MAN 6^ 



been a mutation of the two pairs of genes controlling the 

 distribution of pigment to produce the white. It is Mende- 

 lian recombination that has generated such diversity in man, 

 but mostly it is only a "skin deep" diversity. What we as- 

 sume to be great differences have been imposed upon the 

 races by language, religion, and custom. 



Modern anthropology is quite unequivocal in rejecting 

 the idea that living races represent stages in the development 

 of man— that there are lower races which are the survivors 

 of early human physical evolution. From a physical point of 

 view there are no living "lower races." One is not closer to 

 fossil Java man than any other although there are, of course, 

 differences in levels of culture. Considered objectively, no 

 one race is a complex of what might be said to be "ad- 

 vanced" human physical traits. It might be argued that there 

 are advanced traits in that certain specializations are more 

 human than they are pre-human or ape. For instance, since 

 primates in general are dark-skinned and dark-eyed it might 

 be assumed that the Negroids are more primitive than Cau- 

 casoids, particularly the blonds of the latter race. However, 

 if this one trait is used in argument, the rebuttal can easily 

 somersault the debate by pointing out that the long thigh- 

 bone of present man, as contrasted with the short femur of 

 Neanderthal man and the still shorter femur of the gorilla, is 

 an advanced human trait. In this case there is a progressively 

 longer femur found in some races, including the white, but 

 the Negro has undoubtedly the longest femur of all humans. 

 The profuse hair of the whites, particularly some represen- 

 tatives, is a primitive trait by the same argument. Can the 

 Nordic, someone has asked, be complacent about his blue 

 eyes and creamy white skin at the same time that he hides 

 the fuzzy forest on his chest and scrapes away at the stubble 

 on his face? Few arguments can be more ridiculous than the 

 old one about evolutionary superiority. For every case 

 cited, a reversal can be easily found. The truth of the matter 

 is that, even taking only a very few traits out of an almost 



