1 52 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



run be well to develop as fast as possible a world-wide cultural uniform- 

 ity. I am well aware of the objections that some have to this. They 

 fear that such a dissemination of culture will deprive the whites of their 

 power over many subject races, and may in course of time even give 

 these races the ascendency over the whites. It is true that such uniform- 

 ity of culture will quite probably lead to the emancipation of these sub- 

 ject races, but this will in all probability be to the benefit of these races 

 and may also prove to be to the benefit of the whites as well. Further- 

 more, it is hard to believe that such uniformity of culture could ever 

 lead to the subjection of the whites, because the very fact of uniformity 

 would imply equality between the races of the world. 



When we turn to the question of a final racial amalgamation, it is 

 hard indeed to draw any practical deductions. There is a great deal of 

 difference of opinion as to the advisability of miscegenation or the cross- 

 ing of races. It is, of course, to a considerable extent a question of 

 whether the races being crossed are equal in capacity or whether the one 

 is superior to the other. If they are equal it would appear as if there 

 should be no loss as a result of the crossing and if anything a gain. If 

 the one is superior to the other it may lose as a result of the crossing 

 but, on the other hand, the inferior one ought to gain so that the loss 

 ought not to be greater than the gain. However, we have seen that it is 

 hard to determine whether any race is materially superior or inferior 

 to the other races biologically and psychologically so that it may be that 

 the races should be regarded as being practically on an equality for pur- 

 poses of crossing. But regardless of the question as to whether the races 

 being crossed are equal or not there is the further consideration as to 

 whether their characteristics are such as to make a happy combination. 

 We can not judge very well as to that now but Mendelian investigation 

 may furnish us a basis for judging in course of time. 



Non-biological writers usually regard human hybridism as a bad 

 thing when it is the result of a crossing between a so-called superior 

 and a so-called inferior race. Their opinion is based upon the fact that 

 these half-breeds are frequently failures in society. But such failure is 

 usually due to social factors though these writers attribute it to the in- 

 born traits of the half-breeds. Biologists regard hybridism in general 

 as a good thing in the animate world at large and as an important factor 

 in organic evolution. Biologists who have discussed human problems 

 and anthropologists who are well grounded in biology have usually re- 

 garded human hybridism as a good thing and as an important factor in 

 human mental and social evolution. So that it is probably true that 

 human hybridism in general is a good thing. However it would not be 

 safe to argue from such a general principle in every specific case. It 

 may be that under some conditions such as have been suggested above 

 miscegenation is not a good thing. Furthermore it is true that if a gen- 



