296 National Life and Character 



has thought deeply and faithfully over subjects 01 

 immense importance to the future of all the human 

 race. He possesses a mind of marked originality. 

 Moreover, he always faithfully tries to see facts as 

 they actually are. He is, it seems to me, unduly 

 pessimistic; but he is not pessimistic of set purpose, 

 nor does he adopt pessimism as a cult. He tries 

 hard, and often successfully, to make himself see 

 and to make himself state forces that are working for 

 good. We may or may not differ from him, but it be- 

 hooves us, if we do, to state our positions guard- 

 edly; for we are dealing with a man who has dis- 

 played much research in getting at his facts and 

 much honesty in arriving at his rather melancholy 

 conclusions. 



The introduction of Mr. Pearson's book is as 

 readable as the chapters that follow, and may best 

 be considered in connection with the first of these 

 chapters, which is entitled "The Unchangeable Lim- 

 its of the Higher Races." I am almost tempted to 

 call this the most interesting of the six chapters of 

 the book, and yet one can hardly do so when ab- 

 sorbed in reading any one of the other five. Mr. 

 Pearson sees what ought to be evident to every one, 

 but apparently is not, that what he calls the "higher 

 races/' that is, the races that for the last twenty-five 

 hundred years (but, it must be remembered, only 

 during the last twenty-five hundred years) have led 

 the world, can prosper only under conditions of soil 

 and climate analogous to those obtaining in their 

 old European homes. Speaking roughly, this means 



