The mind of primitive man : $b A course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910-1911Boas, Franz
Science
The mind of primitive man : $b A course of lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910-1911
Boas, Franz
Ethnopsychology; Race
I have had to refer repeatedly to the phenomena of variation in the
races of man; and I have pointed out before, that, so far as individual
features are concerned, we find that the range of variations in each
human type is so great, that overlapping of the range of variation in
different types is of constant occurrence. We have seen, for instance,
that the medium brains of the Europeans occur with considerable
frequency among negroes, and that only the excessively small negro
brains have no parallel forms among the Europeans; and correspondingly
that the excessively large European brains have no parallel forms among
the brains of the negroes. The amount of variability in regard to
various physical traits differs very considerably in different races.
Most of the European types, for instance, are remarkable for their high
variability. The same is true of the Polynesians and of some negro
tribes. On the other hand, people like the European Hebrews, and, even
more so, the North American Indians, are characterized by, comparatively
speaking, much greater uniformity. The amount of variability differs
considerably with regard to different physical features. It is, for
instance, obvious that the hair-color and hair-form of North Europeans
is much more variable than the hair-color and hair-form of the Chinese.
In Europe the colors vary from flaxen to black, with a considerable
number of individuals with red hair, and the form varies from straight
to high degrees of waviness. Among the Chinese, on the other hand, we do
not find equal variations in the darkness of color, since blondes and
curly-haired individuals are absent. Similar observations may be made in
regard to stature, head-form, or any other feature of the body that can
be expressed by measurements.
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