846 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 752 



version to remote ancestral types, or towards 

 the evolution of a new ideal type — 

 as fancy or personal inclination may impel 

 us. We may enlarge on the danger of the 

 impending submergence of the northwest 

 European type, or glory in the prospect of 

 its dominance over all others. Would it 

 not be a safer course to investigate the 

 truth or fallacy of each theory rather than 

 excite the public mind by indulgence in the 

 fancies of our speculation. That these are 

 an important adjunct in the attainment of 

 truth, I do not deny ; but they must not be 

 promulgated before they have been sub- 

 jected to a searching analysis, lest the 

 credulous public mistake fancy for truth. 

 If I am not in a position to predict what 

 the effect of mixture of distinct types may 

 be, I feel confident that this important 

 problem may be solved, if it is taken up 

 with sufficient energy and on a sufficiently 

 large scale. An investigation of the an- 

 thropological data of people of distinct 

 tjrpes— taking into consideration the simi- 

 larities and dissimilarities of parents and 

 children, the rapidity and final result of 

 the physical and mental development of 

 children, their vitality, the fertility of 

 marriages of different types and in differ- 

 ent social strata— such an investigation is 

 bound to give us information which will 

 allow us to answer these important ques- 

 tions definitely and conclusively. 



The final result of race mixture will 

 necessarily depend upon the fertility of 

 the present native population and of the 

 newer immigrants. It has been pointed 

 out repeatedly that the birth-rate of Amer- 

 icans has declined with great rapidity, and 

 that in the second and third generations of 

 immigrants the same decline makes itself 

 felt. It will therefore be important to 

 know what the relation of fertility of dif- 

 ferent types may be. 



If the fertility of foreigners continues 

 high without a corresponding higher death- 



rate of children, we may anticipate a grad- 

 ual increase of the physical influence of 

 the more fertile type. The immigration 

 of the divergent types of southern and 

 eastern Europe is, however, so recent, that 

 this question can not be answered until 

 at least twenty years more have elapsed. 

 No less important than the fertility of 

 each immigrant type by itself is the ques- 

 tion, in how far they tend to intermarry. 

 The data presented in our census reports 

 do not give a clear insight into this tend- 

 ency among various nationalities. The 

 difficulties of collecting significant statis- 

 tics on the problem are very great. They 

 appear particularly clear in the case of 

 Italians. Married men from Italy come 

 to the United States, earn some money, and 

 go back to rejoin their families. They 

 may come again, and, when conditions are 

 propitious, they may finally send for their 

 families to follow them. Thus we find 

 among the Italian immigrants very large 

 numbers who were married before they 

 came here. It seems almost impossible 

 to separate the contingent of couples 

 married before their arrival here from 

 those married after their arrival, and 

 the chief point of interest to us lies in 

 the intermarriages of children bom in 

 this countiy. It is natural that in large 

 cities, where nationalities separate in 

 various quarters, a great amount of co- 

 hesion should continue for some time; but 

 it seems likely that intermarriages between 

 descendants of foreign nationalities are 

 much more common than the census figures 

 would make it appear. Our experience 

 with Americans whose grandparents immi- 

 grated into this country is, on the whole, 

 that most social traces of their descent 

 have disappeared, and that many do not 

 even know to what nationalities their 

 grandparents belonged. It might be ex- 

 pected—particularly in Western com- 

 munities, where a rapid change of location 



