SOCIAL AND WORLD ASPECTS 215 



face, and to a lesser degree of the Negro face. Hence, 

 it is concluded that a reduction or alteration in th^Toid 

 activity has been a factor in determining some of the 

 characteristics of these races. The Mongol might be 

 characterised as subthyroid relatively to the white 

 man, while the negro is relatively subadrenal. 

 Similarly such Eastern races as the Malays, Siamese, 

 Chinese, and Japanese, having nearl}^ hairless faces 

 and little hair on their bodies, may be classed as 

 in some respects eunuchoid, with a weak secretion 

 from the adrenal cortex. They are, however, vigorous 

 and prolific, and these are not eunuchoid charac- 

 teristics. The social dominance of the white man 

 might, then, be said to be due to the greater concen- 

 tration of certain hormones in his blood. 



Achondroplasia (see pp. 34, 39) is a form of dwarfing 

 due to hypothyroidism, and is inherited. In man it 

 may be accompanied by shortening of the face 

 (prosopia), as in the bull-dog, or the face may be 

 unaffected, as also in the dachshund. The latter 

 condition is much less common. Short limbs and a 

 long trunk, accompanied by retraction of the nasal 

 region of the face, are all, according to Keith, 

 Mongolian characteristics. The so-called ^Mongolian 

 idiots (see p. 152) are stunted individuals, imbeciles 

 with Mongoloid features. Their occurrence among 

 Caucasian offspring is not an indication of ^longol 

 ancestr}^ outcropping, but is a form of hypothyroidism. 

 On the other hand, enlargement of the th3Toid causes 

 goitre, and there are particular regions, as the vicinity 

 of the Great Lakes of North America, where goitre is 

 more frequent owing, apparently, to insufficiency of 

 iodine in the water.* According to Berman (1921), the 

 thyroid also controls the speed of living. With more 



* There is some evidence that goitre is concerned with a 

 specific bacillus, one host of which is the goat, and that it may 

 be conveyed by contamination of drinking-water. 



