SOCIAL AND WORLD ASPECTS 247 



ment and the conditions under which it took place 

 remain obscure. However this transitional phase 

 from man's prehuman ancestor took place, a new era 

 began, at least as early as the Lower Palaeolithic, 

 in which tradition began to play the most impor- 

 tant role in man's subsequent development. Carr- 

 Saunders rightly emphasises the value of tradition 

 and its great importance in the evolution of civilisa- 

 tion. He concludes — and the majority of anthro- 

 pologists would apparently agree with him — that 

 '' the major part of the progress in the evolution of 

 the intellectual faculties had been accomplished far 

 back in Palaeolithic times." The artistic and cultural 

 achievements of Palaeolithic man certainly appear to 

 support this view, although the more artistic produc- 

 tions belong to the late Aurignatian and Magdalenian 

 periods of the Upper Palaeolithic. And yet we believe 

 he pushes this conception too far when he states that 

 modern races, representing the Palaeolithic culture 

 level, differ from modern Europeans in disposition 

 rather than in intellect. 



It is true that observers of the children of native 

 races find that as beginners at school the}^ are 

 frequently as keen, or even keener, than the children 

 of whites. But their mental development ceases 

 early. Like the feebleminded, they show arrested 

 mental development.* In their native surroundings 

 their activities may be diverted to other matters by 

 the traditions of their fathers. This, however, can 

 hardly be said of the negroes transplanted to America 

 and living in the midst of civilised traditions, yet the 

 descendants of these negroes in the present generation 

 are shown to be inferior to white children of corre- 

 sponding age in ever}' stage of their development. 

 Evidently primitive peoples are often lacking in the 

 capacity for perseverance. Their lives frequently 



* For a different view, see p. 248. 



