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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1355 



to-day who have perfect Eskimo features, and 

 you will find this feature occasionally in the 

 adults as well. The Japanese know it, but 

 whether they are not willing to admit it, or 

 simply have not pronounced themselves upon 

 this point, they have never offered any ex- 

 planation. It seems that the invading stream 

 was derived from a large part of the north- 

 eastern region, that after passing around or 

 through Korea they reached the main island 

 of Japan, settled then by the Aino, and that 

 possessing better military art and weapons, 

 they prevailed over the Aino partly by unit- 

 ing with them and absorbing them, and partly 

 by destruction. The Aino have survived only 

 in the north, and to-day not only are they 

 few in number but it is practically impossible 

 to find a full-blood among them. But this 

 was by no means all of the origin of the 

 Japanese. Before even the Aino came, there 

 apparently was in the southern portion of the 

 islands a neolithic population. The Japanese 

 collections contain now some skeletal remains 

 of these people, and these show that even then 

 there was already a diversity, though the gen- 

 eral type is that of a yellow-brown people, who 

 must have penetrated into southern Japan at 

 that time from Korea or the continent. And 

 there is another element, not traceable so far 

 historically, that apparently came from the 

 south. Whether it came from Formosa, or 

 from the Chinese coast or even from the 

 Philippine Islands is not known, but some 

 facts would point to the Philippines rather 

 than to Formosa. This southern element is 

 responsible for bringing into Japan certain 

 cultural features, and physically a few traces 

 of the ISTegrito. To this day you will find 

 Japanese — rarely yet occasionally — who bear 

 physical traces of negrito admixture. They 

 are it seems ashamed of it. The Japanese 

 anthropologists are aware of the fact, but it 

 has received no further attention. In addi- 

 tion there was a more important influx of 

 Chinese and Koreans, and also since early in 

 historical times there was a slight influence 

 of whites. Just what part these different ele- 

 ments played in the building up of the Japan- 

 ese people remains to be determined. Also, 



there are still many old mounds and sites in 

 Japan that demand careful exploration. The 

 Japanese anthropologists are slowly working 

 in these directions, but they must necessarily 

 lack the perspective that could be brought to 

 the field by the American student. For this 

 and other reasons it would be better if scien- 

 tists from this continent as well as from other 

 parts of the world would participate in the 

 work. 



The Koreans too, present a field for much 

 further research. Though yellow-browns, they 

 are a distinct people from both the Japanese 

 and Chinese. They resemble greatly some of 

 the more western Russian Tartars. The Jap- 

 anese in general, for political reasons, are 

 rather anxious to convince the Koreans as 

 well as others, that the Koreans are the same 

 as themselves, but the scientific observer sees 

 readily substantial differences, at least as 

 large as are those between the Koreans and 

 Chinese. 



In China itself there are still many prob- 

 lems for anthropological investigation. In 

 the first place is the origin of the great 

 Chinese people, counting to-day between three 

 and four hundred million individuals. We 

 know that their ancestors came from some- 

 where in the northwest; that they mixed with 

 people already in the country, the so-called 

 wild tribes and others; that later they im- 

 pinged upon and perhaps mixed slightly with 

 the Negritos of the south. But none of this 

 is as yet fully cleared or established, and 

 there are many other questions. There are 

 in southwestern China groups some of whom 

 are not yellow-brown but rather Indonesian or 

 of Hindu derivation, much nearer ' to white 

 people than the Chinese. We find also con- 

 siderable physical and other differences be- 

 tween the Chinese of the north and the 

 Chinese of the south. These remain to be in- 

 vestigated. There are large districts where 

 there are remains in the nature of mounds, 

 or burial caves, or sites, which have hardly 

 yet been touched. Also there are unknown 

 tribes in the western mountains. Some of 

 these tribes have been mentioned by explorers, 

 but none have been investigated anthropo- 



