THE CAUSES OF SMALL SIZE 



241 



but they are not primitive in the sense of being ape-like 

 in structure or in want of mental capacity. 



A third possibility in regard to the pygmy people is 

 that they have been "selected" by natural conditions 

 which favoured the survival of small individuals, and thus 

 established a small race — ^just as man has established 

 small races of horses, dogs, cattle, or what not, by 

 continually selecting small individuals for breeding, until 

 he has produced such races as the Shetland pony, the toy 

 terrier, and the Kerry cow. It is necessary to discover 

 or to suggest (if this explanation is to be accepted) what 

 precisely is the advantage, in a state of nature, to a small- 

 sized race in being of small size. The guess is made that 

 the small people can more easily hide, whether in forest 

 or among the rocks and caves of mountainous regions, 

 from aggressive larger-sized mankind. The objection to 

 this view is that though it may explain the present habits 

 and dwelling-places of some of the pygmy race, it is not 

 capable of explaining their first segregation and formation 

 as a distinct race. Another general advantage which 

 small animals have over larger ones of the same species is 

 that if the food of the species is widely distributed but 

 limited in amount, a hundred individuals weighing 5st. 

 each will secure more of it than fifty individuals weighing 

 lost. each. The total weight of individuals is the same, 

 but the smaller series will cover twice the area and have 

 twice as much opportunity to secure the limited amount 

 of food, whilst, in proportion to their size, requiring less. It 

 cannot be doubted that, other things being equal, this 

 obvious relation must tend to limit the increase in size of 

 animals which have to search for their special food, and 

 must favour small races. 



Some writers have supposed that small limited areas, 

 such as small islands, favour the production of small races 

 by some mysterious law of appropriateness similar to that 



16 



