ACCLIMATIZATION. 669 



wliere this malady strikes down the first cross the mulatto or 

 the half-breed all further assimilation of the races is at an end. 



The list of ethnic diseases might be greatly extended, but 

 enough has perhaps been said to indicate the importance of elimi- 

 nating it before entering upon the discussion of acclimatization 

 per se. The predisposition of the negro for elephantiasis * and 

 tetanus, f his sole liability to the sleeping sickness, so severe that 

 in some localities the black is utterly useless as a soldier, J his im- 

 munity from cancer * and his liability to skin diseases in general, || 

 together with his immunity from yellow fever and bilious disor- 

 ders, are well-recognized facts in anthropology. The Mongolian 

 type appears to be likewise free from inflammatory diseases,'^ and 

 oftentimes from cholera to some extent ; ^ as well as from beri- 

 beri, which is so peculiar to the Malay stock that it may be traced 

 in the Japanese kak ke. % The Polynesians are immune from scar- 

 let fever, ^ and it is said that the Japanese can not even be inocu- 

 lated with it. % This again is an illustration of the same persist- 

 ence of pathological predispositions, since the partial affinity of 

 the Japanese to the Polynesian race is well established. Modern 

 investigation is bringing out similar examples of the constancy of 

 racial diseases among the modern peoples of Europe. Dr. Chibret 

 affirms that the Celtic type is immune from " trachoma," or epi- 

 demic granular conjunctivitis, which has often seriously ravaged 

 the rest of Europe.** Spreading in the Belgian army, it passed 

 over the Walloons ; and in the central plateau of France attack- 

 ing strangers alone ; it passed over southern Bavaria, even when 

 contracted by a Celt, speedily becoming benign. The only excep- 

 tion to this racial immunity is that of the Piedmontese, otherwise 

 it never extends above the two hundred metre Celtic boundary, f f 



* De Quatrefages, p. 426. Instanced by all writers. 



I Revue d' Anthropologic, new series, iv, j). 236. 



\ Hirsch, iii, p. 595 ; Bulletin de la Societe de Geographie, Paris, 18*78, p. 444. 



# Not universal, however. Bulletin de la Societe d' Anthropologic, 1879, p. 390. The 

 frequency of tumors among negroes in the United States is a peculiar fact. 



II Clarke, op. tit., p. 6*7. 



^ Revue d' Anthropologic, new series, iv, p. 236. 



Cf. tables in ibid., new series, i, pp. 76 ct seq. Contrast with table in De Quatrefages, 

 p. 235. 



\ Ibid., third series, iv, p. 206. Dr. Ashmead has tried to prove it is a result of unsani- 

 tary environment (Science, November 8, 1892) 



^ Ibid., second series, v, p. 30. 



J Science, April 21, 1892, p. 843. 



** Comptes rendus du deuxieme Congres international des Sciences medicales, Berlin, 

 1891. Curiously, however, Dr. H. H. Haskell, of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 

 informs me that the disease is especially common in America among the poorer classes of 

 Ifish extraction. It is generally ascribed to unhealthy conditions of life. 



[f The geographical distribution of caries also indicates an ethnic predisposition. Vide 

 Map, Bulletin de la Societe d' Anthropologic, Paris, 1867, p. 100; also 1868, p. 138; and 



