proceedings: anthropological society 71 



are they a v(My different race, as the Japanese themselves think? The 

 whole attitude of the Japanese toward the Chinese and toward the 

 American people seems to rest on the assumption that they are not 

 Mongolian, strictly speaking, and that they should be ti'eated as our 

 equals." 



The Japanese frequently compare their empire with Englantl, the 

 Island Empiie which lules a great part of the world from its favored 

 position in the Atlantic, a position similar to that of Japan in the Pacific 

 Ocean. The Japanese are unquestionably a mixed race, like the English 

 and most of the leading nations of the present da}'. Five distinct ethnic 

 types are to be found among the Japanese. The most important is the 

 ]\Ianchu-Korean type, taller than the others and seen chiefl}^ among 

 the upper classes. The second is the well-known Mongolian type, with a 

 broader face. Perhaps the most important element in the present nation- 

 ality is the Malay strain, whose representatives are small in stature. The 

 Ainu preceded both Alongolians and Malays, and it now appears that 

 they, in turn, were preceded b}- a smaller race of pit-dwellers. Accord- 

 ing to Keane the Japanese bear a physical resemblance to the Mon- 

 golians, but linguisticalh' are more closely related to the northern 

 Asiatic Finno-Tataric stock. From this point of view the Japanese 

 are more closely related to the Koreans than to the Chinese, since 

 the Korean language is agglutinative and that of the Chinese is mono- 

 syllabic. Xumerous authorities were cited on this and similar problems 

 of the Japanese people. Japan received its profound philosophies from 

 India and China. Thus the native religion of Japan is Shintoism, 

 together with Buddhistic beliefs that came from India, and Confucianism 

 fi'om China. 



Concerning Japanese policies Dr. Folkmar said, "There is no doubt 

 that an exclusive policy, dominated the national policies of Japan until 

 Perry, the American, broke down the barriers. This act is now regarded 

 l)y the leaders and educated classes as one of the most fortunate events 

 in their national history." Dr. Folkmar spoke in high encomium of the 

 manner in which the Japanese Empire has kept its word in restricting 

 the emigration of Japanese to the United States, and said that there can 

 bo no doubt of the wisdom of taking the Japanese at their word in 

 the recent convention that has been signed regarding the "open door 

 policy." 



- The 519th meeting of the Society was held in the West Study Room 

 of the Public Libi'ary, January 15, 1918, at 8 p.m. The program con- 

 sisted of a general discussion of War Anthropology, led by Dr. Ales 

 Hrdlicka, Curator, Division of Ph3'sical Anthropology, U. S. National 



Taking as his subject War and Race, Dr. Hrdlicka first directed atten- 

 tion to the very general and serious apprehension that the present war 

 may have an untoward dysgenic effect on the race, saying that there 

 exists, even among medical men and some men of science, a fear of the 

 effect of shattered constitutions and the lasting results of shocks, strains, 



