Chapter XV: , does enable us in the main to understand how the physical (3)

Recently Professor Keith has made an interesting contribution to the problem of racial differences. Reference has already been made to the ductless glands. It is now known that variations in the functioning of these glands have a profound influence upon the bodily organs. Keith has remarked that, if the peculiarities characteristic of the chief racial types of man are considered together, it appears that they are attributable to different degrees of development of these glands in different races. It should be observed that this suggestion does not involve the conclusion that racial differences are of the nature of modifications. It is merely supposed that the innate development of these glands is different in different races—that there is a predisposition in one race to the peculiar development of one gland and in another race to the peculiar development of another gland. The value of the suggestion lies in the fact that it shows how many racial peculiarities, for which there are at least no obvious explanations, may be merely the accompaniments of a difference in the development of one or more of these glands. It must be supposed that one or more of the results of the developments of a gland are of direct value in facing the peculiar conditions, whether climatic or otherwise, to which the race is subject, and that the other consequences of the development of the gland are in any case not prejudicial. These other consequences may possibly take the form of noticeable peculiarities of colour or of bodily structure which thus turn out in themselves not to be of survival value but merely to be, so to speak, accidental peculiarities.

Some quotations from Professor Keith’s exposition of this suggestion may make the matter more clear. ‘When we compare’, he says, ‘the three chief racial types of humanity—the Negro, the Mongol, and the Caucasian or European—we can recognize in the last named a greater predominance of the pituitary than in the other two. The sharp pronounced nasalization of the face, the tendency to strong eyebrow ridges, the prominent chin, the tendency to bulk of body and height of stature in the majority of Europeans, is best explained, so far as the present state of our knowledge goes, in terms of pituitary functions.’[1606] After remarking that the interstitial glands are largely the cause of secondary sexual differences he goes on to say: ‘I am of opinion that the sexual differentiation—the robust manifestation of the male characters—is more emphatic in the Caucasian than in either the Mongol or Negroid racial types. In both Mongol and Negro, in their most representative form, we find a beardless face and an almost hairless body, and in certain negro types, especially in Nilotic tribes, with their long, stork-like legs, we seem to have a manifestation of the abeyance in the action of the interstitial glands. At the close of sexual life we often see the features of a woman assume a coarser and more masculine appearance.’[1607] Later he remarks that the evidence points to the original human colouring as black. Now, the supra-renal bodies cause a clearing away of pigment and ‘there can be no doubt that the supra-renal bodies constitute an important part of the mechanism which regulates the development and growth of the human body and helps in determining the racial characters of mankind. We know that certain races come more quickly to sexual maturity than others, and that races vary in development of hair and of pigment, and it is therefore reasonable to expect a satisfactory explanation of these characters when we have come by a more or less complete knowledge of the supra-renal mechanism.’[1608] The thyroid acts directly upon the skin and the hair and also upon the skeleton. ‘This is particularly the case as regards the base of the skull and the nose, the arrest of growth falls mainly upon the basal parts of the skull with the result that the root of the nose appears to be flattened and drawn backwards between the eyes, the upper forehead appears projecting or bulging, the face appears flattened, and the bony scaffolding of the nose particularly when compared with the prominence of the jaw is greatly reduced. Now these facial features which I have enumerated give the Mongolian face its characteristic aspect, and, to a lesser degree, they are also to be traced in the features of the negro. Indeed, in one aberrant branch of the negro race—the Bushman of South Africa—the thyroid facies is even more emphatically brought out than in the most typical Mongol. You will observe that, in my opinion, the thyroid—or a reduction or alteration in the activity of the thyroid—has been a factor in determining some of the racial characteristics of the Mongol and Negro races. I know of a telling piece of evidence which supports this thesis. Some years ago there died in the East End of London a Chinese giant—the subject one must suppose of an excessive action of the pituitary glands—the gland which I regard as playing a predominant part in shaping the face and bodily form of the European. The skeleton of this giant was prepared and placed in the museum of the London Hospital Medical College by Col. T. H. Openshaw, and any one inspecting that skeleton can see that, although certain Chinese features are still recognizable, the nasal region and the supraorbital ridges of the face have assumed the more prominent European type.’[1609]

4. If we turn now and look at the conditions of life among primitive races, we find that natural selection and differential fertility tend to work towards the preservation of existing types rather than towards further evolution. The Australians may have existed in their present home for many thousands of years without undergoing any considerable change of type, and we have every reason to suppose that, if they had been left untouched by white or other races, the racial type would have remained substantially the same for thousands of years to come. The same holds good if we consider any primitive race in its normal surroundings.

That this is so is clear if we glance at the chief causes of elimination. The heavy child mortality recorded of all these races is put down to neglect and exposure; it must on the whole result in the elimination of the physically weak. Such customs as the bathing of new-born babies in cold water seem designed to ensure this result. Among the adults who on the whole are but little protected against climate there must always be a certain tendency towards the elimination of those less able to withstand the relatively harder seasons. There are also many factors making for the cutting-off of the malformed and the congenitally deficient. Among those races which normally practise infanticide, deformed children are always killed, and among those races, such as the Bantu races of Africa, who never regularly practise infanticide as a custom, abnormal children are nearly always done away with. Similarly the destruction of witches tends towards the same end though they are more often marked by mental than by physical peculiarities. Again the fact that abortion and infanticide are practised to a greater degree among the less fortunate and the lower social classes of the races in the second group has the same result, as in general the stronger and more successful members of the race are those who do not need to practise these customs to the same extent. Finally, the general conditions of life among these races—more particularly among the races of the first group—is such as to bring about a continual elimination of the less physically fit. Speaking of the Seri Indians McGee remarks upon the ‘elimination of the weak and helpless’, and says further that ‘a parallel eliminative process is common among American aborigines; the wandering bands frequently undergo hard marches under the leadership of athletic warriors with whom all are expected to keep pace, which leads both to the desertion of the aged and the feeble’. He calls it ‘a merciless mechanism for improving the fit and eliminating the unfit’.[1610]

As remarked above, the effect of polygamy must be to intensify the action of selection. In this particular case the general result of polygamy must be to preserve the average features of the race; for it will be, so to speak, the all-round man, the man best adapted to the climate, to the peculiar conditions of life and so on who will leave most descendants. It is thus of interest to investigate the frequency of polygamy among the races of the first two groups. This point has been inquired into by Professor Hobhouse and his fellow authors. Polygamy was distinguished by them into general and occasional polygamy, and though it is very difficult to arrive at any exact figures their general conclusions may be summed up as showing that, in all the subdivisions considered by them, general and occasional polygamy was found in from 80–95 per cent. of the cases. General polygamy increases among the races here placed in the second group, though there is no strong correlation between the degree of polygamy and the economic stage. We observe in fact a wide prevalence of polygamy among all races of any economic stage, and upon the basis of these figures we must regard the differential fertility arising from polygamy as a factor of great importance.

It seems, therefore, that within the first and second periods there were two tendencies at work—towards the evolution of varieties and towards the maintenance of the various types. The evolution of varieties was due in the first place to the spreading of man. As soon as spreading was complete, a tendency towards a cessation of progress must have set in. That further evolution took place was due chiefly to migration, with the results of which we have yet to deal. Once varieties had been evolved, apart from migration, and apart from changes in climate and progress in skill, which only slightly and at long intervals modified the surroundings, there was little basis for further evolution. Man had mastered his surroundings up to a point and had made his position secure in the circumstances under which he lived and the tendency was towards the preservation of the types which had achieved these results in different places.

5. In the third of our three periods there has been a remarkable change. We find that there has been a gradual moving away from the conditions under which in normal times there is in the races of the first and second groups a rigorous elimination of those types which depart from the mean. Lethal selection has come largely to take the form of selection through disease.[1611] Though polygamy gradually ceases to be a factor of importance, other forms of differential fertility become prominent.

We may glance at the chief features of these changes. In the last section we mentioned various factors—infanticide of the deformed, customs with regard to the treatment of children, the neglect and exposure of children, the general conditions of life, and so on—all of which have as their result the cutting-off not merely of the deformed and the monstrosities but also of all departures from the type best fitted to contend with the climatic environment and the conditions of daily life. Some of these factors—such as infanticide—disappear; the action of others becomes, if anything, reversed; not only do the less well-fitted types have a better chance of survival than before, because the conditions are less rigorous, but they suffer little or no disadvantage owing to the fact that the conditions have been artificially rendered almost as favourable for the less fitted as for the better-fitted. To take two examples, not only are men with defective eyesight not eliminated, but they are by the invention of spectacles placed in as good a position as those with perfect eyesight. Similarly a woman with a narrow pelvis is, owing to the advance in surgical skill, enabled to bear children and to transmit her peculiarity to her daughters.

It should not be forgotten that, in spite of the gradual lessening of the rigour of selection, selection owing to climate and the general conditions of life still continues. But another factor has within this period come to assume a preponderating importance, and that is selection through disease. It was pointed out that diseases may be roughly distinguished into those due to the attacks of parasites and those due to structural defects. It is to diseases of the first kind that the greater part of selection, which occurs in the third period, is due. Some figures were given in an earlier chapter showing how large a proportion of deaths at the present day is due to one or other of these diseases. In the last chapter it was shown that men differ in their susceptibility to these diseases, and selection has thus very largely come to take the form of the elimination of the more susceptible, and of the favouring of the naturally immune and of those who have a power of resisting disease and of acquiring immunity. There has therefore come to be an increasingly heavy premium upon the type of constitution which can resist disease, and a strong constitution in this sense is not necessarily the same as a strong constitution among primitive races where the premium is rather upon muscular strength, perfect development of the senses of seeing and hearing, and upon resistance to climatic conditions. We have thus to think of the whole course of bodily evolution as changing in the third period so as to meet a new danger rather than as continuing on the former lines so as better to contend with the old difficulties.

It is noteworthy that selection in this period has not been on account of diseases of the second type due directly to structural defects. These diseases are seldom lethal until after maturity has been reached, and the tendency has rather been, as in the case of eyesight, towards the increased chance of survival of those suffering from these defects. Thus, though selection has turned in this period towards the weeding-out of those susceptible to the attacks of parasites, it has come to tolerate those who exhibit defects in structure as distinguished from the peculiarities of structure which must be presumed to constitute the physical basis of susceptibility.

All this is familiar enough. It is not so often realized that the disappearance of polygamy in what we have called the mediaeval and the modern sections of the third period works in precisely the same manner. But the disappearance of polygamy does not mean that reproductive selection ceases to be of importance. In mediaeval and modern times celibacy, postponement of marriage, and restriction of families have come to be practised in varying degrees by different stocks. There is some trace of differential fertility in the earlier periods owing to causes other than polygamy, but it is only in the mediaeval and modern periods that they become important. It is doubtful how far, if at all, the religious celibate class of the mediaeval period differed in physical characters from the average. It would appear that during this period postponement of marriage led to the producing of less children by the lower social classes than by the upper. Therefore, so far as this epoch is concerned, it is not apparent that differential fertility had any considerable effect upon bodily characters one way or the other. Possibly the net result of postponement may have been to favour the better stocks.

Within the latter part of the modern period restriction of families has assumed very great importance. It has been calculated that, as a consequence of the fact that restriction is more practised by certain sections of the population than by others, 50 per cent. of the married population provide 75 per cent. of the next generation. It thus becomes most important to determine whether the various sections of the population are innately different as regards their physical characters. Largely owing to our ignorance respecting the direct influence of the environment, it is not possible to arrive at present at any precise answer. But there can be little doubt that on the whole the most fertile sections of the population are the less physically fit sections.

It is necessary, however, to view these facts in their proper perspective. Though differential fertility of this kind may have been at work among some of the ancient empires in their later years, it is chiefly a very modern phenomenon characteristic of modern European countries and their derivatives only within the last fifty years. Therefore, however important a problem it may be for modern communities, it is a factor which has had but little effect on human history as a whole. It may be noticed that restriction of increase is not the only form of reproductive selection in modern communities. Sexual selection is also at work.[1612]

6. Such has been the direction in which, through selection and differential fertility within races, changes have taken place. But changes also take place through the conflict of races, and the nature of these changes demands some notice. Warfare plays a part in the normal existence of nearly all primitive races. It is sometimes, as among the American Indians, a bloodthirsty affair, but more often than not it is a relatively unimportant cause of elimination. It is not easy to arrive at any conclusion regarding the results of warfare as an agent of selection. Upon the whole, among primitive races, so far as physical characters are concerned, there is probably a tendency towards the preservation of the physically strong and fit. But it has to be remembered that missile weapons were early introduced, and that, as Thucydides remarked, missile weapons kill the strong man in the prime of life as well as the weak. Again, success in warfare very largely depends upon characters other than physical—such as the possession of skill. All that can be said with certainty is that in the first and second periods warfare was not a cause of elimination of the fit which it has come to be in the third period. This latter fact has been lately brought home to the civilized nations of the world in so obvious a manner that it need not be further discussed.[1613]

Warfare following upon migration may exterminate whole races. The Bushmen were apparently on the verge of extinction at the hands of the invading Bantu peoples. In this manner a peculiar physical type may be lost and another may become of relatively greater prevalence. Migration may also be followed by any degree of racial mixture. Many rash statements have been made by historians as to the biological results of crossing. The consequences actually observed to follow upon a mixture of races are to so large a degree the result of a conflict of traditions—a subject with which we shall deal in a later chapter—that the purely biological effects of crossing may be very largely obscured. Bearing this in mind we may briefly refer to the conclusions to be derived from recent biological work which bear on the problem. Roughly speaking there are two possible kinds of crosses between races. First there are crosses between the most clearly distinguished varieties such as white and black. Heterosis, or hybrid vigour, will be exhibited in a marked fashion in the first generation. Heterosis, the underlying cause of which has only recently become apparent, is always at its height in the first cross. The increase of vigour, however, is not long maintained in subsequent generations. Further, each type, such as those which we are considering, has a series of character complexes, built up through ages of selection and compatible with one another, and by crossing such complexes are broken apart. The chance of gain, on the other hand, through the favourable re-combination of characters is small. On the average, therefore, the result of such a cross is unfavourable. There may also be crosses between races exhibiting less differences. Again, heterosis will be visible on crossing. But in distinction to the results of the former kind of cross, the other results may not be unfavourable. Great variability may follow such a cross and this is on the whole advantageous. Valuable character re-combinations may also come to light. Thus we may say that, so long as there is not too great a difference between the races which cross, the results are usually genetically favourable; there will be the advantage of hybrid vigour, though this is always temporary, and there may very possibly be the advantage of valuable character re-combinations.[1614]

Migration is important not only because it is connected with war and racial crossing but also because of the selection which follows upon transfer to new climatic conditions. To the nature of these changes allusion has already been made; it has been pointed out that races adapted to maintain themselves in one environment cannot as a general rule maintain themselves in a very different environment. To new surroundings, which only differ slightly from the old, they may become adapted by selection, and much selection on these lines must have taken place as a result of racial movements in Europe. It is probably now taking place among Europeans who have migrated to America. Dublin and Baker, for instance, have shown that the death-rate varies considerably among the different racial elements who have immigrated, some elements being probably better adapted to the new environment than others.[1615] Similarly selection may be going on within modern races owing to the rapid urbanization of industrial countries. Urban conditions may be more favourable to some types than to others. But it has not yet been shown in what direction these changes, if they are in progress, are taking.

Summing up our conclusions we may say that the great changes in human bodily form were accomplished in the intermediate period when the splitting up into varieties may also have begun. This splitting was continued in the first period and the modern types were formed before the end of that period. The chief characteristic, however, of the first and second periods was the maintenance of the types evolved, though this was interfered with by migration which brought about elimination of certain types, racial mixture, and further climatic adaptation. Finally, in modern times there has been a lessening of the stringency of selection, which previously tended to maintain the existing varieties, and a turning of lethal selection to the building up of immunity against disease.

7. There are one or two other points connected with germinal change about which a word may be said. Of the origin of mutations we know nothing, but since in all probability the ultimate cause of mutations may have to be sought in some kind of environmental change, it should be borne in mind that, as man is subject to an immense variety of environmental stimuli, mutations may be more frequent in man than in any species in a state of nature. It has been suggested that the germinal constitution may be adversely affected by certain factors, especially by the use of alcohol. Of this there is no certain evidence.[1616] It has been supposed that there may be some connexion between the difference in age of the parents on the one hand and the germinal constitution of the offspring on the other. It has been supposed, for instance, that the offspring are innately more vigorous when the parents are at a certain age. So far as investigation has gone at present, it has not been established that there is any such connexion—of sufficient importance at least to deserve consideration here. In other words, the fact that among certain races young men have wives of considerably greater age than themselves and older men young wives, does not to any noteworthy extent affect the germinal constitution of the race. Again it has been stated that the first-born are innately inferior to the later-born children.[1617] This conclusion has been criticized.[1618] As, however, the preponderance of first-born children among the offspring as a whole would not appear to be markedly greater at any one period of history than at another, the inferiority of the first-born, if it exists, would make no difference between men of different races at the same or at different times.

The correlation of characters one with another should not be forgotten. The favouring of one character may involve the favouring of quite other characters. Of this what was said regarding the ductless glands is an example. It has been supposed that liability to disease is correlated with pigmentation and that, owing to selection through disease, a change in the average pigmentation is taking place. Attempts to establish this correlation have, however, failed. It is of particular interest to notice that no correlations have been found between physical and mental characters; this is so even as regards intellect and size of head.

8. A survey of the facts regarding the bodily evolution of man, and of the conditions under which it has taken place, shows that there is at least no more difficulty in understanding how it has come about than in understanding how the varieties of any other species have come into existence. Given mutations, the action of selection and of differential fertility provides an explanation which is in general satisfactory, though we may be a very long way from understanding how any one particular change came about. There are in fact greater difficulties met with from time to time in trying to reach a satisfactory explanation of evolution among other animals than when dealing with man. The evolution along particular lines of organization, the evolution of teeth and horns among mammals, for instance, raises a difficulty which seems in the present state of our knowledge perhaps to require the assumption that at times there is a tendency for the continual occurrence of mutations in the same direction. Such a difficulty does not occur in the case of human bodily evolution.

It has been suggested that the facts regarding the course which the evolution of living organisms has taken requires the assumption that large mutations have occurred from time to time and have established themselves as varieties. There is no doubt that large mutations do occur and have established themselves in the course of the evolution of the varieties of animal types known to us, and they may have done so in the case of man. There is, however, no reason to imagine that the origin of any particular change in man was due to a large mutation. It has been stated that the number of chromosomes is different in the white man and in the negro, and upon the basis of this statement it has been suggested that one variety had arisen as a mutation from the other. This statement, however, was apparently based upon erroneous observation. Again, it has been suggested that the Pygmy type arose as a mutation. But it has been observed that some Ba Twa pygmies of the Congo who three generations ago left their forests, settled near the Bushongo, and took to agriculture have become markedly taller. Intermarriage is said to be out of the question and therefore we are led to suppose in the new environment a taller type has been favoured.[1619] If this is so, if a taller type can be selected by degrees in one environment, the shorter type may equally well have been selected in another environment.

So far, therefore, as the history of man outlined in the fifth chapter is the history of the development of his bodily structure, so far the explanation of history is to be sought in changes in the germinal constitution, and the changes undergone are strictly comparable with the changes among species in a state of nature, though owing to the more varied environment outward differences in the case of man may be rather more often due to environmental influences than in the case of species closely related to man.

XVIII
THE EVOLUTION OF MENTAL CHARACTERS

1. When we originally asked how far changes in the quality of the population accounted for the facts given in the sixth chapter, it was at once obvious that the interest centred in mental changes. Now that we have gained some idea as to what is given in the germinal constitution and as to the influence of the environment in general, we are in a position to come more closely to the main problem. Three questions present themselves. We have to inquire into the facts regarding the stage of mental evolution reached at any one time. This involves making both an estimate as to the extent of the gap between the pre-human ancestor and Palaeolithic man and an examination of the differences in the mental characteristics of the chief living types of man which may be taken roughly to represent stages reached in the three chief periods. We have next to ask if we can account for these facts, and this involves an inquiry into selection, differential fertility, and such other factors as may assist to explain changes in the germinal constitution. Lastly we have to ask how far such changes as have taken place are correlated with the main features of human history.

To make an estimate of the stage of mental evolution reached by one race as compared with that reached by other races is not an easy matter. To begin with there is the difficulty of discounting the direct influence of the environment. Temperament we found to be peculiarly susceptible to environmental influence. Temperament affects the functioning of other mental characters in a very important manner. ‘Effective mental ability’, says Professor Punnett, ‘is largely a matter of temperament, and this in turn is quite possibly dependent upon the various secretions produced by the different tissues of the body. Similar nervous systems associated with different livers might conceivably result in different individuals upon whose mental ability the world would pass a very different judgment.’[1620] Apart, however, from this difficulty and apart from the influence of disease, it is not probable that other factors in the environment have any marked direct effect upon either disposition or intellect.

There is a far more serious difficulty to which allusion has already been made. It arises from the fact that mental faculties as exhibited in daily life are overlaid by tradition and shaped by habit. There is no difficulty in getting down to any physical character. It is always possible to separate the limb from the tool which it uses. It is frequently very difficult to effect the corresponding separation between the faculty and the tool in the case of mental characters. Human mental characteristics, as manifested in daily life, represent the combination of acquirements with a certain basis. By the basis is meant that which develops as the result of environmental stimuli acting upon the predispositions. The basis of all mental faculties is, therefore, that which strictly speaking is comparable with physical characters. Mental characters as manifested in daily life represent this basis combined with tradition. This applies not only to the intellectual but also to the instinctive faculties. The manifestation of instinct is dependent upon the channels into which it has been led by tradition and upon the outlets which tradition provides for it.

In attempting to estimate the stage of evolution of mental characters reached at any one time, we must, as far as we can, allow for all that obscures their manifestation. There are several different ways in which this may be attempted and it will be found possible to reach a fairly definite conclusion with regard to the degree of development of mental characters as exhibited by two races as different as the white and black. But the inquiry into the differences between the more nearly related varieties, such as the different branches of the white race, present far more difficult problems, and by these methods we shall not be able to approach them with much hope of success. Further, these difficulties will be more strongly felt when we go on to inquire into the causes of the changes which have led to the evolution of the different types. Therefore, though in this chapter we shall reach certain conclusions as to the nature, causes, and results of mental changes in the earlier periods, we shall find that, owing to the difficulties mentioned, we are unable to reach any conclusion as to the later periods until we have inquired into the importance of tradition. It will thus be necessary to cut short this inquiry and turn to consider tradition in the following two chapters. Only when this subsidiary inquiry has been made shall we be able to complete our estimate as to the part played by changes in the germinal constitution so far as they affect mental characters.

2. The indications as regards mental development obtainable from a study of fossil remains are, of course, very vague. Such as they are, however, considerable interest attaches to them. In the later part of the first period, in the Upper Palaeolithic, that is to say, we meet with types of men whose cranial capacity and the formation of whose brain, so far as it can be judged from skulls, do not indicate any difference in mental capacity as compared with modern man. It must be emphasized that this is a very rough method of comparing intellectual capacity. Something, however, may be deduced from such observations, and it is probable that, though there may have been noteworthy differences between Cro-Magnon and modern European intellectual capacity, as we judge differences to-day, nevertheless looking at human evolution as a whole, we cannot escape the conclusion that by the end of the first period, before man had learnt to support himself otherwise than by hunting and fishing, by far the greater part of the journey from the condition of our pre-human ancestor to that of European man had been accomplished. This is a very important deduction, because, inasmuch as the greater part of the progress in skill had still to come, it means that progress in intellectual capacity and progress in skill did not go hand in hand.

What we should like to be able to do, but cannot at present do, is to follow the evolution of the cranial capacity and the shape of the brain of the ancestors of Upper Palaeolithic man. But all we have in the Middle Palaeolithic are representatives of the peculiar Neanderthal type, which apparently died out. Judging from the cranial capacity, the intellectual development of Neanderthal man must have been considerable and probably not inferior to that of the Australians. If Eoanthropus is to be assigned to the Lower Palaeolithic, it is the only skull of that period that we have. Judging not so much from the cranial capacity as from the formation of the brain, the intellectual capacity of Eoanthropus was clearly much less than that of Neanderthal man and of any other type of man now living. Pithecanthropus was certainly anterior to the Palaeolithic. He may, it is true, have used and even fashioned implements of a very primitive type. It is noteworthy that, so far as can be judged, in cranial capacity he stands about half-way between modern man and the hypothetical ancestor, and if we are going to make any deductions at all regarding so difficult a point, it is reasonable to assume that in general his intellectual capacity was about half-way between that of modern man and the pre-human ancestor.

On the basis of this evidence the broad outlines of the picture are as follows. At the very least the intellectual development of Early Palaeolithic man had reached a point half-way between that of the pre-human ancestor and that of modern European races. Almost certainly it had gone farther, perhaps considerably further. As regards man in the Middle Palaeolithic, we have details only regarding an aberrant type whose intellectual capacity, though considerable, probably did not reach that of the contemporary ancestors of the Upper Palaeolithic types of whom as yet we know nothing. The cranial capacity and other features of the Upper Palaeolithic types show no essential differences from modern man. though it has to be remembered that, as cranial capacity is but a rough guide, differences in mental capacity may have existed.

3. In order to gain a more exact idea of the stage of mental evolution reached in the first and second periods, we are obliged to turn to the evidence supplied by primitive races, just as we turned to them to fill in the gaps in our knowledge of the social habits of Palaeolithic man.

There are at least three methods whereby an attempt may be made to arrive at some idea of the intellectual development of primitive races as compared with modern European man. There is to begin with a very large number of observations and impressions recorded by men who in many cases have lived a long time among primitive races and have had unusual opportunities for judging them. Then attempts have been made to measure the intelligence of these races by the use of the Binet-Simon methods, and we may notice the results of some of these attempts. Lastly, in certain parts of the world for some generations white and coloured races have been living side by side under almost identical conditions and now compete together almost on an equality, and we may note the current opinion in those regions with regard to their respective intellectual capacities.

All the evidence regarding the Australians agrees in attributing to them a relatively high level of intellect. ‘Most observers’, says Thomas, ‘agree that up to the age of puberty, possibly longer, they have an extraordinary facility in the acquisition of knowledge.’[1621] Speaking of the aborigines of Victoria, Smyth records that ‘black children brought up in the schools learn very quickly, and in perception, memory, and power to discriminate, they are, to say the least, equal to European children. A missionary, the Rev. F. A. Hagenauer, a gentleman of great ability, who has control of the aboriginal station at Lake Wellington, reports that the examination made by the Government School Inspectors shows that the aboriginal pupils taught by him are quite equal to the Whites. In his last report he states that the whole of the fifth class in his school has passed the standard examination (that appointed for children in State schools) and that they had received certificates.’[1622] Spiller has collected a large number of such opinions,[1623] and Semon says that ‘on examining the accounts of missionaries who have had occasion to instruct children of Australian natives, it will be found that nearly all of them come to the conclusion that at the onset of instruction hardly any difference between faculties of black and white children in grasping the elements is to be remarked. There is such a capability of memory and sharpness of the senses that in reading, writing, drawing, topography, and geography they at first even excel the whites.’[1624] Nearly all observers agree that there comes a point when the faculties of aboriginal children cease to develop. Thus Smyth says that ‘With keen senses, quick perceptions, and a precocity that is surprising, he stops just short of the point where an advance would lead to a complete change in the characters of his mind’,[1625] and Mathew who remarks that ‘in schools it has been observed that aboriginal children learn quite as easily and rapidly as children of European parents’, goes on to say that ‘while among Europeans the range of mental development seems almost unbounded, with the blacks its limit is soon attained’.[1626]

Among the Andaman Islanders there is, according to Man, up to the age of 12 or 14 ‘as much intelligence as [among] ordinary middle class children of civilized races’; he goes on to quote another observer who found these people ‘not deficient in brain power; it rather lies dormant and unused in their savage state’, and gives the example ‘of an aboriginal patient of 12 years of age, who had been entered in the Ross Orphanage School, and who, in his tender years, could yet read English and Ordu fluently, as well as speak and write in both these languages, retaining also a knowledge of his native tongue. He had besides a fair knowledge of arithmetic. I may add that this is not an exceptional case, for I would instance others, and one lad in particular who was his superior.’[1627] These opinions could be paralleled many times over. The Jesuit missionary Baegert, for example, had a high opinion of the intellectual abilities of the Californian Indians. ‘Like other people, they are possessed of reason and understanding, and their stupidity is not inborn with them, but the result of habit; and I am of opinion that, if their sons were sent to European seminaries and colleges, and their girls to convents where young females are instructed, they would prove equal in all respects to Europeans in the acquirement of morals and of useful sciences and arts.’[1628]

The opinions of observers of races which fall within the second group are all very similar. Some typical opinions may be given. Speaking of Bantu races south of the Zambezi Theal says that ‘in Mission Schools children of early age are found to keep pace with those of white parents. In some respects, indeed, they are the higher of the two ... but while the European youth is still developing his powers the Bantu youth in many instances is found unable to make further progress. His intellect has become sluggish and frequently he exhibits a decided repugnance, if not an incapacity, to learn anything more. The growth of his mind, which at first promised so much, has ceased just at that stage where the mind of the European begins to display the greatest vigour.’[1629] Later he says that ‘the strong desire of the greater number is to live as closely like their ancestors as the altered circumstances of their country will permit, to make use of a few of the white man’s simplest conveniences and of his protection against their enemies, but to avoid his habits and to shut out his ideas. Compared with Europeans their adults are frequently children in imagination and in simplicity of belief, though not infrequently one may have the mental faculties of a full-grown man.’[1630] Of the Bangala of the Upper Congo Weeks says that ‘up to the age of 14 and 15, the boys and girls, especially the boys, are very receptive and easily taught; but after that age comparatively few make real advance in learning’.[1631] This is attributed partly to the fact that at this age other matters occupy their attention—working on their own account, looking round for a wife, and so on, but more especially to the fact that by this age they have learnt all that their fathers have to teach them and thenceforth settle down into a routine. Of the men of the races of Central Africa Johnston speaks as follows: ‘his mental powers are not much developed by native training, but I am certain that he has in him possibilities in the present generation as great of those of the average Indian; and there is really no saying what he may come to after several generations of education. I think it is truly remarkable the way in which a little savage boy can be put to school and taught to read in a few months and subsequently become a skilful printer or telegraph clerk or even book keeper. The little boys are much sharper and shrewder than the grown-up male. When the youth arrives at puberty there is undoubtedly a tendency towards an arrested development of the mind.’[1632] This latter tendency is attributed to the attention paid to sexual matters. This arrest of development is a feature in all descriptions of the mental characters of these races. Junod is inclined, however, to think that these descriptions are on the whole exaggerated.[1633] In order to enable us to form such judgement on this point a few further quotations may be given. Ellis, describing the Ewe-speaking peoples of Togoland, mentions the precocity of the children when compared with Europeans, and says that, ‘at puberty the physical nature masters the intellect and frequently completely deadens it’.[1634] The Bambala children ‘are very precocious, and up to the age of puberty are often astonishingly intelligent; after puberty, however, they become exceedingly apathetic; sexual excess and continual intoxication with palm wine contribute largely to this result’.[1635] Speaking of the natives of Portuguese East Africa, Maugham refers to the great brightness and promise early displayed; as regards the later stages says that he has ‘over and over again been the witness of the sudden and astounding change which takes place among the young male house servants as youth approaches manhood. Brightness and initiative disappear; they go about their duties in a most casual manner; they are unable to remember the clearest and simplest instructions, and are constantly away without permission.’[1636] Referring to this subject so far as the natives of the Congo are concerned, Weeks states that ‘for generations boys on arriving at the age of 14 or 15 had learnt all their father had to teach respecting fishing, hunting, woodcraft, building, paddling, &c.... Thus their intelligence had attained for generations the fullest development by the above age; now we have to help them over that crucial stage; in some cases it is very difficult; but in other cases we can do so; and in such there is no limit to the intellectual progress they can make. In many cases they have mastered a good working knowledge of French, Portuguese or English, both spoken and written, and as larger opportunities are given, a larger number of youths will make such mental progress as will encourage their friends and teachers.’[1637] Bryant, who has had a wide experience of South African natives, sums up his impressions by confirming the common opinion that the native boy is, at an early age, if anything, superior to the European boy of the same age, and that at puberty his mental development is arrested. He thinks that Boer boys living in the backwoods and receiving practically no training are, if anything, inferior to the African boys. He adds—what is of particular interest—the fact that the African boys, whose education begins early, do not show the same arrest of development as those whose education begins later. Nevertheless the African boy educated from an early age is surpassed by the European boy later on. We find also, he says, that ‘in practically every case where a South African native has had the opportunity of receiving an education in one of the universities of Europe or America, that that native has invariably been able to hold his own against all white rivals and to pass as successfully as they the same examinations in Law, Medicine, or Arts.’ Such men, however, he adds, may have been selected as particularly fitted to profit by further education.[1638] Summing up his opinion upon this subject, Olivier says that it is not possible to ‘justify a generalization that there is any particular human function for which coloured persons are by their African blood disqualified. In various categories of human activity we may maintain that, as a rule, black and coloured folk are not up to the normal standard of the white, and are difficult and disheartening to deal with. But in other categories they are more liberally endowed than the average white man, not only with sympathetic and valuable human qualities, but with talent and executive ability for their expression.’[1639]

The evidence has been taken from the accounts of African races; very similar evidence could be presented for all races in the second group. No purpose would be served by so doing, however, because such evidence amounts merely to a repetition of opinion similar to those given above. Before attempting to analyse this evidence, we may glance at the evidence obtained on other lines.

4. Many investigations have been recently carried out to test the relative intelligence of children of modern Europeans and of primitive races. The method used is known as the Binet-Simon method and consists essentially in subjecting children to a large number of carefully prepared tests upon the total result of which an estimate is made of the intelligence of each child. Some of the most instructive of these observations have been made in America, where white and coloured children receive a very similar education; the result of an investigation carried out by Miss Strong in that country may be described. She tested 225 white children belonging to two schools and 125 coloured children belonging to one school. There is a standard degree of intelligence for each year of age, and thus every child can be graded according as to whether it reaches the standard degree of intelligence, or is above or below it. The results of this particular investigation are summed up in the following table:[1640]

_Coloured Children._ _White Children._
More than one year backward 29·4 10·2
Satisfactory 69·8 84·4
More than one year advanced 0·8 5·3

That the inferiority of the coloured children is exhibited at all ages is shown by the following table:[1641]

_Below Age._ _At Age._ _Above Age._
_White._ _Coloured._ _White._ _Coloured._ _White._ _Coloured._
6 years 19·4 40·0 30·6 33·3 50·0 26·7
7 „ 13·9 39·4 61·1 58·8 25·0 11·8
8 „ 18·5 23·0 55·5 38·5 26·0 38·5
9 „ 32·2 71·4 41·9 21·4 25·9 7·2
10 „ 55·1 75·0 27·6 12·5 17·3 12·5
11 „ 34·6 43·7 42·2 50·0 23·1 6·3
12 „ 67·5 77·0 32·5 23·0

34·5 51·4 41·2 33·9 24·3 14·7

With regard to these results Miss Strong writes as follows: ‘This seems to lead to the conclusion that the coloured children are mentally younger than the white. There is a difference of nearly 15 per cent. in the satisfactory group, nearly three times as many are more than a year backward, and less than 1 per cent. are more than a year advanced. A course of study in the coloured school is practically the same as that in the white schools. To what extent the difference is due to racial inferiority, to what extent differences in the home environment, cannot be said. It is certainly not due to difference in school training.’[1642]

There are certain criticisms of weight to be made regarding the importance to be attached to estimates of intelligence due to this method. These need not detain us beyond noting that, although in general, inasmuch as the children use the same language, the mental equipment is similar, nevertheless there may be considerable differences in acquired habit as between white and coloured children which affect their responses to the test. There is a further criticism of some importance to be made regarding this particular investigation. It was entirely carried out by white examiners, and it may very well be that the coloured children did not respond as readily and acquit themselves as favourably as if they had been examined by members of their own race. There is reason to suspect therefore that the coloured children may not show up in as favourable a light as the white children quite apart from any colour bias that may possibly affect the results in the same way. In any case it seems certain that the results are not unduly favourable to the coloured children.

The results of several similar inquiries have been summarized by Popenoe and Johnson. ‘The most careful study yet made’, they write, ‘of the relative intelligence of negroes and whites,’ is that of G. O. Ferguson, junior, on 486 white and 421 coloured pupils in the schools of Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Newport News, Va. Tests were employed which required the use of the higher ‘functions’ and as far as possible (mainly on the basis of skin colour) the amount of white blood in the coloured pupils was determined. Four classes were made: full-blood negro, ¾ negro, ½ negro (mulatto), and ¼ negro (quadroon). It was found that ‘the pure negroes scored 69·2 per cent. as high as the whites; that the ¾ negroes scored 73 per cent. as high as the whites; that the mulattoes scored 81·2 per cent. as high as the whites; and that the quadroons obtained 91·8 per cent. of the white score.’ This confirms the belief of many observers that the ability of a coloured man is proportionate to the amount of white blood he has.[1643]