RACIAL TRAITS 181 



and we may believe that the " joy of life," which 

 in some persons is so exhilarating, proceeds from 

 keen sensibility as well as from strong aesthetic 

 impulses. But the difference in impulses, ap- 

 titudes, sensibility and physical traits between the 

 members of a family are generally less than those 

 between persons who belong to different families. 

 A race, as we shall see, may be likened to a 

 family, except in cases where interbreeding 

 between different sections of it is artificially 

 checked, and we may then expect to find such a 

 general similarity between the members of a race 

 as there is between members of a family. Traits 

 of character cannot be discerned directly : they 

 can only be inferred from behaviour, and in ex- 

 amining them we are confessedly upon ambiguous 

 ground, especially when dealing with large bodies 

 of mankind. But certain of them are unmistak- 

 ably plain. Such are the low reasoning powers of 

 savages, and the weakness of the impulse which 

 leads to industry. Others, equally undeniable, 

 may require closer observation or comparison to 

 be detected. No one will dispute that amongst 

 Mediterranean peoples, for instance, the aesthetic 

 impulses are unusually strong. 



There is a school of thought which is reluctant 

 to admit that character is determined by race, 

 since in this case it cannot be radically changed 

 by education. But practical men of affairs, whose 

 success depends upon knowledge of racial charac- 

 ter such as commercial travellers or contractors 

 will ridicule the idea that differences in racial 

 disposition are only skin deep. When races are 

 marked by peculiar bodily features, it is only 

 reasonable to suppose that these distinctions are 

 accompanied by peculiarities of character. We 

 habitually recognize the association ot features 

 with character : thus we speak of a determined 



