1 82 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



to Other dwarf or shortened-stature groups, such as those 

 of America (Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil). For outside of 

 their smaller stature and mass these groups are quite 

 fecund, and able to cope with their special environments. 



Nevertheless deterioration proper may occasionally be 

 observed, as for example among the native populations of 

 Java, in the southern Bushmen and Hottentots, in some of 

 the Alpine and Appalachian populations in Europe and 

 America, in parts of China and especially of central and 

 southern India, among some of th^ American Indian tribes 

 in transitional stage, such as the Osage, southern Ute, and 

 others and among some at least of the negro communities 

 in America. 



In all these instances the deterioration is seen not to be 

 "racial" or general, but to apply only to such groups and 

 famihes as have become subject to unfavorable, physically 

 and otherwise degrading conditions. 



Race deterioration is therefore a conception that is not 

 sustained by science. Deterioration, where present, is seen 

 to be a phenomenon of locahty and of conditions, but not 

 of a race. It may extend to a geographic group, a social 

 class, a tribe perhaps, but never as far as discoverable now, 

 to a whole race. 



A temporary deterioration of human groups, as that of 

 individuals, is moreover, mostly "curable," and is often 

 cured, on the one hand, through natural ehmination of 

 those affected most seriously, and, on the other, through 

 restitution and new adaptations of the remainder. The 

 beneficial vis mediatrix naturae acts evidently on groups as it 

 does on individuals, and where deterioration does not 

 surpass the limit of the curable it slowly restores and 

 strengthens, until a "normal" status is reached once more, 

 adapted to and mastering the particular place and conditions. 



One of the peoples in whom such restitution under more 

 favorable conditions may best be studied, and that in 

 various parts of the world, are the Jews. 



A physical degeneration of a race is therefore a notion for 

 which it is difficult to find a substantial foundation. If 

 traced closely the supposed degeneracy resolves itself 

 generally into mental affects and states, which in cases may 



