EVOLUTION OF MENTAL CHARACTEES 393 



Such men, however, he adds, may have been selected as particularly- 

 fitted to profit by further education.^ Summing aip his opinion 

 upon this subject, Olivier says that it is not possible to ' justify 

 a generalization that there is any particular human function for 

 which coloured persons are by their African blood disquahfied. 

 In various categories of human activity we may maintain that, 

 as a rule, black and coloured folk are not up to the normal 

 standard of the white, and are difficult and disheartening to 

 deal with. But in other categories they are more liberally endowed 

 than the average white man, not only with sympathetic and 

 valuable human qualities, but with talent and executive abihty 

 for their expression.' ^ 



The evidence has been taken from the accounts of African 

 races ; very similar evidence could be presented for all races in 

 the second group. No purpose would be served by so doing, 

 however, because such evidence amounts merely to a repetition 

 of opinion similar to those given above. Before attempting to 

 analyse this evidence, we may glance at the evidence obtained 

 on other lines. 



4. Many investigations have been recently carried out to test 

 the relative intelligence of children of modern Europeans and 

 of primitive races. The method used is known as the Binet- 

 Simon method and consists essentially in subjecting children to 

 a large number of carefully prepared tests upon the total result 

 of which an estimate is made of the intelhgence of each child. 

 Some of the most instructive of these observations have been 

 made in America, where white and coloured children receive 

 a very similar education ; the result of an investigation carried 

 out by Miss Strong in that country may be described. She 

 tested 225 white children belonging to two schools and 125 

 coloured children belonging to one school. There is a standard 

 degree of intelhgence for each year of age, and thus every child 

 can be graded according as to whether it reaches the standard 

 degree of intelligence, or is above or below it. The results of this 

 particular investigation are summed up in the following table : ^ 



Coloured Children. White Children. 

 More than one year backward . . 29-4 10-2 



Satisfactory C9-8 84-4 



More than one year advanced . . 0-8 5-3 



» Bryant, E-ug. Rev., vol. ix., pp. 47-9. ' Olivier, While Capital and Coloured 



Labour, p. 59. " Strong, Pedagogical Seminary, vol. xx, p. 501. 



