156 FISHBERG 



they have dwelt, or if extensive conversions to Judaism have 

 taken place, and the modern Jews are thus a mixture of various 

 racial elements, blended together in a more or less homogeneous 

 group of people, they should offer excellent material for the 

 study of the effects of racial intermixture on the physical organi- 

 zation of man. 



There are very few anthropological data on the somatology 

 -of piwe races. In fact we do not know of any absolutely pure 

 races in existence. Migration, war and conquest have always 

 been at work amalgamating various racial elements. But there 

 are also very few data upon the effects of racial intermixture. 

 The present writer is only acquainted with the investigations of 

 Professor Franz Boas of the American half-breeds ^ and Mainoft's 

 work on the intermixture of Russians with Yakouts." Both of 

 these investigations have conclusively shown that the tape and 

 calipers may be of great service in the search for the origin of 

 certain physical traits. If conversions to Judaism, open or 

 clandestine intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews have 

 taken place, it is of scientific interest to ascertain if possible, the 

 effects of such intermarriage on the physical characteristics of 

 the modern Jews. 



The Racial Purity of The Jews. 



Up to recent time two diametrically opposed views were held 

 by anthropologists on the question of the purity of the Jewish 

 race. Some have maintained that the Jews have preserved 

 themselves in there original purity for the last four thousand 

 years, ^ Richard Andree points out that the racial types repre- 

 sented on the ancient Assyrian and Egyptian monuments prove 

 beyond doubt the constancy of the Jewish type. A look at the 

 Jews painted on these monuments makes one believe that he 

 sees the typical Jew of to-day. '' No other race but the Jews," 

 says Andree, *' can be traced with such certainty backward for 



1 " Zur Anthropologie der nordamerikanischen Indianer," VcrJiandl. der Ber- 

 liner AntJiropologischen Geselschoft, 1895, PP- 367-4II. 



2 1. I. Mainoff, "Pomes russkikh s yakutaini," Jvussiau AntJiropol. Jojtrnal, 

 1900, No. 4, pp. 37-57- 



3 Milne Edwards, Prichard, Nott and Gliddon and others. 



