164 
NATURE 
[FEBRUARY 3, 1923 

Dutch place-names. Mrs. Mabel Palmer discussed 
some Australian proposals for a wage varying in 
proportion to the size of the family. Mr. F. S. 
Livie-Noble outlined some practical applications of 
modern psychology. There was a discussion, opened 
by Captain A. Cardozo, on the currency problem in 
Mogambique. 
The next annual meeting of the Association will 
take place in July 1923 at Bloemfontein, under the 
presidency of Prof. J. D. F. Gilchrist. Fis Saab 
Mental Character and Race. 
It is a commonplace of anthropological study that, 
in investigating the customs of primitive races, 
the difference in level of culture between observer 
and observed entails a difference in mentality and 
outlook which it is one of the aims of anthropological 
training to overcome. But it is also a matter of 
common observation that this same difference exists, 
if in a lesser degree, between peoples at the same stage 
of civilisation, and even between individuals or groups 
of individuals forming part of the same people} or 
nation. The works of travellers, geographers and 
historians, both ancient and modern, abound. in 
characterisations of the mental qualities of the 
various peoples of the world, both civilised and un- 
civilised; but when the ethnologist comes to the 
investigation of the problem of racial differences in 
mental qualities, he is confronted with a two-fold 
difficulty. On one hand he is, at present, for the 
most part, dependent upon empirical observation 
from which it is difficult to eliminate the personal 
factor, and, on the other hand, it is not clear how far, 
if at all, mental characters can be correlated with the 
physical characters upon which the ethnologist bases 
his classification of races. In the solution of this 
problem it is essential that the anthropologist should 
secure the co-operation of the psychologist, and it was 
with this object that a discussion on “ 
acter and Race’’ was held in a joint session of the 
Anthropological and Psychological Sections at the 
meeting of the British Association at Hull in Sep- 
tember last. 
The discussion was opened by Prof. J. L. Myres, 
who said that the principal consideration to be sub- 
mitted to psychologists and ethnologists alike was 
that in many individuals in any modern society of 
mixed ancestry, dispositions and faculties differ. 
Such mental qualities are inherited like physical 
qualities and characters. It might be assumed that 
they stood in some direct relation to some element in 
the nervous system. Further, some mental qualities 
seemed to be associated with some physical characters, 
as for example a “ fiery’’ temperament with red 
hair. Some of these physical characters are racial, 
or (like red hair) seem to result from crossing of 
racial elements. The analogy from the artificial 
selection of the breeds of domesticated animals indi- 
cates that it is possible to enhance or combine mental 
qualities. It did not always happen that the indi- 
vidual exhibited the characteristics desired, as in 
the case of the “ gun-shy’’ pointer, and the “‘ gun- 
shy " member of a military family. It would appear, 
however, that the hypothesis of correlation and 
transmissibility of psychical characters stands the 
test of practice in domesticated animals, the nearest 
analogue to the long domesticated animal man, a 
single species broken up into strongly marked racial 
strains. 
Prof. Myres went on to point out that the older 
ethnologists characterised racial types.by mental as 
wellas physical characters, and quoted as an example 
the. character of the Northern Mongols in Keane’s 
““Man, Past and Present.’’ He pointed out that 
such a characterisation included: (a) a description 
of mere psychological reactions to external stimuli 
conceived as characteristic of the racial strain and 
NO. 2779, VOL. 11] 
Mental Char- | 
capable, like brachycephaly, of being used to referan 
individual to his racial type; (b) a description of 
social reactions (e.g. ‘‘ sense of right and wrong’”’) in 
which a social, cultural element was introduced. The ~ 
individual has a post-natal experience as well asa 
pre-natal equipment, and in investigation it might be 
difficult to eliminate disturbing factors. Prof. Myres 
stated, however, that he himself had found that the ~ 
offspring of British fathers and Greek mothers brought 
up in a Greek environment differed as markedly from 
pure Greeks in their attitude towards discipline and 
labour as they did in physique, np closely 
following breed. 
Modern ethnology, relying on analogue ‘and experi- 
ment, had made most progress in the department of 
sense perception; but even here one of the first 
results had been to show how intimately the social 
factor was involved, as for example in inducing a 
native to give a fair trial to an experiment beyond his 
social horizon and in eliminating the disturbing factor 
of an inadequate language, e.g. in the case of colours. 
In summing up the problem, Prof. Myres said that 
the ethnologist, and, in particular, the social anthro- 
pologist, must define more clearly the elementary 
terms in their characterisation, while the psychologist 
must go further in laboratory work on such complex 
manifestations as the “‘sense of right or wrong,’ 
irrespective of race or breed. 
Dr. C. S. Myers, president of the Psychological 
Section, said that the chief determinants controlling 
mental characters were heredity and environment. 
On the physical side environment—climate, tempera- 
ture, food supply, and the like—acted directly and 
indirectly, especially on the internal secretions which 
affect the functions of the emotions. Environment 
must have played an important part in producing 
such differences as distinguished Americans, Aus-— 
tralians, and New Zealanders; but it was not known 
with certainty how these differences came about, nor 
how permanent they were likely to be. Different 
parts of the same country exhibited distinguishing 
characteristics. In England, for example, Yorkshire — 
and Wales had for long been noted for musical ability. 
What did this mean in terms of race? Where there 
was lack» of ingenuity or artistic skill, were thesé 
qualities latent, awaiting the encouragement of a 
more favourable environment ? Rivers had shown — 
that contact of culture produced something new, and 
apparently the same applied to an individual. 
Dr. Haddon said the results of the psychological 
observations made by the Cambridge Expedition to 
the Torres Straits had been largely negative. A 
scheme should be worked out for the observation of 
the emotional content of the attitude of pinta 
peoples towards their own ceremonies. 
Dr. Cyril Burt said that experimental tests of. 
intelligence and other inborn mental capacities usually — 
yield a correlation of about 0-5 between the perform- 
ances of parents and those of their children. Thus, 
mental qualities seem to be inherited to much thi 
same degree as physical. Small but distinct and 
constant differences are discernible between the aver- 
ages for different nations and races. On the whole, 
however, individual differences tend almost to swamp 
the group differences. On the temperamental side, 
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