Part 3

Two problems may be distinguished here which have too often been confounded in discussions of the mental characteristics of civilized man and of primitive man. The one relates to the distinctions between races; the other, to distinctions between the social strata of the same race. According to the meaning of the terms “civilized” and “primitive,” it is perfectly conceivable that there may be civilized groups belonging to different races (like the Chinese and Europeans), and civilized as well as primitive groups, both belonging to the same race (like the Yukaghir of Siberia and the Chinese, or like the group of educated negroes in the United States and the primitive tribes of the coasts of Africa). The problems presented by the differences between the various races of man, and by the differences between social groups in the same races, are, of course, entirely distinct, and each requires separate treatment.

There is one peculiarity common to both problems, which must be described before we can properly take up their treatment. When we compare the individuals comprising any one racial or social type, we find that they are not by any means uniform, but exhibit considerable variation. When we try to think of a Norwegian and of a negro, two entirely distinct types will be present to our minds,—the Norwegian, tall, with blond and somewhat wavy hair, blue eyes, light complexion, delicate face and nose; the negro, of medium stature, with black and frizzly hair, dark eyes, dark skin, projecting jaw, and heavy flat nose. Still, these pictures are only abstractions of what we think we have noticed most commonly in each type. When we compare the Norwegians among themselves, or the negroes among themselves, we find that each individual in each series has his peculiarities, which the others do not share. There are tall and short Norwegians; their hair is blond or dark, straight or wavy; their eyes vary from brown to blue; their complexion is light or dark, their faces more or less delicate. And so with the negroes. The degree of blackness, the amount of projection of the chin, the flatness of the nose,—all show very considerable variations. Experience has demonstrated that in all cases of this kind, one certain type, one certain combination of features, is most common; and that deviations in either direction from this type become the rarer, the greater their amount. Thus the Norwegians show a prevalence of a certain blond color. Individuals with a color of hair much lighter than the most common color are the rarer, the greater the difference of their hair-color from the most common one; and in the same way individuals with a color of hair much darker than the most common color are the rarer, the greater the deviation of their color of hair from the common one. The extent to which such variations occur is not always the same. In some cases the individuals constituting the group show a remarkable similarity or uniformity of type; in other cases the diversity of types occurring in the same community is quite remarkable. We call a series the more variable, the more frequently deviating types occur in it; so that the average amount of differences between the individuals constituting the series and the most common type may be used as a measure of the variability of the series.

These considerations are of prime importance in all attempts to compare different races. In some cases differences are found which are sufficiently fundamental to distinguish easily and definitely one from another. Thus the color of the skin, color and form of the hair, and configuration of lips and nose, distinguish the African negro definitely from the North European. When, however, we compare all the races and types of man, we find that innumerable transitions exist, which would make it difficult to state that any one particular feature belongs to all the individuals of one type, to the exclusion of all others. Thus it would not be difficult to find among members of the American race, for instance, lips and nose which approach in form those of the negro. The same may be said of color. This indefiniteness of distinctions between different types is due to the variability of the types, which has been described before, and to the comparatively small differences between the types.

To give an instance. Negroes have thick lips. Nevertheless the thickness is not the same among all of them. In some cases it is quite small, in others very large. Europeans have thin lips, but we can find individuals whose lips have very considerable thickness. Thus it happens that there are some negroes whose lips deviate from the normal type in being unusually thin, and whose lips are therefore similar to those of Europeans whose lips are unusually thick. The less distinct two types are, the greater will be the number of individuals in both groups that are alike. It follows also, from what has been said, that the greater the variability of each type, the greater will be the probability that some individuals of the two types compared will be alike. We may perhaps best express this by saying that the varieties constituting each race overlap. In many cases, and in some of those that are most important for our inquiry, this overlapping is extended. Thus I have pointed out the differences in average brain-weight between different races. Brain-weights are, however, so variable, that a considerable overlapping occurs, and that even the average sizes of the brains of the white race are numerously represented among other races. Medium-sized brains of whites may be represented by the group of individuals having skull capacities of from 1450 cc. to 1650 cc. This group embraces 55 per cent of the Europeans, 58 per cent of the African negroes, and 58 per cent of the Melanesians. The same result appears when we compare the number of individuals having great cranial capacities. We find that 50 per cent of all whites have a capacity of the skull greater than 1550 cc., while 27 per cent of the negroes and 32 per cent of the Melanesians have capacities above this value. If we were to assume a direct relation between size of brain and ability,—which, as we have seen before, is not admissible,—we might, at most, anticipate a lack of men of high genius, but should not expect any great lack of faculty among the great mass of negroes living among the whites, and enjoying the advantages of the leadership of the best men of that race.

On the other hand, we find characteristics in different races so far apart and so little variable, that an overlapping is entirely or practically excluded. Examples of these are the frizzly hair of the negro as compared with the straight hair of the Mongol; the elevation and narrowness of the nose of the Armenian, and the flatness of the negro nose; the differences in pigmentation of the North European and of the Central African.

Investigations on the character of variability, which have been based on the measurements of the body, on social and economic phenomena, and also on variable physical phenomena, such as meteorological data, have resulted in the discovery that almost always the same law nearly covers the distribution of the numerical values of the observations (Lock, Bowley).

It has been shown that the values which represent the phenomenon are so distributed that certain numerical values occur very frequently, and that the greater the difference between an observation and the value at which the greatest number of cases are found, the less will be the number of these observations. The character of this distribution is shown in Fig. 1, in which the horizontal line represents the numerical values of the observations, while the vertical distances represent the frequency of that observation to which the vertical distance belongs. In the theoretical distribution which is represented in Fig. 1, the following values of the stature of a number of men are found:—

1415-1455 mm. 5 cases 1455-1495 mm. 11 cases 1495-1535 mm. 44 cases 1535-1575 mm. 135 cases 1575-1615 mm. 325 cases

1615-1655 mm. 607 cases 1655-1695 mm. 882 cases 1695-1735 mm. 1000 cases 1735-1775 mm. 882 cases 1775-1815 mm. 607 cases

1815-1855 mm. 325 cases 1855-1895 mm. 135 cases 1895-1935 mm. 44 cases 1935-1975 mm. 11 cases 1975-2015 mm. 5 cases

When we compare two series of this class which are grouped around different values, they may overlap each other. For instance, in a people of tall stature and another one of lower stature, the following theoretical distribution of numerical values of stature would be possible:—

I │ II │ 1415-1455 mm. │1425-1455 mm. │ 5 cases 1455-1495 mm. │1455-1485 mm. │ 11 cases 1495-1535 mm. │1485-1515 mm. │ 44 cases 1535-1575 mm. │1515-1545 mm. │ 135 cases 1575-1615 mm. │1545-1575 mm. │ 325 cases │ │ 1615-1655 mm. │1575-1605 mm. │ 607 cases 1655-1695 mm. │1605-1635 mm. │ 882 cases 1695-1735 mm. │1635-1665 mm. │ 1000 cases 1735-1775 mm. │1665-1695 mm. │ 882 cases 1775-1815 mm. │1695-1725 mm. │ 607 cases │ │ 1815-1855 mm. │1725-1755 mm. │ 325 cases 1855-1895 mm. │1755-1785 mm. │ 135 cases 1895-1935 mm. │1785-1815 mm. │ 44 cases 1935-1975 mm. │1815-1845 mm. │ 11 cases 1975-2015 mm. │1845-1875 mm. │ 5 cases

In these two series the group of statures from 1575 mm. to 1695 mm. occurs 1814 times in the first series, 3371 times in the second; that is to say, 1814 individuals are found in both classes, and 1557 (i.e., 3371-1814) are found only in the class of people of tall stature. In Fig. 2 I have represented these two series in one system of coordinates. Evidently all the individuals who belong to both series, and who are shown in the surface enclosed between both curves, are found in both series; and only the others, who are outside of this surface, and who belong to one of the groups, are not found in the other one.

Bearing in mind these facts relating to types and variability, we are in a position to turn to a consideration of the characteristics of primitive man and of civilized man, and of members of distinct races.

We will first direct our attention to the differences between civilized man and primitive man, both being members of the same race. For the white race this difference can no longer be observed, because there are no primitive white men in the strict sense of the term. Nevertheless we may discover certain analogues. Some of the peasants in the remote mountain districts of southeastern Europe do not live in a manner so very different from the way of living of what we ordinarily call primitive people; for the mode of life of the agricultural Indians of North America at the time of Columbus, or that of some agricultural negro tribes, is, so far as nutrition and occupation are concerned, quite similar to theirs. Also some of the fishermen on the coast of Europe may well be compared, in their mode of life, with the fishermen of America or Asia. More direct comparisons may be made among the people of eastern Asia, where we may contrast the cultured Chinese and the primitive Amur River tribes, the northern Japanese and the Ainu, the civilized Malay and the mountain tribes of Sumatra or the Philippines. Similar comparisons are possible for the negro race when we contrast the small educated class of negroes in America and the African tribesmen; and for the American race when we compare the educated Indians, particularly of Spanish America, and the tribes of the prairies and of the virgin forests.

It is obvious that in all these cases we are comparing groups of the same descent, but living in distinct economic, social, and other environmental conditions. If we find differences among them, they can only be due, directly or indirectly, to environment. Thus the fundamental problem presents itself, In how far are human types stable, in how far variable under the influences of environment?

It is difficult to take up this inquiry on the basis of a direct comparison between primitive and civilized types belonging to the same races, partly because material is hard to obtain, partly because the homogeneity of the race is often open to doubt; but it is at once apparent that every inquiry into the variability of human types living under the effect of different types of environment will help us to gain an insight into the question at issue, so that we are led to a more general discussion of the problem of the stability or variability of the form of the human body.

The principles of biological science forbid us to assume a permanent stability of bodily form. Our whole modern concept of the development of varieties and of species is based on the assumption of cumulative or sudden variation. The variations that have been found in the human body are quite in accordance with this view, and I may quote here a few words from Wiedersheim’s admirable treatise on the structure of man as an index of his past history: “In the course of Phylogeny the body of Man has undergone a series of modifications which still in part find expression in his ontogeny. There are indications that changes in his organization are still continuing, and that the Man of the future will be different from the Man of to-day.” The best illustrations of those changes are found in the forms of organs which are undergoing reduction. Thus we may observe that in modern man the little toe is often two-jointed, a phenomenon presumably due to lack of functional use. This condition has been observed in races going barefooted as well as in those wearing shoes, so that it cannot be ascribed to artificial causes. The teeth also show a tendency to gradual reduction, especially in the variable size of the molars and of the upper outer incisors. The third molar, or wisdom tooth, is often retained, and is in most races considerably reduced in size. Retention or slight development of the upper outer incisor is also of frequent occurrence. A similar reduction may be observed at the lower end of the thorax, where the development of ribs and sternum shows great variations.

The significance of these phenomena lies in the fact that in the evolutionary series the abnormal occurrences, which are found in different races in varying frequency, appear as new developments, which, if they should become normal, would increase the differentiation between man and the lower forms. The actual proof of increasing frequency of these features, and of their becoming permanent characteristics, has not been given, but seems more than plausible.

This inference is strongly supported by the occurrence of rudimentary, functionless organs, and by the temporary appearance of lower features during ontogenetic development.

It has been shown that some of these reductions—like the retention of outer incisors—are hereditary, and thus liable to perpetuate themselves. To a certain extent this explains the observation that certain variations occur with greater frequency among primitive tribes than in civilized man. Most primitive tribes are very small in numbers, or for long periods, during which they increased in numbers, have had little intercourse with foreign people. If in such a group any of the original families showed a certain peculiarity, it must now be found more frequently than in any other tribes. A case of this kind is the frequency of supernumerary vertebræ among the Indians of Vancouver Island, and probably also the frequency of the _torus palatinus_ among the Lapps. It may be left an open question, whether the frequent occurrence of the _os Incæ_ among the Pueblo Indians and Peruvians may be explained by the same consideration. Therefore it may be that the greater variability of certain races, in regard to these phenomena, is not an expression of a lower or higher degree of development of the whole group, as the case may be, but of the presence of a great number of members of a family which possessed the peculiar character. We do not deal in these cases with spontaneous variations, but with their hereditary re-appearance. In other words, if we are to admit the conclusion that greater variability means a lower or higher stage of development, it will be necessary first to prove that these variations appear spontaneously in any member of the group, and do not belong to certain families in which the feature is hereditary. Otherwise it will be necessary to prove that in larger groups of mankind the families exhibiting the particular anomaly had a greater probability of surviving than others.

However this may be, the occurrence of these variations shows that man cannot be assumed to have a stable form. It is of course an entirely open question, how long a time may be required to fix any one of the variations that we are here discussing.

The general tendency of anthropological inquiry has been to assume the permanence of the anatomical characteristics of the present races, beginning with the European races of the early neolithic times. Kollmann, the most pronounced advocate of this theory, claims that the oldest remains of man found in the neolithic deposits of Europe represent types which are still found unchanged among the modern civilized population of the continent. He has tried to identify all the varieties found in the neolithic prehistoric population with those living at the present time.

All studies of the distribution of head-forms and of other anthropometric traits have shown uniformity over considerable continuous areas and through long periods; and the natural inference has been that heredity controls anthropometric forms, and that these are therefore stable (Deniker).

There is only one exception to this rule. In all cases in which the anthropometric traits undergo very considerable changes during the period of growth, the influence of favorable or unfavorable causes makes itself felt. The investigations conducted by Gould and Baxter during the war of the Rebellion have shown that the representatives of European nationalities born in America have statures higher than the representatives of the same nationalities born in Europe; and it has been assumed that better nutrition, or perhaps better hygienic and economic conditions in general, might increase the stature of a people. These conclusions were confirmed by Bowditch’s measurements of the school-children of Boston, and by Peckham’s anthropometric work in Milwaukee. These changes in stature, due to changed conditions, have recently been demonstrated also in Europe, where Ammon has shown that the population of Baden has materially increased in size during the last thirty years. Other corroborative evidence has been obtained from the study of various social classes, in which Bowditch found an increase of stature, beginning with the children of unskilled laborers, and increasing among those of skilled laborers, members of the mercantile class and of the professional class; and from the observations showing a correlation between the character of streets occupied by the well-to-do and the poor, and the stature of their inhabitants (Ripley). Nevertheless these changes of stature were not interpreted as changes in type, because they may well be understood to be due to the elimination of retarding influences, which prevent many individuals from attaining their normal growth.

The results of the observations on stature are substantiated by other anthropometrical studies of various occupations. The best-authenticated fact, because based on the greatest number of observations, is the difference in type between sailors and soldiers who were measured during the war of the Rebellion. It was found that sailors had legs as long as those of the negroes, and correspondingly a shorter trunk, while their arms were equally as long as those of the soldiers of the army. We may also call to mind the investigations carried on in the gymnasiums of our colleges, which show that a series of measurements which depend largely upon the functions of groups of muscles change very rapidly under the influence of practice. It will be acknowledged at once that differences in the use of muscles during childhood, and continued in later life, must result in differences of structure, either permanent, or at least temporary.

A study of the conditions of growth shows how such changes in the form of the body must develop. Setting aside the prenatal development, we find that at the time of birth some parts of the body are so fully developed that they are not far removed from their final size, while others are quite undeveloped. Thus the skull is, comparatively speaking, large at the time of birth, grows rapidly for a short time, but very soon approaches its full size, and then continues to grow very slowly. The limbs, on the other hand, grow rapidly for many years. Other organs do not begin their rapid development until much later in life. Thus it happens that retarding or accelerating influences acting upon the body at different periods of growth may have quite different results. After the head has nearly completed its growth, retarding influences may still influence the length of the limbs. The face, which grows rapidly for a longer period than the cranium, can be influenced later than the latter. In short, the influence of environment may be the more marked, the less developed the organ that is subject to it. Data on the unequal rate of growth of different parts of the body have been furnished by Weissenberg.

The influence of retardation, so far as it has been studied, seems to be lasting. In other words, a retardation in development is never completely made good by long-continued development. When a child, through unfavorable influences, has grown slowly during a number of years, it will probably continue to grow longer than other, normal children; but the total amount of its growth will always remain too small (Boas and Wissler). On the other hand, children whose development has been accelerated will reach the adult stage early, but nevertheless the total amount of their growth will be relatively great. It follows from this consideration of the effect of retardation and of difference in period, that not only the absolute size, but also the relative proportions, of the body, must be influenced by periods of retardation or acceleration.

The whole trend of the studies of growth thus emphasizes the importance of the effect of rate of development upon the final form of the body. Illness in early childhood, malnutrition, lack of fresh air and physical exercise, are so many retarding causes, which bring it about that the growing individual of a certain age is in its physiological development younger than the healthy, well-nourished individual, who has plenty of fresh air, and who puts his muscular system to good use. Retardation or acceleration has, however, the effect of modifying the later course of development; so that the final stage will be the more favorable, the less the retarding causes.

It seems more than likely, judging from the course of development of a few simple mental activities that have been made the subject of study, that mental development follows laws quite analogous to those of physical development (Meumann).