Craiiiolof/icaJ Notes •'> 1 I 



seorns tu iiivolvo :m etonial p;i.st for luiiniuiity or a scparato creation of cjioli 8o-called raco. 

 In other wiinls lii.s phrasc : " i)i<'i»ii/s eiiior irgciulwuUrlicii l'.lutmisuliuiig unterworfen" seein« 

 to me to exchulo oiitirely tlio ovohition of liunianity froni a single original group or at least 

 very few groups. It is not a praotical definition of race at all, for under it wo must »ay that 

 race in man does not exist. Again granted dirtciontiation into stibgroups from an original 

 stock, and that these subgroups liave been acted upon by solectiou tliroughout long agea, again I 

 hold tliat a definition of race as a subgroiip which has reniained witliout lUulmiar/iiiiiff since 

 that original difi'orcntiation is hopelessly idlo. In all probability such a race does not exist in 

 man. Probably every group of nien is in this sonse hliiti-rrmiKc/tt. If niy viow bo a correct one, 

 race in man is nierely a rdatiiv torm. 1 understand by a i-ace of mon, what I understjind by a 

 race of snails or birds or fox-terriers, i.e. a group which lias intormixeti freely with itsclf but not 

 with othcr groujis for a nuniber of generations, and during this proccss has bcen equally freely 

 subjectod to the action of natvu'al or artificial selection. Sensible isolation is gencrally needed 

 for the tirst condition, probably fixity of locality for the secoud condition. The " porfect r.ace" 

 would be tliat which had for niany generations been i.solated in one locality and had freely 

 " intrabred." As a resvdt we should have a distinct " type," niore or less .stalile to its enviroument. 

 Of course in man we only get more or less close approximations to these conditions, am) froin 

 such aijproximations we have every shade of iraperfect mixturc down to the mixed population of 

 a European settlement in Asia, with but small Bl utmischuiuj ainong its diffcrent castes or 

 subgrou|]s. This pure relativity of race which is all 1 can conceive of in man as a i>ractical 

 detinition, diverges probably very widely from the conception of Professor von Török, but it 

 cnalilcs US at once to set up a Standard,— a relative one it is true, but none the less perfectly 

 souiid for biometric purposes— of what may oi' may not be considered as hoinogeneous niaterial. 

 To apply our definition we must start from human gi-oups which we know have been for a 

 number of generations in the bidk isolated and freely interbreeding. These will give lus a 

 Standard by which to judge of the eom]ia,rative value of other groups. In this sense I think we 

 are justified in speaking of the Ainos or the Altbaiern as races ; we may.speak of the French of a 

 given rural locality as a race for there is oomparatively little immigration, and so forth. But if 

 we mix data for the same group at difi'erent periods, wo shall not get a race because progressive 

 changes are taking place. Above all we must never forget that our whole conception is one of 

 reliitii'e degree. I shall no doubt be told that this conception of race is quite invalid, that races 

 can be sorted out by types, long after blood-mixture, by the cxpert anthropologist. This may be 

 so, but it throws us back ou " appreciation " and the undeflned, if not xmdefinable "type," a öeld 

 quite outside biometric investigations. The instances of Eurasians, Indo-Spaniards, and half- 

 castes in general, seem to me to .show a continuous blending in man as the Blutmüchung is 

 continued. Stop the immigration into North America and let its multiracial elemcnts inter- 

 breed for a number of generations, and be environmentally selected, and the complete blend of 

 any locality will be as much a "race" as any district of Europe can now show lOfX) years after 

 the Völbriratulerung. With the extreme mobility of man and Ins ready fertility with any 

 group of his own .species, I do not believe that a more practical conception of race in man 

 can be formed. The "purest" race is for me tlie one which has been isolated, intrabred, and 

 selected for the longest period. It may well in the dim past have been a blend of the most 

 diverse elements. Starting from this concei)tion of race biometric investigations can enable 

 US to form some rough measure even at present, of the position of groups on a racial Scale. 

 At any rate they enable us to assert that Ainos, Naqadivs and Altbaiern, are indefinitely far 

 removed on such a scale from mere cranial mixtures*. I do not suppose this conception i)f race 

 will satisfy Professor von Török, any more than Dr Myers or other craniologists or anthro- 

 pologists of the old school. But I would ask them to express concisely and definitely what they 



* It would be quite possilile to raake out of Australian, Guanch, Chinese and European crania 

 by an adroit selection a mixture which for one character was as little variable as that charaeter in 

 a "race" like the Aino, but I believe the biometrician would detect the mixture by simple imalysis 

 of othcr little correlated characters. 



