7i8 



NATURE 



[February 3, 1921 



of the possible consequence of any change. The 

 suppression of the lobola, or "bride-price," in 

 South Africa, under the mistaken impression that 

 it was a sale, led to a great deal of ill-feeling and 

 injustice ; during the period in which it was inter- 

 dicted, no marriage was regarded by the natives 

 as legal, and, more important, one of the main 

 factors in their social organisation had disap- 

 peared. A little knowledge of anthropology and 

 anthropological method would have averted action 

 which led to much distrust of British rule. 



At the present moment the government of our 

 subject races is beset with difficulties. How deep- 

 rooted these difficulties are possibly only anthro- 

 pologists and administrators in intimate touch with 

 native feeling are fully aware. Native races tend to 

 die out after contact with a civilisation which brings 

 European diseases and European vices in its train ; 

 but this is not invariably the case. In some areas 

 the removal of the checks on over-population, 

 such as female infanticide and inter-tribal war- 

 fare, has brought about an increase, as in South 

 Africa. In the case of the dying races the excel- 

 lent system of segregation in reservations, even 

 with an assured food supply and medical atten- 

 tion, appears merely to delay the inevitable. The 

 possibility of preserving these peoples offers a vast 

 field for anthropological research. The problem 

 is not merely humanitarian. The exploitation of 

 the tiopics, which is inevitable as the world's 

 needs increase under the pressure of population, 

 depends on labour which will have to be drawn 

 from native races, as, owing to climatic and other 

 causes, white labour will not be available. This, 

 however, is no argument in favour of compulsory 

 or indentured labour. Primitive peoples, though 

 often called lazy, do not differ materially from 

 civilised peoples in their attitude towards labour ; 

 they work according to their needs and desires. 

 The labour problem can be solved only by a careful 

 study of primitive economics and industry. Such 

 study should serve as a basis for a system of 

 education and development which will foster 

 native arts and handicrafts. The gradual im- 

 provement of native methods of agriculture will 

 have an important bearing on the food supply of 

 the future. But here, again, there is need for 

 knowledge and sympathy before any change is 

 introduced, as native methods are hedged round 

 by custom and belief. 



In cases where the native population is numer- 

 ous and on the increase, the social and political 

 question has been forced into prominence. During 

 and after the war political agitators penetrated to 

 NO. 2675, VOL. 106] 



the remotest parts of the Empire. The cases of 

 India and South Africa are singular only in being 

 widely known. Can anthropology assist the State 

 in solving the difficult problem of converting what 

 is now a danger into a useful section of the com- 

 munity? The far-sighted proposals introduced 

 into the Parliament of the Union of South Africa 

 last year by General Smuts suggest an answer. 

 Study of native institutions will indicate such as 

 may be utilised to develop the political sense of 

 the native through local self-government, and at 

 the same time suggest lines of development along 

 which he may be led until he reaches a stage at 

 which he will be fitted to take such a part in the 

 political organism as time and experience may 

 suggest to be desirable in the interests of himself 

 and of the community at large. 



The greater amount of attention which has been 

 paid to primitive races has tended to obscure the 

 fact that the study of the peoples of these islands 

 has a bearing on practical affairs of an equal, if 

 not greater, importance. Sir Francis Galton, when 

 president of the Anthropological Institute in the 

 late eighties of last century, insisted upon the 

 importance of the study of our own population. 

 He himself had then for many years been collect- 

 ing data bearing upon the distribution of intelli- 

 gence among the different classes of the popula- 

 tion and upon the problems of heredity. The 

 report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on 

 Physical Deterioration, published in 1904, fur- 

 nished evidence of the utterly inadequate extent 

 of our knowledge of the physical characters of 

 the population of these islands. Medical inspec- 

 tion of schools, which includes certain physical 

 measurements, and is now extended permissively 

 to observations of a specifically anthropological 

 character, as well as the institution of a Ministry 

 of Health, has done something to remedy this 

 defect in certain directions. Anthropologists, how- 

 ever, are well aware how far the results have 

 been, or are likely to be, vitiated by an imperfect 

 knowledge of the distribution of racial characters. 

 The institution of an anthropological survey pre- 

 sents many difficulties not entirely confined to 

 expense. There can, however, be little doubt as 

 to its practical value, not only in connection with 

 the health and physique of the population, but 

 also because of its bearing upon the study of 

 mental character, the influence of heredity and 

 environment, the relation of race and disease, the 

 incidence of insanity and crime, and a number of 

 other questions intimately bound up with and 

 affecting the character of future social legislation. 



