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PROFESSOR J. B. S. HALDANE abower

Four questions on

_ RECENTLY I WAS asked to
answer four questions concern-
ing Negroes “in order to settle
& heated argument on _ racial
Superiority,” as my inquirer’ put
it. The questions were those I
endeavored to answer in my book,
Heredity and Politics which, al-
' though jit is out of date in several
Tespects, does go into greater de-
tail. The first of the questions is:

“Is the shape of the Negro’s
Skull more closely similar to
_ that of the Neanderthal man
_ than is that of the white races?”

Neanderthal man is the name

8iven to a gr oup of human or sub-
human races which have been ex-
tinet for nearly a hundred thou-
Sand years. They used tools and
_ fire, but did not produce any art,
_ SO far as we know, and were rath-
fo more ape-like then modern
Tan. A
The first point. to make is that
the white “races” have very dif-

- ferent skull shapes. |

For example, Swedes and Sici-
ilans mostly have long and. nar-
tow heads, while Swiss have
Short and broad ones, and there
are intermediates of all grades.

The dark races of Africa are

equally different, though round-,

headed races of Negro are rarer
than round-headed Europeans.

We certainly cannot speak of
the skull shape of Negroes.

Neanderthal men had large
heads, but they were flat. The
foreheads sloped back and there

_ Were huge bony ridges over the
eyes,

Negroes, perbane, aiaotias
them in having broad noses, but
this almost certainly is an adap-
tation to a warm climate. The
air entering the lungs is more

_ efficiently warmed when the nose
is narrow.

Australian blacks “have skulls _

which resemble the Neanderthal
People to a slight degree. The
African Negroes have not, though
One can pick out Negroes or white
_~™en with receding foreheads.

It is worth pointing out that in
i nue respect at least the Negroes

are about the least ape-like of
the human races. They have the
least hair.

It is also worth noting Dar-
win’s remark: “It is impossible
to see a Negro and not feel kind-

ly towards him.”
* a BP Seay

“Is the 1.Q. of the average .

Negro lower than that of the
average white? If so, is there
amy connection between this.
and the shape of his skull?”

The answer is that practically
nothing is known about the “‘in-
telligence quotient” ‘of African
peoples. A lot has been done with
American Negroes, who, of course
mostly have some white ancestry.

Their average intelligence. quo-
tient is well below that of whites.

Fortunately, we know pretty
well why this is So. Several mil- -
lion American army: recruits were
given intelligence tests in 1917.
In each state the whites: did bet-
ter than the Negroes.

But the Negroes ‘in ‘the north-
ern states did about as well as
the whites in the southern ones

and, for example, the Négroes of:
Ohio beat. the whites of Arkan-
sas.

The differences between Neg-
roes and whites are of the same

- sort as those between whites who.

have had poor opportunities of
education and those. who ok had
good ones. yO
“On a West thdian island,;-where
a number of poor whites lived in.
much the same conditions as Ne-
goes, Davenport and Steggerda
found that each race did better,
on an average, -on some tests.
There is every reason to think

that most of the differences found

are due to upbringing. But it is
quite likely that if- white and
Negro children were brought up
in the same orphanage, the Neg-
roes might turn out a little better
on’ the average, in tests involving
music, and a little worse in thosé
involving mathematics. Unfo1t-
tunately nobody has tried the ex-
periment. f

Skull shape (apart from ext-
remes due to disease) is quite

i

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-stature and of a white color,

-ledo, but

intellectual performance

unconnected with intelligence
among Europeans, and if there
are any differences in average in-
tellectual capacity (that is to say,
in the
same environment) »
whites and Negroes, it is most
unlikely that they have anything
to do with skull shape.

“Is there a scientific basis
for the color bar, in that the
colored races (and particularly
the Negroes) are of inferior
stock to the whites?”

What is an inferior stock?
Seven hundred years ago the
Moorish writer Said, of Toledo,
wrote of the French, English and
other tribes living north of the
Pyrenees: “They are of great
But
they lack all sharpness of wit and
penetration of intellect.”

At the time when he wrote,
trigonometry was taught in To-
in Oxford the course

_of geometry stopped at the propo-

A

sition that the two angles at the
base of an isosceles triangle are
equal, while a king who could
sign his name was called Beau-
clerc.

So Said ean as good a case for

regarding our ancestors as an:

“inferior stock” as we have’ for
so regarding Negroes.

There is, however, probably a
case for regarding Negroes as an

inferior Stock in special circum-

own climate and fairly resistant '

\

Send Y our eR a Progressive Pied

stances.
They are well adapted to their

to its diseases. But. they are

particularly liable to a variety of

between ~

Negroes and heredity —

lung diseases in the British or
similar climates. ‘

There is just as good a reason,
however, for ‘regarding whites as
an “inferior stock” in West Af-
rica. White men die there in con-
ditions under which most Ne-
groes survive.

It must be remembered in this
connection that the South Afri-
can Negroes are so different ra-
cially from the West Africans
that some anthropologists call
them negroids.

'\They are probably adapted to
in

the climate of the country
which’ they. live, possibly better
so than the whites. /

eee cer

“IS THERE amy evidence for

saying that the Negro races will

never (or not within, say, the
next two thousand, years) be
able to. equal the intellectual
achievements of the whites, as-
suming they are not denied tee
cilities for doing $02!»

My answer is, “Read the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle,’ of which you.
can get a translation in the Ev-
eryman series; Read out a page
of this book, substituting Kavir-
ondo for Kent, Mere Mere for
Mercia, and so on. You will find

that Offa and Penda were as °

bloodthirsty ruffiang as Dingaan
or Moselikatse, though to find
the equal of Chaka you would
perhaps have to choose Hitler.
When you have read your pap-
er, ask your opponent whether
he thinks that within a thousand

-years these bloodthirsty savages

could produce some of the world’s

J. B. S. HALDANE

finest literature and architecture,
and within thirteen hundred some

‘of the world’s greatest science.

I see no reason why the Negroes
should not surpass our achieve-
ments within a few centuries.

They have remained backward ©

’ fora variety of reasons. One is

the great difficulty of communi-
cations in a continent most of

‘which is covered by deserts or

by tropical forest. Another is the
frequency of chronic diseases

- which do not kill quickly, but

may make a whole people into
invalids.

When these and other difficul-
ties are overcome, we do not
know what the Africans will do
for mankind.

Whether their contributions ae
civilization will be as great as
those of Europe’ and Asia, no one
can Say, | :

But st \prietty sure that they
will be substantial.

JANG! L the
RENT INCREASE

The St. Laurent government ordered ‘an increase in rent without.
consulting ‘the provinces or. Parliament! :

Four million Canadians were given this. ‘cruel ia a month
before the Christmas festival!

So much is the Liberal Party's fine election promises about

housing! —

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Must the children pay for Ottawa’s caietey, in less milk, fewer
Christmas toys, greater overcrowding?

How can woodworkers pay such-rent increases? }

How can employees of other industries whose wage scale is
patterned | after the lumber industry pay such eee

ANSWER NO!

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