SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE. 847 



lines, and the conclusions are reached that we do not know, except as a 

 matter of probability, whether we have still visible any original wrinkles 

 of the earth's crust ; and that some of the estimates of the time it has taken 

 to produce the changes of which we witness the results have been very 

 much exaggerated. 



The curious conclusions obtained by Dr. Le Bon in his psychological 

 investigations,* delivered to us in startling language, are said to be the 

 fruit of extensive travel and of the personal measurement of thousands 

 of skulls. His memoir on cervical researches, published in 1879, upholds 

 the theory that the volume of the skull varies with the intelligence. This 

 theory has perhaps suffered a permanent adumbration. Facts seem to prove 

 that the bony structure of the skull, or even its cranial capacity, gives no 

 positive indication of intellect. 



In the present volume the theme of discussion is the soul of races. 

 Anthropological classification is set aside and mankind is divided into 

 four groups according to mental characteristics: the primitive, inferior, 

 average, and superior races — the standard of judgment being the degree 

 of their aptitude for dominating reflex impulses. It is perhaps worthy 

 of note that while the Frenchman belongs to a superior race, the Semitic 

 peoples are placed in the class below, or the average sort. For the primi- 

 tive varieties it is not necessary to observe a South Sea islander, the 

 lower strata of Europeans furnishing numerous examples. When greater 

 differentiation is reached, the word " race " is used in a historical sense. It 

 requires, however, more complete fusion than some nations exhibit to earn 

 this title ; for, although there are Germans and Americans, " it is not 

 clear as yet that there are Italians." The race having been once evolved, 

 acquires wondrous potentialities with Dr. Le Bon. He compares it to 

 the totality of cells constituting a living organism, asserts that its mental 

 constitution is as unvarying as its anatomical structure, that it is a per- 

 manent being independent of time and founded alone by its dead. It is 

 a short step to endow this entity with a soul consisting of common senti- 

 ments, interests, and beliefs — what in brief, robbed of hyperbole, we should 

 call national character. He states that the notion of a country is not 

 possible until a national soul is formed. This, in time, like germ-plasm, 

 becomes so stable that assimilation with foreign elements is impossible. 

 Like natural species, it has secondary characteristics that may be modified, 

 but its fundamental character is like the fin of the fish or the beak of the 

 bird. The acquisition of this soul marks the apogee of the greatness of 

 a people. Psychological species, however, are not eternal, but may decay 

 if the functioning of their organs is troubled profoundly. 



The soul of the race is best expressed in its art, not in its history or 

 institutions, and, as it can not bequeath its soul, so it can not impress its 

 civilization or art upon an alien race. It was on account of this incom- 

 patibility of soul that Grecian art failed to be implanted in India. The 

 unaltering constituent of the soul corresponds to character, while intel- 

 lectual qualities are variable. By character is meant perseverance, energy, 

 power of self-control, also morality. The latter is hereditary respect for 

 the rules on which a society is based. This definition would make polyg- 

 amy a moral notion for Mormons. The knowledge of character " can be 

 acquired neither in laboratories nor in books, but only in the course of 



* The Psychology of Peoples. By Gustavo Le Con. New York : The Macmillan Company. 

 Pp. 230. Price, $1.50. 



