EURASIAN COMMUNITY AS EUGENIC PROBLEM 93 



rather, I would say, potentially a more competent vehicle of humanity." 

 And one of us, after some consideration, has written: 



Indeed, the scales of biological evidence clearly swing in favour of the theory that the 

 carefully nurtured hybrid is superior to either parent. And those who hold this view in 

 regard to human hybrids rightly believe that the inter-racial difficulties of the world will 

 be solved by the development of mixed breeds, and that the removal of racial friction by 

 marriage will ultimately lead to the peaceful occupation of the whole world by one com- 

 posite race. 



It would seem therefore that, in spite of the present position, the future 

 of Eurasians is not only hopeful but of international interest. The com- 

 munity has already shown potentialities that deserve to be encouraged. It 

 has survived great disabilities and given evidence of inherent vitality, adapt- 

 ability, and capacity for intellectual attainment. For such a people there 

 must be a bright future, but they stand in need to-day of dispassionate study 

 and constructive assistance. 



In other words, the Eurasian community furnishes a eugenic problem of 

 both academic and practical value, and we hope that this note will direct 

 attention to the unusual interest which would attach to a eugenic survey of 

 Eurasians in the more important centres in the East. Such a survey would 

 evaluate their physical and psychological characteristics, compare them 

 with those of the parent races, assess the importance of the environmental 

 factor, and indicate the methods by which improvements may be effected. 

 It would provide data on their health, religious views, and education; also 

 on their economic position and social and political environment, employing 

 for these purposes an extensive questionnaire, in addition to records from 

 direct observation. The literacy of the community, and an evident desire 

 for self-improvement as partly shown by the growing strength of Eurasian 

 associations in Indo-Malaya, would ensure a wide response to questionnaire 

 investigations. Finally, the survey should include a critical record of their 

 history and achievements, on which a wealth of data awaits collation, and 

 furnish the outlines of a constructive policy for the consideration of its 

 leaders and the governments to which they are subject. 



Such a survey would require of those who undertake it a capacity for 

 extensive investigation, as displayed, for example, in Davenport and Steg- 

 gerda's study of race-crossing in Jamaica. It also requires an intimate 

 knowledge of the community, and critical ability that must be supported, 

 but not obscured by, sympathy, if the investigations are to meet with whole- 

 hearted co-operation from the people themselves. With the assistance of 

 their associations, and of biological institutions in the East, a year's earnest 

 work, by two or three investigators, in the principal towns of Japan, China, 



