ELEMENTS OF ORIGINALITY 193 



work of the day. The Nobel prize winner, Sir Rabin- 

 dranath Tagore, and the great man of science, Sir 

 Jagadis Chandra Bose, stand out in lonely greatness 

 among the millions of their countrymen. 



All modifying conditions that abnormally hasten 

 or retard maturity, must be carefully considered. 

 That climate has its effects in determining an earlier 

 or a later maturity is well known, and must be taken 

 into account. Temperature powerfully modifies the 

 rate of progression of chemical reactions. Experi- 

 ments on the fruit-fly (mentioned before) show that 

 a lowered temperature prolongs the life of the fruit- 



fly. 



A genuine earlier maturity and mental precocity 

 would appear to belong to the negroid races, accord- 

 ing to the conclusions and testimony of various 

 observers. This fact of the earlier maturity, according 

 to the theory, gives definite value to lighter brain- 

 weight, and testifies to inferior intelligence. If then 

 it should be established on sufficient data that the 

 Negro with his "demonstrably smaller" brain-weight 

 indeed reaches maturity earlier than the white races, 

 that would need to be interpreted as establishing, 

 demonstrating, his inferiority in intelligence, or 

 psychic power. 



The length of the period of infancy, that is, the 

 length of time it requires to complete the series of 



