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NEW TYPES AMONG MEN 175 



was made hastily, and the results are so important that they 

 cannot be accepted as final until a great deal more work has been 

 done. Nevertheless, it seems to me that in the face of all the 

 facts we can scarcely avoid the conclusion that a change of envi- 

 ronment may cause an alteration in man's physical form and 

 presumably in his mental reactions. If this is true, we must at 

 once recognize that one of the most pressing scientific problems 

 of the next few decades is the discovery of just how these changes 

 act when people of various races migrate from one environment 

 to another. 



The results obtained by Boas are briefly as follows. In 1908, 

 under the direction of the United States Immigration Commission, 

 Boas measured approximately 30,000 immigrants and children of 

 immigrants. His object was to see whether there is any measur- 

 able physical difference between immigrants and their children, 

 or between children of the same parents born in this country and 

 abroad. One of the races included in the study was the Scotch, 

 but they showed no appreciable effects, probably because the 

 change in their environment was much less than in the case of the 

 other immigrants. Another race was the East European Hebrews, 

 including those from Poland and the neighboring regions in 

 Russia, Gel-many, Austria, and Roumania. These showed the 

 maximum effect, and were in all points influenced as we should 

 expect from the facts already before us. Another group was the 

 Bohemians, Slovaks, Hungarians, and Poles from the same general 

 region as the Hebrews. They showed the same changes as their 

 Jewish countrymen. As all of these non-Jewish types react 

 similarly, and as it is not easy to separate them, they may be 

 grouped together. Two other groups consisted respectively of 

 Sicilians and of Italians from the part of Italy south of Rome. 

 These two groups showed distinct changes, especially the Sicilians, 

 but the changes were not of the same type as those of the Jews 

 and the Bohemian group. 



Before we describe the changes a few general facts should be 



