THE CHANGE OF HUMAN CHARACTER BY ENVIRONMENT 415 



"To understand the relation of climate to civilization, let us corn- 

 pare tlie province of Ontario, where the climate is one of the best in 

 the world, and the Bahama Islands, which have a v/arm, monotonous, 

 tropical climate. The original white settlers in both places Avere of the 

 same stock. They were English colonists, many of whom left the U. 

 S. at the time of the Revolution because of their loyalty to England. 

 Today the descendants of the Loyalists in Canada are one of the strong- 

 est elements in causing that country to be conspicuously well governed 

 and progressive. In the Bahama the descendants of similar Loj^alists 

 are also one of the finest elements, but many of them are relatively 

 inefficient. Among the Canadians practically every one has a fairly 

 good education. Among the Bahamans a large number have never been 

 to school, and many who learned to read and write in their childhood 

 have forgotten these arts because they do not practice them. 



"The main cause of these differences is the climate. As the Baha- 

 mans themselves say 'This climate is very healthful and pleasant. 

 The only trouble is that it doesn't make one feel like work. In winter 

 it's all right, although even then we can't fly all very well for you 

 Americans to think we're lazy, but try living here a year or two 

 yourselves, and you'll be as lazy as we are'. The regular routine of 

 daily life can be carried on without much difficulty, but when a new 

 kind of work is to be done, he says, 'Wait till tomorrow'. It must 

 not be forgotten that a stimulating climate is only one of the conditions 

 which promotes civilization". 



We, the writer and Ohashi, observed the same tendency in Shang- 

 hai, while staying there for several years, and after the inquiry was 

 made of Japanese students of the Dobunshoin University, a conclusion 

 similar to that of Huntington was reached, although we were ignorant 

 at that time of his splendid work. The climatic conditions in Shanghai 

 were found to be comparable to those in Bahama in the example cited 

 above. According to our investigation into the difference of climatic 

 factors between Shanghai and Nagasaki, a Japanese city situated at 

 the opposite side of the sea about in the same latitude, there was no 

 significant difference in the average temperature or humidity, but it 

 was noted that the extent of deviation of the factors including atmos- 

 pheric pressure were far greater in Nagasaki than in Shanghai. 



We expressed the opinion that in China, including Shanghai, as 

 well as in tropical countries there is some deficiency in climatic factors, 

 a deficiency causing a disorder in the function of endocrine glands 

 especially adrenal contex (85). The lack of mental and ph^^sical activi- 

 ties and abnormal pigmentation common in the inhabitants in these 

 countries may be accounted for by the hormonal disorder. The symp- 

 toms appear to be similar to those of Addisonism, a diseased state 



