TO RELATIVE CAPACITY OF RACES. 187 



dwarfs in stature. Dr. Davis says of the six Mincopie skulls in his 

 collection, four male and two female, as well as of others which he 

 has seen : " They are all remarkably and strikingly alike, not merely 

 in size but in form also. They are all small, round, brachycephalic 

 crania of beautiful form." Moreover, though classed as " lowest in 

 the scale of civilization," the Mincopies betray no deficiency of intel- 

 lect. The admirable photographs which illustrate Mr. Dobson's 

 narrative show in the majority of them good frontal development. 

 The brain is not, indeed, relatively small. Their canoes are made 

 of the trunk of a tree, hollowed out ; and Mr. Dobson remarks : 

 " The construction of their peculiar arrows and fish spears with 

 movable heads exhibits much ingenuity, and the use of no small 

 reasoning power in adapting means to an end." 



We are indeed too apt to apply our own artificial standards as the 

 sole test of intellectual vigour ; whereas it is probable that in the 

 amount of acquired knowledge and acuteness of reasoning many 

 savage races surpass the majority of the illiterate peasantry in the 

 most civilized countries of Europe. Mr. "Wallace, in viewing the 

 subject in one special light, remarks : " The brain of the lowest 

 savages, and, as far as we yet know, of the prehistoric races, is little 

 inferior in size to that of the higher types of man, and is immensely 

 superior to that of the higher animals ; while it is universally 

 admitted that quantity of brain is one of the most important, and 

 probably the most essential of the elements which determine mental 

 power. Yet the mental requirements of savages, and the faculties 

 actually exercised by them are very little above those of animals. 

 The higher feelings of pure morality and refined emotion, and the 

 power of abstract reasoning and ideal conception, are useless to them; 

 are rarely, if ever, manifested ; and have no important relations to 

 their habits, wants, desires, and well-being. They possess a mental 

 organ beyond their needs."* 



Here, however, it may be well to guard against the confusion of two 

 very distinct elements. The higher feelings of pure morality and re- 

 fined emotion are not manifestations of intellectual vigour in the same 

 sense as is the power of abstract reasoning and ideal conception. It 

 is not rare to find an English or Scottish peasant with little intellec- 

 tual culture or capacity for abstract reasoning, but with an acutely 

 instinctive moral sense. On the other hand, among the criminal 



* " Limits of Natural Selection, as Applied to Man." 



