PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 37 T 



other hand, ou the subject of a pure race, Pearson says — " I doubt 

 whether anything corresponding to a pure race exists in man, if by 

 that term is meant a group absohitely without ' Blutmischung,' 

 or mixture. Such a view would mean an iudefaiite number of 

 special creations or independent evolutions of man. The ' purest 

 race/ as I have said elsewhere, is, for me the 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." 



Now, what are the facts about the ' ' pure British stock ' ' that 

 bulks so largely in the population of Australia "? Two years ago, 

 a woman's skeleton was found, in Essex, belonging to the late 

 Neolithic, or the early bronze age. probably about 4,000 years old. 

 So far as head conformation and brain capacity go, there was 

 practically no difference between this woman and the students of 

 the Women's School of Medicine, London. Again, the Tilbury 

 m.an, estimated to have lived 30,000 years ago, is practically the 

 same, in respect to his anatomy, as many people at present living 

 in England. The Galley Hill man, probably much older than 

 these, represents a type very different from the vast majority of 

 Englishmen, but still represented at the present day by a few 

 isolated subjects. Similarly also, iu respect to other " races " in - 

 Great Britain, we find evidence that although time has brought 

 about a certain amount of fusion or similarity, races or families 

 have existed almost unaltered for many thousand years, despite 

 general isolation and inbreeding. From the comparative study of 

 races, it is evident that unless some new emotional or other factor 

 appears in the problem, it will take thousands of years still to 

 produce a pure race of British stock, even in Great Britain, pre- 

 suming that all the present elements are capable of fusing, which 

 is by no means certain. 



In view, then, of the Anthx'opological facts about inbreeding 

 and the composition of British stock, Mr. Clark's words about the 

 want of scope for natural selection are seen to be inapplicable, 

 and the whole criticism loses point. What makes criticism of this 

 kind risky or dangerous is the little learning, the misapplication of 

 the deductive method in science, and premature induction from 

 incomplete observations. Prom the race point of view, there are 

 infinite possibilities of good for Australia and no known or sus- 

 pected dangers that need influence 'either the trend or the details 

 of the country's present immigration policy. 



But the British stock in Australia will change, apart altogether 

 from the influence of inbreedingr or outbreediiig. There is evidence 



• 111 



that changes due to changed environment have already taken place 

 in the white people in Australia, as elsewhere. The human race 

 i? peculiarly susceptible to such changes.. This has been noted 



