CHAPTER VI 



Racial and individual inborn characters Immunity to diseases Malaria 

 Measles Tuberculosis Conclusions. 



WE have seen that the offspring, though resembling its 

 parents in characters common to the race, and often in 

 certain characters not common to the race, such as the 

 shape of a feature or the colour of the hair, also varies from 

 them. The new individual thus commences existence with 

 inborn characters, the bulk of which are inherited through 

 or from its parents, but some of which are additions, which 

 we call variations. These individual differences may or may 

 not be transmitted from parent to offspring, together with 

 those characters that are common to the race. Hence it 

 seems necessary to divide inborn characters into two classes 

 Racial and Individual. 



It must be obvious to the most casual observer that 

 individuals of the same race exhibit similar characters. 

 These common characters are far more striking and obvious 

 than the differences between the individuals. Thus a negro 

 has a dark skin, thick lips, a prognathous jaw, a receding 

 forehead, and woolly hair. Chinamen and other Mongolian 

 races are distinguished among other characters by oblique 

 eyes and high cheek-bones. The resemblances between 

 individuals are so much greater than and so overbalance 

 the differences, that to the stranger all individuals at first 

 appear alike. According to the observer's familiarity with 

 the individuals of a particulur race, however, the individual 

 differences seem more and more obvious. The same thing 

 applies to all the various races and species of animals and 

 plants. There are characters common to the individuals 

 of every race which are striking and obvious, yet every 



