unless the contrary can be proved, we must assume that all complex activities are socially deter- mined, not hereditary; that a change in social conditions will change the whole character of social ac- tivities without influencing in the least the hereditary characteristics of the group of individuals concerned.

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Therefore, when the attempt is made to prove that defects or points of excellence are hereditary, it is essential that all possibility of a purely environmen- tally or socially determined repetition of ancestral traits be excluded.

If this rigidity of proof is insisted on it will appear that many of the data on which the theory of eugenics is based are unsatisfactory, and that much greater care must be exerted than finds favor with the en- thusiastic adherents of eugenic theories.

All this does not contradict the hereditary trans- mission of individual physical and mental character- istics, or the possibility of segregating, by proper selection from among the large series of varying indi- vidual forms that occur among all types of people, strains that have admirable qualities, and of sup- pressing others that are not so favored.

It is claimed that the practical application has be- come a necessity because among all civilized nations there is a decided tendency to general degeneration. I do not believe that this assertion has been ade- quately proved. In modern society the conditions of life have become markedly varied as compared with those of former periods. While some groups live under most favorable conditions, that require active use of body and mind, others live in abject poverty, and their activities have more than ever before been degraded to those of machines. At the same time, human activities are much more varied than formerly. It is, therefore, quite intelligible that the functional

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activities of each nation must show an increased de- gree of differentiation, a higher degree of variability. The general average of the mental and physical types of the people may remain the same, still there will be a larger number now than formerly who fall below a certain given low standard, while there will also be more who exceed a given high standard. The num- ber of defectives can be counted by statistics of poor relief, delinquency and insanity, but there is no way of determining the increase of those individuals who are raised above the norm of a higher standard. There- fore they escape our notice. It may very well be that the number of defectives increases, without, however, influencing the value of a population as a whole, be- cause it is merely an expression of an increased de- gree of variability.

Furthermore, arbitrarily selected, absolute stand- ards do not retain their significance. Even if no change in the absolute standards should be made, the degree of physical and mental energy required under modern conditions to keep one's self above a certain minimum of achievement is higher than formerly. This is due to the greater complexity of our life and to the in- creasing number of competing individuals. When the general level of achievement is raised, greater capacity is required of those who are to attain a high degree of prominence than was needed in earlier periods 6f our history. A mentally defective person may be able to hold his own in a simple farming community and un- able to do so in city life. The claim that we have to

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contend against national degeneracy must, therefore, be better substantiated than it is now.

The problem is further complicated by the ad- vances of public hygiene, which have lowered infant mortality, and have changed the composition of the population, in so far as many who would have suc- cumbed to deleterious conditions in early years enter into the adult population and have an influence upon the general distribution of vitality.

There is still another important aspect of eugenics that should make us pause before we accept this new ambitious theory as a panacea for human ills. The radical eugenist treats the problem of procreation from a purely rationalistic point of view, and assumes that the ideal of human development lies in the com- plete rationalization of human life. As a matter of fact, the conclusions to be drawn from the study of the customs and habits of mankind show that such an ideal is unattainable, and more particularly that the emotions clustering about procreation belong to those that are most deeply seated, and that are in- eradicable.

Here again the anthropologist and the biologist are at odds. The natural sciences do not recognize in their scheme a valuation of the phenomena of nature, nor do they count emotions as moving forces; they endeavor to reduce all happenings to the actions of physical causes. Reason alone reigns in their domain. Therefore the scientist likes to look at mental life from the same rational standpoint, and sees as the

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goal of human development an era of reason, as op- posed to the former periods of unhealthy fantastic emotion.

The anthropologist, on the other hand, cannot acknowledge such a complete domination of emotion y by reason. He rather sees the steady advance of the "^ rational knowledge of mankind, which is a source of satisfaction to him no less than to the biologist; but he sees also that mankind does not put this knowledge to purely reasonable use, but that its actions are swayed by emotions no less now than in former times, although in many respects, unless the passions are excited, the increase of knowledge limits the extreme forms of unreasonable emotional activities. Religion and political life, and our everyday habits, present endless proofs of the fact that our actions are the results of emotional preferences, that conform in a general way to our rational knowledge, but which are not determined by reason ; that we rather try to justify our choice of action by reason than have our actions dictated by reason.

It is, therefore, exceedingly unlikely that a rational control of one of the strongest passions of man could ever succeed. If even in matters of minor importance evasion of the law is of common occurrence, this would be infinitely more common in questions that touch our inner life so deeply. The repugnance against eugenic legislation is based on this feeling.

It cannot be doubted that the enforcement of eugenic legislation would have a far-reaching effect

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upon social life, and that it would tend to raise the standard of certain selected hereditary strains. It is, however, an open question what would happen to the selected strains owing to the changed social ideals; and it is inexcusable to refuse to consider those funda- mental changes that would certainly be connected with eugenic practice, and to confine ourselves to the biological effect that may be wrought, for in the great mass of a healthy population the biological mechanism alone does not control social activities. These are rather subject to social stimuli.

Although we are ignorant of the results of a rigid application of eugenics, a few of its results may be foretold with great certainty.

The eugenist who tries to do more than to elimi- nate the unfit will first of all be called upon to answer the question what strains are the best to cultivate. If it is a question of breeding chickens or Indian com, we know what we want. We desire many eggs of heavy weight, or a large yield of good corn. But what do we want in man? Is it physical excellence, mental ability, creative power, or artistic genius? We must select certain ideals that we want to raise. Consider- ing then the fundamental differences in ideals of dis- tinct types of civilization, have we a right to give to our modern ideals the stamp of finality, and suppress what does not fit into our life? There is little doubt that we, at the present time, give much less weight to beauty than to logic. Shall we then try to raise a generation of logical thinkers, suppress those whose

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emotional life is vigorous, and try to bring it about that reason shall reign supreme, and that human activities shall be performed with clocklike precision? The precise cultural forms that would develop can- not be foretold, because they are culturally, not bi- ologically, determined; but there is little doubt that within certain limits the intensity of emotional life, — regardless of its form, — and the vigor of logical thought, — regardless of its content, — could be in- creased or decreased by organic selection. Such a de- liberate choice of qualities which would modify the character of nations implies an overestimation of the standards that we have reached, which to my mind appears intolerable. Personally the logical thinker may be most congenial to me, nevertheless I respect the sacred ideal of the dreamer who lives in a world of musical tones, and whose creative power is to me a marvel that surpasses understanding.

Without a selection of standards, eugenic practice is impossible; but if we read the history of mankind aright, we ought to hesitate before we try to set our standards for all time to come, for they are only one phase in the development of mankind.

This consideration applies only to our right to apply creative eugenic principles, not to the question whether practical results by eugenic selection can be attained. I have pointed out before how much in this respect is still hypothetical, or at least of doubtful value, because the social factors outweigh the biologi- cal ones.

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At the present time the idea of creating the best human types by selective mating is hardly a practical one. It dwells only as a desirable ideal in the minds of some enthusiasts.

The immediate application of eugenics is rather concerned with eliminating strains that are a burden to the nation or to themselves, and with raising the standard of humanity by the suppression of the progeny of the defective classes. I am doubtful whether eugenics alone will have material results in this direction, for, in view of the fundamental influence of environmental causes, that I set forth before, it is perfectly safe to say that no amount of eugenic selec- tion will overcome those social conditions that have raised a poverty- and disease-stricken proletariat — which will be reborn from even the best stock, so long as the social conditions persist that remorse- lessly push human beings into helpless and hopeless misery. The effect would probably be to push new groups of individuals into the deadly environment where they would take the place of the eliminated de- fectives. Whether they would breed new generations of defectives may be an open question. The continued presence of defectives would be a certainty. Eugenics alone cannot solve the problem. It requires much more an amelioration of the social conditions of the poor which would also raise many of the apparently defective to higher levels.

The present state of our knowledge of heredity per- mits us to say that certain pathological conditions are

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hereditary and that apparently healthy parents who belong to defective strains are very likely to have among their descendants defective individuals. We may even predict for a number of such cases how many among the descendants will be normal and how many defective. The eugenist must decide whether he wants to suppress all the normal individuals in these families in order to avoid the development of the defectives, or whether he is willing to carry the defectives along, perhaps as a burden to society, to their relatives and in many cases even to themselves, for the sake of the healthy children of such families. This question cannot be decided from a scientific point of view. The answer depends upon ethical and social standards. Many defective families have pro- duced individuals who have given us the greatest treasures our civilization possesses. Eugenists might have prevented Beethoven's father from having chil- dren. Would they willingly take the responsibility of having mankind deprived of the genius of Beethoven?

Another aspect of the problem is of much more vital importance to mankind. The object of eugenics is to raise a better race and to do away with in- creasing suffering by eliminating those who are by heredity destined to suffer and to cause suffering. The humanitarian idea of the conquest of suffer- ing, and the ideal of raising human efficiency to heights never before reached, make eugenics par- ticularly attractive.

I believe that the human mind and body are so

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constituted that the attainment of these ends would lead to the destruction of society. The wish for the elimination of unnecessary suffering is divided by a narrow margin from the wish for the elimina- tion of all suffering.

While, humanely speaking, this may be a beautiful ideal, it is unattainable. The performance of the la- bors of mankind and the conflict of duties will al- ways be accompanied by suffering that must be borne, and that men must be willing to bear. Many of the works of sublime beauty are the precious fruit of mental agony; and we should be poor, in- deed, if the willingness of man to suffer should dis- appear. However, if we cultivate this ideal, then that which was discomfort yesterday will be suffering to-day, and the elimination of discomforts will lead to an effeminacy that must be disastrous to the race.

This effect is further emphasized by the increas- ing demands for self-perfection. The more complex our civilization and the more extended our technical skill and our knowledge, the more energy is demanded for reaching the highest efficiency, and the less is it admissible that the working capacity of the individual should be diminished by suffering. We are clearly drifting towards that danger-line where the indi- vidual will no longer bear discomfort or pain for the sake of the continuance of the race, and where our emotional life is so strongly repressed by the desire for self-perfection — or by self-indulgence — that the coming generation is sacrificed to the selfishness of

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the living, and the more so the more competent each one to make use of his natural gifts. The phenome- non that characterized the end of antiquity, when no children were born to take the place of the passing generations, is being repeated in our times and in ever widening circles; and the more vigorously the eugenic ideals of the elimination of suffering and of self-de- velopment are held up the sooner shall we drift to- wards the destruction of the race.

Eugenics should, therefore, not be allowed to de- ceive us into the belief that we should try to raise a race of supermen, nor that it should be our aim to eliminate all suffering and pain. The attempt to sup- press those defective classes whose deficiencies can be proved by rigid methods to be due to hereditary causes, and to prevent unions that will unavoidably lead to the birth of disease-stricken progeny, is the proper field of eugenics. How much can be and should be attempted in this field depends upon the results of careful studies of the laws of heredity. Eugenics is not a panacea that will cure human ills; it is rather a dangerous sword that may turn its edge against those who rely on its strength.

CHAPTER VI CRIMINOLOGY

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A WHOLE science has developed based on the assumption of the existence of a biologically determined criminal type and upon the hereditary transmission of criminality. The Italian school of criminologists led by C. Lombroso has endeavored to define the type of the criminal and the physical characteristics of criminals addicted to various types of crimes. A number of stigmata have been estab- lished which, it was believed, characterized a person as a criminal. If this theory could be proved the treatment of criminals would have been much sim- plified, for it would have been possible to select all criminals before the commission of a crime and to protect society against them.

Unfortunately these extreme hopes have not been fulfilled. Our previous considerations make it plaus- ible that they could not be fulfilled, because the in- terrelation between gross bodily form and mentality is not by any means close.

All that has been proved is that many criminals are defective, not only mentally but also physically.

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It is, therefore, not surprising that anomalies that accompany various types of defectiveness should be found among them with greater frequency than among the socially normal; but it does not follow that the presence of any one of the stigmata de- / scribed by the Italian school would prove that a per- son is a born criminal.

In many of the cases a careful statistical study has shown that the alleged stigmata, such as absence of the lobe of the ear and irregularities in the position of the teeth, are more frequent in local noncriminal groups than among the criminals, so that for this reason they cannot be considered as significant. Neither is there any clear physiological relation be- tween the alleged stigmata and social or even physical defects.

A most careful examination of the criminal popu- lation has been made by C. Goring. His general re- sults are worth quoting. He says: "For statistical evi- dence, one assertion can be dogmatically made: It is, that the criminal is differentiated by inferior stature, by defective intelligence and, to some extent, by his antisocial proclivities; but that, apart from these broad differences, there are no physical, mental or moral characteristics peculiar to the inmates of Eng- lish prisons. The truths that have been overlooked are that these deviations, described as significant of criminality, are inevitable concomitants of inferior stature and defective intelligence: both of which are

124 ANTHROPOLOGY AND MODERN LIFE the differentia of the types of persons who are se- lected for imprisonment."

The conditions are the same as those previously described. As it is impossible to assign an individual according to his bodily form to a racial group, if the groups overlap, so it is impossible to recognize an individual by his bodily build as a criminal. We may say that it is more likely that a person physically and mentally defective will become a criminal than one who is normal, but we cannot say that he must be a criminal.

The very definition of the term "crime" proves that no such intimate relation can exist. What was a crime in times past is no longer a crime now. Heresy was a crime punishable by death. Among heretics were included many who were mentally unbalanced and probably physically defective; but men like Huss or Giordano Bruno were criminals on account of their mental independence. George Washington would have been a criminal, if the English had caught him.

In foreign societies the concept of what consti- tutes a crime may be even more different than it has been at different periods among ourselves. Where food is shared by all and property consists solely of the necessities of life, such as clothing, weapons, household utensils, small pilfering is all but impos- sible, for the taking of food is not stealing, food being freely shared by all. Where strict laws of endogamy exist, what we call incest may be prescribed. Where exogamy is found the laws of incest extend over wider,

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or curiously selected groups. Where vendetta is the law of the land certain types of murder are a virtue, not a crime. Where monogamy is the custom polygamy is a criminal offense, while in other societies the refusal to accept a number of mates may be so considered. Where sexual life is practically free sexual crimes do not occur.

Under these conditions the criminal must be de- fined as the person who habitually disregards the laws of conduct prescribed by the society to which he be- longs. If we accept this definition we must except those cases in which conduct contrary to law is cere- monially permitted or prescribed. This happens, for instance, among the Pueblo Indians and in British Columbia in the case of certain semi-priestly groups who have the privilege of acting counter to the sacred rites of the people and who are accordingly feared by the profane crowd. The same is true in all cases of prerogatives of social classes — as in the rela- tion between master and slave, when the slave is con- sidered a chattel; or in prerogatives of feudal lords.

With the differentiation of what constitutes a crime the mental characteristics of the criminal must also vary. The criminal who breaks through the inhibi- tions developed by the habitual behavior of the so- ciety to which he belongs is actuated by a variety of motives. The breaking point depends upon the drive that leads to action and the strength of inhibi- tion. Among two persons with equal power of inhi- bition the starving pauper will be led to theft by

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hunger; the well-to-do who is deprived of his con- veniences will succumb much more readily, because the strain which for the pauper would be insignificant is felt by him as suffering. Such conditions may ac- count for the similar distribution of criminality in well-to-do and poor social groups.

The problem of the hereditary determination of criminality as well as of other forms of social defi- ciency presents the same difficulties that are encoun- tered in all attempts to discriminate between organic and environmental determination.

The definition of crime is so complex and so vari- able, so entirely dependent upon social conditions that criminality itself can hardly be considered as hereditary. It is, however, possible that certain dispo- sitions may be hereditary that lead to acts that are in some cases considered as criminal. It has been proved that the criminal is, in many respects, defec- tive. If the deficiency is hereditary, then a greater probability exists that a defective individual belong- ing to a hereditary line of defectives may become a criminal.

The investigation of families like the Kallikaks has shown that there are strains in which criminality is very frequent. From a purely practical point of view these data allow us to say that when a person is a criminal or otherwise defective there is a greater likelihood of finding criminals or defectives in his family than among the relatives of a person who is not a criminal.

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The reason for this is easily understood if we re- member that the same is true for any trait that oc- curs comparatively rarely and with unequal fre- quency in different families. If in a preponderantly blond population a blond is selected we exclude all those families in which no blonds occur and the average frequency of blondness in the population thus selected will be considerable. On the other hand, if we select a brunette individual the whole mass of families that contain brunette individuals will ap- pear, and the average frequency of blondness in the series thus selected will be much lower. The same is true when we select exceptionally short individuals. Then all tall families will be eliminated the more the higher their average stature, and the series so selected will contain an inordinately large number of short individuals. Conversely in the series of families se- lected as relatives of a tall person the relative fre- quency of short ones will be much less. The statisti- cal value obtained from such data will depend en- tirely upon the frequencies with which blondness and tallness appear in all the families investigated. If one group of families had only blond or tall individuals, the others none, all the members of the families in which one tall person occurs will be tall. If some families have many individuals of a specific trait, others few, we cannot be certain how many of the relatives of a person characterized by a given trait will share it and the law of hereditary transmission cannot be established. Therefore the separation of

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hereditary determination or acquisition through ex- ternal conditions cannot be made.

Tallness and shortness are not entirely due to heredity, so that from the greater frequency of short relatives of a short man we may not immediately conclude that shortness is hereditary.

This is still clearer in social groups. In rural com- munities the relatives of a farmer are preponder- antly farmers, but farming is not a hereditary trait. The relatives of a prosperous business man are rarely unskilled laborers.

In short, the frequency of any trait in a family line does not, without further proof, show that it is hered- itary. The greater frequency of criminality among relatives of criminals does not allow us to deduce laws of the heredity of criminality, unless the hereditary determination is proved by other methods.

We have seen that the family lines constituting a population differ among themselves. They differ also in regard to criminality and frequency of defects. The questions to be answered are whether these are environmentally determined or hereditary and what the laws of heredity are.

The observations of Habit-Clinics for pre-school children throw an interesting light upon this problem. Although the statistical results of these observations must be used with considerable caution, the psycho- logical analysis elucidates the far-reaching influence of an unfavorable environment upon the behavior of physically weak subjects and the development of

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antisocial tendencies that may arise under stresses of a family situation that make for revolt against tyran- nical authority or create in other ways serious an- tagonisms.

No less instructive are the observations of psycho- analysis. While I am not inclined to follow the intri- cate and, as it seems to me, arbitrary reasonings of psychoanalysts, sufficient material has been accumu- lated showing that under severe stresses, particularly after a sudden "trauma," weak individuals may de- velop abnormal mental habits of the most varied kind.

The general evidence points to the conclusion that the weak individual takes to antisocial acts when the environmental stress that brings about disregard of the laws of society is sufficiently acute. The stronger the individual the greater the stress that will be re- quired.

C. Goring, in the investigation previously referred to, minimizes the environmental factor as a de- terminant of criminality. He tries to prove that all other social irregularities found among criminals, such as lack of schooling or irregular employment, or pov- erty are dependent upon lack of intelligence. His argu- ment is based on the statistical interrelation between intelligence and the various social defects. He deter- mines the average intelligence of a group by the rela- tive frequency of mental defectives. He assumes that the greater their number the lower the average in- telligence. This is a doubtful procedure, because the range of variation in the groups does not need to be

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the same. If, for instance, the mentality of criminals were more variable than that of noncriminals, they would have a larger number of defectives even if they had the same average intelligence. Social irregulari- ties combined with criminality are the more frequent the greater the relative number of mental defectives. The argument might also be reversed and we might say that mental defects combined with criminality are the more frequent the greater the relative num- ber of social irregularities, such as lack of schooling or irregular employment. In order to prove that organically determined intelligence is the cause of both social irregularities and criminality it would be necessary to show that groups of individuals of the same intelligence, taken at random from the total population, would have the same relative frequency of criminality regardless of other social defects, such as poverty, lack of schooling or irregularity of em- ployment. Since we do not know the distribution of intelligence in the total population the ratio of crimi- nality cannot be determined and it cannot be claimed that hereditary intelligence is the decisive factor.

I believe, therefore, that the irrelevancy of environ- ment as a factor producing criminality has not been proved.

Many authors have tried to deduce from the dis- tribution of cases of criminality in family lines that the tendency is inherited in a simple Mendelian ratio. The infinite complexity of conditions that bring an individual into the class of convicted criminals does

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not make such a conclusion likely and the number of cases that have been brought forward is entirely insufficient for a conclusive proof. The actual statis- tical data indicate only that in the population family lines differ in their degree of criminahty.

The assumption of a simple form of Mendelian heredity, and that of the occurrence of much more complex forms which include environmental factors lead to quite distinct practical results. In the former case the occurrence of a single case of criminality in a family and a knowledge of the simple rules of hereditary transmission would enable us to foretell how many individuals in various family lines would be affected. In the latter case prediction would be well-nigh impossible, because the rules of heredity, although following fundamentally the same laws, would be so varied that the hereditary characteristics of a single family would not be known.

More important than this is the difficulty of differ- entiation between environmental and hereditary causes, for if a whole family is exposed to the same deleterious conditions and a sufficient organic weak- ness exists, the whole family may become criminal, while under more fortunate conditions it could with- stand the social pressure to which it is exposed.

CHAPTER Vn STABILITY OF CULTURE

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AN ISOLATED Community that remains subject to the same environmental conditions, and with- out selective mating, becomes, after a number of gen- erations, stable in bodily form. As long as there are no stimuli that modify the social structure and mental life the culture will also be fairly permanent. Primi- tive, isolated tribes appear to us and to themselves as stable, because under undisturbed conditions the processes of change of culture are slow.

In the very earliest times of mankind culture must have changed almost imperceptibly. The history of man, of a being that made tools, goes back maybe 150,000 years, more or less. The tools belonging to this period are found buried in the soil. They are stone implements of simple form. For a period of no less than 30,000 years the forms did not change. When we observe such permanence among animals we explain it as an expression of instinct. Objectively the toolmaking of man of this period seems like an in- stinctive trait similar to the instincts of ants and bees.

The repetition of the same act without change, gen-

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eration after generation, gives the impression of a biologically determined instinct. Still, we do not know that such a view would be correct, because we can- not tell in how far each generation learned from its predecessors. Animals like birds and mammals, act not only instinctively; they also learn by example and imitation. Horses and dogs learn to react to calls or to the spoken word. English sparrows reared by canaries learn their song and call-notes. Parrots learn to imitate sounds. Apes even learn to use sticks or stones as tools.

It seems likely that conditions were the same in early man. Even in the earliest remains differences may be found. While in some areas the typical form of an implement was the flint blade, in others it was the cleaver or coup-de-point. According to Menghin a culture based on the use of bone originated in arc- tic Asia, another one based on the manufacture of flint blades in Eastern Asia, and one based on the flint cleaver in India.

The importance of the process of learning becomes more and more evident the nearer we approach the present period. The tools become more differentiated. Not all localities show the same forms, and it seems likely that if we could examine the behavior of man in periods one thousand years apart that changes would be discovered.

At the end of the ice age the differentiation in the forms of manufactured objects had come to be as great as that found nowadays among primitive tribes.

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There is no reason why we should assume the life of the people who lived towards the end of the ice age, the Magdalenians, to have been in any respect sim- pler than that of the modern Eskimo.

With the beginning of the present geological period the differentiation of local groups and of activities in each group was considerable. Changes which in the beginning required tens of thousands of years, later thousands of years, occurred now in centuries and brought about constantly increasing multiplicity of forms.

With the approach of the historic period the de- gree of stability of culture decreased still further and in modern times changes are proceeding with great rapidity, not only in material products of our civiliza- tion but also in forms of thought.

Since earliest times the rapidity of change has grown at an ever-increasing rate.

The rate of change in culture is by no means uni- form. We may observe in many instances periods of comparative stability followed by others of rapid modifications. The great Teutonic migrations at the close of antiquity brought about fundamental changes in culture and speech. They were followed by periods of consolidation. The Arab conquest of North Africa destroyed an old civilization and new forms took its place. Assimilation of culture may also be observed among many primitive tribes, and, although we do not know the rate of change, there is often strong internal evidence of a rapid adjustment to a new

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level. In language the alternation between periods of rapid change and comparative stability may often be observed. The transition from Anglo-Saxon and Nor- man to English was rapid. The development of Eng- lish since that time has been rather slow. Similar peri- ods of disturbance have occurred in the development of modern Persian.

Changes of unusual rapidity are due to the influ- ence of European civilization upon primitive cultures. When they do not completely disappear a new ad- justment is reached with great rapidity. This is ex- emplified by the modern culture of the Indians of Mexico and Peru. Part of their ancient material culture survives. Under the veneer of Catholicism and of other Spanish cultural forms old ideas persist, readjusted to the superimposed civilization. A blend has developed which does not yield until modern schools and a livelier participation in world affairs disturb the equilibrium. A remarkable example of adjustment between old and new is found among the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico who have con- sciously and as far as possible isolated themselves from the American life around them. Their daily life has been modified by the use of products of American manufacture. Woven goods, glass windows and doors, agricultural implements, household furni- ture are in use; Catholic churches are attended on Sundays; the Saints' days are celebrated; and all this is assimilated to the older forms of life. The an- cient house forms persist ; in some Pueblos the former

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style of dress survives; as heretofore, corn is ground on the grinding stone; old types of Spanish ovens for baking bread continue to be used, and the ancient religious beliefs and ceremonials have been so ad- justed that they continue, without serious inner con- flicts, side by side with Catholicism. The new equilib- rium is disturbed only when the general conditions of life make continued isolation impossible and the younger generation finds a new adjustment to altered conditions.

Even more striking is the rapidity of change of culture among the Negroes of the United States. Since their introduction as slaves their language, their an- cient customs and beliefs, have disappeared apace with their absorption in the economic life of America. Dr. Parsons, Dr. Herskovits, and Miss Zora Hurston have shown that, as we proceed from south to north, from Dutch Guyana to the northern States, the sur- vivals of Negro culture become less and less. The iso- lated Bush Negroes of Surinam are essentially Afri- can in culture. The Negro districts of the South retain some African elements, while the northern Negro city dweller is to all intents and purposes like his White neighbor, except in so far as social barriers tend to perpetuate one or the other peculiarity of behavior.

Notwithstanding the rapid changes in many as- pects of our modern life we may observe in other respects a marked stability. Characteristics of our civilization are conflicts between the inertia of con-

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servative tradition and the radicalism which has no respect for the past but attempts to reconstruct the future on the basis of rational considerations in- tended to further its ideals. These conflicts may be ob- served in education, law, economic theory, religion, and art. Discipline against freedom of control, sub- ordination under the public weal against individual freedom, capitalism against socialism, dogma against freedom of belief, established art forms against es- thetic expression subject only to individual whim, are some of these conflicts. They are possible only when in a rapidly changing culture the old and the new live side by side.

We are wont to measure the ability of a race by its cultural achievements which imply rapid changes. Those races among whom the later changes have been most rapid appear, therefore, as most highly developed.

For these reasons it is important to study the con- ditions that make for stability and for change; and to know whether changes are organically or cul- turally determined.

Behavior that is organically determined is called instinctive. When the infant cries and smiles, when later on it walks, its actions are instinctive in this sense. Breathing, chewing, retiring from a sudden as- sault against the senses, approach towards desired objects are presumably organically determined. They do not need to be learned. Most of these actions are indispensable for the maintenance of life. We can

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never account for the reasons that prompt us to per- form acts organically determined. The stimulus pre- sents itself and we react at once, without conscious effort. Still, some of these reactions may be modified or even suppressed with impunity. Thus we may learn to overcome the reaction to fear. It is difficult to do so, but not impossible.

On the ground of this experience we are inclined to consider every type of behavior that is marked by an immediate, involuntary reaction as instinctive. This is an error, for habits imposed upon us during infancy and childhood have the same characteristics. They determine the particular forms of our activities, even of those based on the structure of our organism. We must recognize that the specific forms of our ac- tions are culturally determined.

We must eat in order to live. Arctic man is com- pelled by necessity to live on a meat diet; the Hindu lives on vegetal food by choice.

That we walk on our legs is organically condi- tioned. How we walk, our particular gait, depends upon the forms of our shoes, the cut of our clothing, the way we carry loads, the conformation of the ground we tread. Peculiar forms of motion may be, in part, physiologically determined, but many are due to imitation. They are repeated so often that they become automatic. They come to be the way in which we move "naturally." The response is as easy and as ready as an instinctive action, and a change from the acquired habit to a new one is equally diffi-

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cult. When thoroughly established the level of con- sciousness of an automatic action is the same as that of an instinctive reaction.

In all these cases the faculty of developing a cer- tain motor habit is organically determined. The par- ticular form of movement is automatic, acquired by constant, habitual use.

This distinction is particularly clear in the use of language. The faculty of speech is organically determined and should be called, therefore, instinc- tive. However, what we speak is determined solely by our environment. We acquire one language or an- other, according to what we hear spoken around us. We become accustomed to very definite movements of lips, tongue and the whole group of articulating organs. When we speak, we are wholly unconscious of any of these movements and equally of the struc- ture of the language we speak. We resent devia- tions in pronunciation and in structure. As adults we find it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to acquire complete mastery of new articulations and new structures such as are required in learning a for- eign language. Our linguistic habits are not instinc- tive. They are automatic.

Our thoughts and our speech are accompanied by muscular movements — some people would even say they are our thoughts. The kinds of movements are not by any means the same everywhere. The mobil- ity of the Italian contrasts strikingly with the re- straint of the Englishman.

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The human faculty of using tools is organically de- termined. It is instinctive. This, however, does not mean that the kind of tool developed is prescribed by instinct. Even the slightest knowledge of the de- velopment of tools proves that the special forms char- acteristic of each area and period depend upon tra- dition and are in no way organically determined. The choice of material depends partly upon environment, partly upon the state of inventions. We use steel and other artificially made materials; the African iron, others stone, bone, or shell. The forms of the working parts of the implements depend upon the tasks they are to perform, those of the handles upon our motor habits.

The same is ordinarily true of our likes and dis- likes. We are organically capable of producing and enjoying music. What kind of music we enjoy de- pends for most of us solely upon habit. Our harmo- nies, rhythms, and melodies are not of the same kind as those enjoyed by the Siamese and a mutual under- standing, if it can be attained at all, can be reached solely by long training.

Whatever is acquired in infancy and childhood by unvarying habits becomes automatic.

There is a negative effect of automatism, no less important than the positive one which results in the ease of performance.

Any action that differs from those performed by us habitually strikes us immediately as ridiculous or objectionable, according to the emotional tone

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that accompanies it. Often deviations from auto- matic actions are strongly resented. A dog taught to give his hind paw instead of the front paw excites us to laughter. Formal dress worn at times when the conventions do not allow it seems ridiculous. So does the dress that was once fashionable but that has gone out of use. We need only think of the hoop skirt of the middle of the last century or of the bright colors of man's dress and the impression they would create to-day. We must also realize the resistance that we ourselves have to appearing in an inappropri- ate costume.

More serious are the resistances in matters that evoke stronger emotional reactions. Table manners are a good example. Most of us are exceedingly sen- sitive to a breach of good table manners. There are many tribes and people that do not know the use of the fork and who dip into the dish with their fingers. We feel this is disgusting because we are accustomed to the use of fork and knife. We are accustomed to eat quietly. Among some Indian tribes it is discour- teous not to smack one's lips, the sign of enjoying one's food. What is nauseating to us is proper to them.

Still more striking is our reaction to breaches of modesty. We have ourselves witnessed a marked change in regard to what is considered modest, what immodest. A comparative study shows that modesty is found the world over, but that the ideas of what is modest and what immodest vary incredibly. Thirty

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years ago woman's dress of to-day would have been immodest. South African Negroes greet a person of high rank by turning the back and bowing away from him. Some South American Indians consider it im- modest to eat in view of other people. Whatever the form of modest behavior may be, a breach of eti- quette is always strongly resented.

This is characteristic of all forms of automatic behavior. The performance of an automatic action is accompanied by the lowest degree of consciousness. To witness an action contrary to our automatic be- havior excites at once intense attention and the strongest resistances must be overcome if we are re- quired to perform such an action. Where motor habits are concerned the resistance is based on the difficulty of acquiring new habits, which is the greater the older we are, perhaps less on account of growing inadaptibility than for the reason that we are con- stantly required to act and have no time to adjust ourselves to new ways. In trifling matters the resis- tance may take the form of fear of ridicule, in more serious ones there may be dread of social ostracism. But it is not only the fear of the critical attitude of society that creates resistance, it rests equally in our own unwillingness to change, in our thorough disap- probation of the unconventional.

Intolerance of sharply divided social sets is often based on the strength of automatic reactions and upon the feeling of intense displeasure felt in acts opposed to our own automatism. The apparent fanaticism

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exhibited in the persecution of heretics must be ex- plained in this manner. At a time when the dogma taught by the Church was imposed upon each indi- vidual so intensely that it became an automatic part of his thought and action, it was accompanied by a strong feeling of opposition, of </