EDITOR'S TABLE. 



7\S 



pigs, and parrots, are attracted to simi- 

 lar observations upon the young of the 

 different races of men. 



I>r. W. Lauder Lindsay, a physician 

 in charge of a Scotch lunatic asj'lum, 

 but who has long been a special stu- 

 dent of the subject of mind in animals, 

 has sent a brief communication to N'a- 

 tu7'e, giving tlie results of some experi- 

 ments upon the mental capacities of 

 children of different racial descent. 

 The observations were made by Mon- 

 sieur J. 0. Houzeau, also a comparative 

 psychologist, and author of " Studies on 

 the Mental Faculties of Animals com- 

 pared with those of Man." The obser- 

 vatiohs were made in Jamaica, upon 

 children inhabiting that island, and M. 

 Houzeau states his experiments and 

 conclusions as follows, in a letter to Dr. 

 Lindsay : 



"I have been busy, meanwhile, on a cu- 

 rious study about the comparative develop- 

 ment of intelligence of children belonging to 

 different races. I had an opportunity here to 

 submit to the test black, brown, and white 

 children. Fifteen of them were sent to me 

 every day for two hours by their parents, my 

 country neighbors : three of them white, sev- 

 en colored of various shades, and five black. 

 For a whole year I gave them myself common 

 instruction, and carefully watched their pro- 

 ceedings and their rate of improvement. I 

 do not expect to publish any thing about that 

 experiment, at least at this time. But I will 

 state here the conclusions to which it has led 

 me: 



" 1. There is in each child a different de- 

 gree of intellectual proficiency, which could 

 be called, in mathematical language, his or 

 her ' personal coefiicient.' However, these in- 

 dividual differences are much less than I had 

 anticipated, and are not the striking feature 

 in the unequal rate or speed of improve- 

 ment. 



" In this unequal speed, I see nothing — at 

 least nothing clearly and unmistakably dis- 

 cernible — that can be referred to the differ- 

 ences of race. This will probably appear 

 strange after all that has been said of ' infe- 

 rior races.' Should other facts show that my 

 experiment was not properly conducted, and 

 that the trial was not conclusive, I am ready 

 to give up. Still, it is at least my ' provisional 

 conclusion.' 



" The rate of improvement is due almost 



entirely to the relative elevation of the pa- 

 rental circle in which children live — the 

 home influence. Those whose parents are 

 restricted to the narrowest gauge of intel- 

 lectual exercise, hve in such a material and 

 coarse milieu (medium), that their mental 

 faculties remain slumbering and gradually 

 become atrophied ; while those who hear at 

 home of many things, and are brought up to 

 intellectual life, show a corresponding pro- 

 ficiency in their learning." 



Experiments upon so small a scale, 

 and continuing for so short a time, 

 must, of course, be inconclusive, for, as 

 Dr. Lindsay remarks, "at or up to a 

 certain age, girls are as sharp as or 

 sharper than boys at lesson learning 

 and repeating. Cases are constantly 

 being recorded — perhaps paraded — in 

 the newspapers of girls or young wom- 

 en beating boys or young men of equal 

 age in competitive examination, and yet 

 it is not to be inferred that the female 

 mind is either superior or equal to the 

 male, that is, in a comparison of aver- 

 ages. For the fact is, that, throughout 

 the animal series, including man, the 

 female mind, is, in some respects, dif- 

 ferent from, and inferior to, that of 

 the male. We know, moreover, that 

 female superiority, when it exists, is 

 usually at least confined to school-life. 

 In subsequent intellectual development 

 proper, man, as a rule, far surpasses 

 woman." 



But, while M. Houzeau's observa- 

 tions were quite too restricted to form 

 a basis of useful conclusions respecting 

 the educability and intellectual capacity 

 of the children belonging to different 

 races, there is great significance in his 

 final conclusion regarding the potency 

 of home influences. This is no new 

 truth, but it is a truth of transcendent 

 importance, too much neglected, and its 

 confirmation under such peculiar cir- 

 cumstances is noteworthy. That the 

 medium in which the child is habitually 

 immersed, and by which it is continu- 

 ally and unconsciously impressed, should 

 have much greater value in the forma- 

 tion of mental character than the 



