EURASIAN COMMUNITY AS EUGENIC PROBLEM 91 



by the late Dr. N. Annandale in Calcutta, and found that Eurasians are 

 superior in stature to other natives of Bengal, and that there is little to 

 choose between them and Europeans in this respect. Mahalanobis (1928) 

 also found, as a result of his analyses of race-mixture in Bengal, that "inter- 

 mixture between Europeans and Indians occurred more frequently among 

 the higher castes than the lower. Evidently cultural status played a con- 

 siderable part in determining Indo-European unions." 



In athletics, the community, in India at any rate, has distinguished itself 

 in every branch. In times of trouble they have not only furnished the 

 backbone of defence, but have produced a long list of famous soldiers; 

 during the Great War they flocked to the battlefields of France, Mesopo- 

 tamia and East Africa. In the circumstances, it seems unscientific to dis- 

 miss the entire community as consisting of indolent and cowardly physical 

 weaklings. In fact, those who know the community believe that anthro- 

 pometric study will demonstrate the physical equality of its members with 

 those of any other community in the East, even if it does not suggest the 

 possibility of their physical superiority under improved conditions. 



On the cultural inferiority and psychological traits of the community, 

 it is neither necessary nor altogether possible to refute its critics. The 

 point at issue is whether these conditions are due to nature or nurture. 

 And we maintain that they are essentially the functions of a deficient educa- 

 tional system, adverse economic conditions, and an environment vitiated 

 by bigotry, religious and other prejudices, both within and without the 

 community, and generations of dependence upon the favours of the ruling 

 race. If these are the causes of the defects of the community, then they 

 will certainly respond to adequate measures for improvement. 



In this connection, it is significant that, under stimulating conditions, 

 many Eurasians have distinguished themselves in every field of intellectual 

 activity, while a large number have reached a high level of intellectual 

 attainment. On the other hand, we know several Eurasians of undoubted 

 capacity, though not of excessive purposiveness, whose environment and 

 poverty have prevented them from rising above the economic strata into 

 which they were born. Another point of some interest is that the outlook 

 of Eurasians whose fathers are Indians is very different to those whose 

 fathers are Europeans or Eurasians. Moreover, prejudices that are 

 generally regarded as ingrained are invariably absent in Eurasians who 

 have had the benefits of liberal contacts. These facts support the argument 

 that wider causes than miscegenation alone must be found to explain the 

 peculiar characteristics of the community. 



An example of the reasons for the curious psychological traits of the 



