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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



yet found no way of telling what is and 

 what is not due to the heredity factor. 

 The problem of science in general is to 

 tie up one cause or factor with certain 

 effects. The problem in the present 

 case is to tie up definitely the specific 

 race factor with specific phenomena of 

 culture or group conduct, such as set- 

 tled life, architecture in stone, religious 

 symbolism, and the like; to be able to 

 say so much of this symbolic expression 

 is instinctive in the race and so much 

 of it is the result of other influences. 

 That is precisely what we cannot do ; 

 nor has anyone yet been able to find a 

 method which he can honestly affirm 

 will enable us to do it. This is a great 

 pity. But I think you will agree that 

 under the circumstances a clean scien- 

 tific conscience does not allow us to do 

 anything but to adhere to our negative 

 attitude. When we do not know, the 

 best thing is to say we do not know, in 

 science as in business and in personal 

 relations ; when we are baffled, to admit 

 we are baffled. 



We anthropologists do feel that the 

 greatest contril)ution we can make at 

 present to an understanding of this fac- 

 tor of race is to work with the other 

 factors with which we can deal specifi- 

 cally, and to push those other factors as 

 far as we can in analyzing the phe- 

 nomena of group conduct or culture. 

 Meanwhile students in other branches 

 of science — biology and psychology — 

 can operate with this factor of hered- 

 ity, which is more directly amenable 

 to their techniques. Then when both 

 they and Ave have made some progress, 

 and the unknown quantities are propor- 

 tionately reduced, we may be able to 

 begin to connect the two sets of studies. 



For instance, when we try to apply 

 to the mode of life which we know 

 these Indians of the Southwest to have 

 had, such biological or racial facts as 

 are at our command, we find that physi- 

 cal anthropologists, classifying peoples 

 into long-headed and short-headed 

 types, encounter both among the South- 



western Indians. They have discov- 

 ered that long-headed peoples occur 

 among soiiie of the settled Pueblos and 

 also among some of the nomadic triljes; 

 and round-headed groups aiv also 

 found among the settled and nomadic 

 tril)cs. The Pueblo Taos and non- 

 Pucltlo ]'ima are both long-headed, the 

 Pueblo Zuni and non-Pueblo Apache 

 hotli broad-headed. Clearly, if the 

 shape of the head has anything to do 

 with the culture or mode of life of any 

 of these peoples, the data that we pos- 

 sess fail to prove it. If there is any 

 racial or hereditary reason for the dif- 

 ferences in the mode of life, the reason 

 is certainly a very much more subtle 

 one tlian anyone has yet been able to 

 establish. 



So when we take up any other physi- 

 cal traits in regard to which we have 

 information: results simply do not 

 emerge. Dr. Hrdlicka found in a con- 

 siderable number of cases, almost uni- 

 versally, in fact, that the pulse rate of 

 Indians was about ten beats per minute 

 less than that of white peo])le— about 

 sixty instead of seventy. While we do 

 not know the specific cause of this phe- 

 nomenon, it does seem to be hereditary. 

 And to me it seems quite inconceivable 

 that the physiological workings of two 

 groups of people like Indians and Cau- 

 casians could differ so greatly without 

 there being some reflex in their mental 

 habits. Yet there are nomadic tribes 

 such as the Apache that are renowned 

 for their warlike habits, who lived as it 

 were by flghting, and, on the other 

 hand, there are the Zuiii who are fa- 

 mous for their timidity and gentleness ; 

 and the pulse rates of such divergent 

 tril)es are the same. If slow pulse made 

 for gentleness, as might l)e supposed, 

 then we have the fact that the aggres- 

 sive Apache has the identical pulse as 

 the pacific Zuhi. The conclusion that 

 we must draw is that whatever the 

 hereditary basis may be for the differ- 

 ence between ourselves and the Indian, 

 it is an exceedingly intricate one, be- 



