660 



SCIENCE. 



[M.S. Vol. XXV. No. 643 



tries superior to their compatriots at home, 

 but native Americans who enrolled in other 

 than their native states, were on the av- 

 erage taller than those who enrolled in 

 their native states. Measurement taken by 

 the author showed that the Jewish immi- 

 grants to the United States are also taller 

 than their co-religionists in eastern Europe. 

 While there are no definite measurements, 

 still it appears superficially that the Italian 

 and Slavonian immigrants are also a se- 

 lected class physically. This phenomenon 

 is deserving of careful study by anthro- 

 pologists. It has been attributed to 'social 

 selection' or selection by immigration, and 

 is said to be due to the fact that it is gen- 

 erally the stronger, the more energetic and 

 adventurous who venture to leave the coun- 

 try of their birth, their friends and rela- 

 tives and travel thousands of miles in 

 search of a possible improvement of their 

 condition. The diseased, the weakly and 

 the defective lack the amount of courage 

 and perseverance necessary to undertake a 

 long journey with small funds. 



Not all those who come to the United 

 States remain here. Over twenty per cent, 

 of all the immigrants return sooner or later 

 to their native countries. The author ob- 

 served that most of those who return to 

 their homes are individuals who, by 

 reason of some physical or mental pecul- 

 iarity, could not adapt themselves to the 

 conditions in the United States. On the 

 whole, there appears to be going on a proc- 

 ess of elimination of many of those immi- 

 grants, who for various reasons, are unable 

 to gain a foothold in their new homes. 

 Among those who are compelled to return 

 to Europe— and there are said to be about 

 300,000 returning annually in the steerage 

 —there are many who would be classed as 

 undesirable immigrants by the immigration 

 authorities, but who in some manner passed 

 through the inspection at Ellis Island. 



Our social, political and industrial condi- 

 tions eliminated all these sooner or later. 



'Certain Aspects of Human Heredity,' 

 the third paper to be presented by Dr. W 

 J McGee, closed the morning's program. 

 Among the Ainu of Japan (of whom a 

 group participated in the Universal Ex- 

 position of 1904) two fairly distinct ethnic 

 types prevail, dividing — so far as known — 

 on lines of sex; the males belag of Cau- 

 casian aspect in color, pelage, features, 

 stature, etc., while the females approach 

 the Malayan type. Among the Cocopa 

 Indians of the Lower Colorado there is a 

 notable variability in stature, ordinarily 

 divided on sex lines, the males ranking 

 among the tallest and the females among 

 the shortest of the North American tribes ; 

 in this respect contrasting strongly, e. g., 

 with the Pueblo peoples, among whom both 

 sexes are below, and the Seri Indians, 

 among whom both sexes are above the me- 

 dium stature. These and other phenomena 

 lead to a consideration of hereditary tend- 

 encies of which some incline either to 're- 

 gression toward mediocrity' as shown by 

 Galton or 'reversion to type' as shown by 

 Mendel, while others appear to incline to- 

 ward increasing and even cumulative vari- 

 ability in special characteristics. 



At the afternoon session of Saturday, 

 reports of certain standing committees were 

 read. The report of Professor Franz Boas 

 for the committee on the concordance of 

 American mythologies was adopted, with 

 the recommendation that the committee be 

 continued with power to publish. 



Dr. Charles Peabody reported for the 

 Committee on American Archeological 

 Nomenclature. The committee was em- 

 powered to print Dr. Peabody 's report in 

 full and distribute copies to members of 

 the association in order to form a basis for 

 discussion and final action. 



A similar disposition was made of Mr. 



