HUMAN RACES l8l 



RACE DEGENERATION 



Races do not live forever. Just as the whole so the parts 

 of humankind change. They differentiate into newer, or 

 daughter-races; they end through exhaustion by wars, 

 famine, disease, the remnant merging with some stronger 

 group; or they assimilate so much of other blood as to be 

 changed into a new unit; or they degenerate mentally and 

 sink into long dormant states in which they may perish, or 

 from which they may r.evive for a further course of active 

 existence. 



In human history, "race" after "race" has risen to 

 power and cultural prominence, only sooner or later to go 

 down before some stronger group. This up-hnger-and-down 

 phenomenon has in fact up to the recent time been the 

 invariable rule. Its principal cause has often been believed 

 to be "race degeneracy." 



If mentahty be excluded, no such degeneracy in any 

 instance can be detected by anthropologists. The physique 

 of the purer remnants of the Old Egyptians, Syrians, Arabs, 

 Persians, Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Mongols and Mayas, 

 is seen on direct examination into the matter to be as good 

 as it ever was. There has been no perceptible physical 

 degeneracy in any of these cases. Even the mixtures left by 

 these peoples fail as a rule to show degeneracy. 



This unexpected reahzation leads to the search for somatic 

 degeneracy in man elsewhere, which leads to interesting 

 results. Physical deterioration appears to be rare and hmited 

 to localized groups. It seems to affect mainly the stature 

 and bulk of the body, occasionally also the strength. 



The foremost examples of stature and bulk diminution, 

 though without relative weakening, are probably the 

 various pygmy groups, particularly the negrillo and the 

 negrito. As no dwarfs are known in human ancestry 

 the pygmy condition may be looked upon as secondary. But, 

 while its origin may have Iain in disgenic influences, the 

 result, that is the pygmy status of the body, may perhaps 

 be conceived more properly as adaptation or speciahzation, 

 than degeneration. There are many analogies to this in the 

 animal kingdom. And the same principle apphes probably 



