822 
ings; and we are compelled to conclude that when 
these features of the body change, the whole 
bodily and mental make-up of the immigrants 
may change (p. 8). 
The influence of American environment upon 
the descendants of immigrants increases with the 
time that the immigrants have lived in this country 
before the birth of their children (p. 9). 
The influence of American environment makes 
itself felt with increasing intensity, according to 
the time elapsed between the arrival of the mother 
and the birth of the child (p. 17). 
The type of the immigrants changes from year 
to year, owing to a selection which is dependent 
upon the economic conditions of our country. This 
is shown by the fact that after the panic of 1893 
a sudden decrease in the general development of 
immigrants may be observed, which persisted for 
several years. A similar change seems to have 
taken place after the panic of 1907. (Here Boas 
gives his Table VIII. and Fig. 17, which includes 
stature, length of head, width of head, cephalic 
index, and width of. face—showing the ‘‘ general 
deterioration’’ in the type of immigrants after the 
panic of 1893; pp. 28-29.) 
That there are not only decided changes in the 
rate of development of immigrants, but there is 
also a far-reaching change in the type—a change 
which can not be ascribed to selection or mixture, 
but which can only be explained as due directly 
to the influence of environment. This conclusion 
has been tested, and in many different ways, and 
seems to be amply proved. It has been stated 
before that, according to all our experiences, the 
bodily traits which have been observed undergo a 
change under American environment belong to 
those characteristics of the human body which are 
considered the most stable (p. 32). 
A feature that is particularly noticeable is the 
general drop of all the absolute measurements 
after the year 1894. An attempt to combine all 
the material, adult and children, for these years, 
brings out the sudden drop after 1893 even more 
clearly, and a similar phenomenon is repeated 
between the years 1907 and 1909. For this reason 
I am inclined to believe that the type of immi- 
grants is directly affected by financial panics 
(p. 39). 
It would seem that the effect of American 
environment takes place almost immediately after 
the arrival of the parents (p. 43). 
I think, therefore, that we are justified in the 
conclusion that the removal of the east European 
SCIENCE 
[N. 8. Vou. XXXV. No. 908 
Hebrew to America is accompanied by a marked 
change in type, which does not affect the young 
child born abroad and growing up in American 
environment, but which makes itself felt among 
the children born in America, even a short time 
after the arrival of the parents in this country. 
The change of type seems to be very rapid, but 
the changes continue to increase; so that the 
descendants of immigrants born a long time after 
the arrival of the parents in this country differ 
more from their parents than do those born a short 
time after arrival of the parents in the United 
States (p. 52). 
In addition to that I may cite also Boas’s 
explanation of his Fig. 17. 
The most striking feature of the diagram is the 
general decrease in all measurements (viz., stature, 
length of head, width of head, cephalic index, 
width of face) in the period following the year 
1894, which indicates that the arrivals during the 
period following the panic of 1893 were under- 
developed in every direction. The increase in the 
cephalic index during the same period does not 
contradict the data contained in the other curves 
(4. €., eurves for stature, length and width of head, 
and width of face), because the index is not an 
absolute measurement, but the ratio between length 
of head and width of head. A preliminary tabula- 
tion of the measurements after 1907 shows a sim- 
ilar decrease to the one noted here. This decrease 
is perhaps due to the panic of 1907 (p. 29). 
I ventured to characterize this theory as 
“ environmental-economic”’; and then pointed 
out that it is untenable, because of many bio- 
logical and methodological inaccuracies. Not 
desiring to repeat my former discussion here, 
I refer the reader to my critique in the Amer- 
ican Anthropologist. 
« 
In this connection I may call attention to a 
criticism of the same report by the well-known 
Italian anthropologist, Professor G. Sergi, of 
the University of Rome, entitled, “The Pre- 
tended Change in the Physical Forms of the 
Descendants of Immigrants in America” 
(reprint from the Rivista Italiana di Socio- 
logia, Jan.Feb., 1912). He says: 
The numerical series, the diagrams, the claims, 
the seriousness of the New York anthropologist 
(Boas) lend credit to the conclusions above men- 
Op. cit., 1911, pp. 394-436. 
