On the whole, the studies of physical anthropologists offer little of
interest for the present purpose. Studies of mental traits are more to
the point, but are unfortunately vitiated in many cases by the fact that
no distinction was made between full-blood Negroes and mulattoes,
although the presence of white blood must necessarily have a marked
influence on the traits under consideration. If the investigations are
discounted when necessary for this reason, it appears that in the more
elementary mental processes the two races are approximately equal. White
and "colored" children in the Washington, D. C., schools ranked equally
well in memory; the colored children were found to be somewhat the more
sensitive to heat.[135] Summing up the available evidence, G. O. Ferguson
concludes that "in the so-called lower traits there is no great
difference between the Negro and the white. In motor capacity there is
probably no appreciable racial difference. In sense capacity, in
perceptive and discriminative ability, there is likewise a practical
equality."
This is what one would, _a priori_, probably expect. But it is on the
"higher" mental functions that race progress largely depends, and the
Negro must be judged eugenically mainly by his showing in these higher
functions.
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