HUMAN RACIAL EESPONSES 



Alacaluf summary . The Alacalufs studied in the field have an 

 elevated basal metabolism, and during an 8 hour moderate cold 

 exposure their metabolism is virtually indistinguishable from that 

 measured while warm (Hammel et al., 1960). During cooling of the 

 feet and hands, heat loss was similar to that of white controls but 

 pain sensation, reported as intense in the controls, was absent. 



The Australian Aborigines 



The land connection between Australia and the mainland of Asia 

 was submerged during the late Pleistocene. Australia thenbecame a 

 refuge area for archaic forms of plants, animals, and men. It has 

 been estimated that the continent has been inhabited for about 15,000 

 to 20,000 years, and its human population has been described as tri- 

 hybrid in origin, representing an amalgamation of archaic Cauca- 

 soids, Veddoids, and Australoids (Birdsell, 1950). This human popu- 

 lation lived in virtual isolation until the first European settlement 

 was established in Botany Bay in 1787. Atthe time of first European 

 contact, the aborigines numbered about 250,000 in some 500 tribes, 

 and they were naked (Elkin, 1954). In 1956 there were an estimated 

 60,000 aborigines in the population at large (Smythe et al., 1956). 



Winter night temperatures in Central Australia fall to freezing 

 or below, and the night sky radiation temperature is about 20 C 

 lower. The aborigines who formerly slept naked on the ground be- 

 tween small fires were chronically exposed to cold. 



Sir Stanton Hicks et al., (1931, 1933, 1934, 1938a, 1938b) and 

 Goldby et al. (1938) initiated the pioneer studies of temperature 

 regulation in the aborigines. Morrison(1957), while studyingmarsu- 

 pials in Central Australia, measured aboriginalbody temperatures. 

 Scholander et al. (1958) and Hammel et al. (1959) have used more 

 precise methods in extending and confirming the early data. 



Observations during sleep in the natural state. Hicks et al. 

 (1934) measured oxygen consumption and skin temperatures in 

 sleeping male natives in Central Australia. They found that the meta- 

 bolism of the natives was not elevated by the cold of early morning 



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