Chapter I: Preface

THE problem discussed in the following pages has occupied my attention for many years, and I have at various times dealt with it in brief essays. Some of these, in revised form and enlarged, are embodied in the present volume:—

Human Faculty as determined by Race (_Proceedings of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science_, vol.
xliii [1894], pp. 301-327).

The Limitations of the Comparative Method of Anthropology
(_Science_, N. S., vol. iv [1896], pp. 901-908).

The Mind of Primitive Man (_Journal of American Folk-Lore_, vol.
xiv [1901], pp. 1-11).

Some Traits of Primitive Culture (_Ibid._, vol. xvii [1904], pp.
243-254).

Race Problems in America (_Science_, N. S., vol. xxix [1909],
pp. 839-849).

Psychological Problems in Anthropology (_American Journal of
Psychology_, vol. xxi [1910], pp. 371-384).

I have also utilized a small part of the Introduction to my “Handbook of American Indian Languages” (Bulletin 40 of the Bureau of American Ethnology), and some of the results of my report on “Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants” (vol. 39, Reports of the Immigration Commission, Washington, Government Printing Office).

FRANZ BOAS.

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I. RACIAL PREJUDICES 1

Racial achievement and aptitude, 1.—The white race,
having achieved the highest civilization, represents
the highest physical type, 2.

Does cultural achievement depend upon hereditary aptitude
alone? 5.—Many races have contributed to the origin of
civilization, 5.—Early civilization in America,
7.—Interpretation of rapidity of development, 8.—The
spread of civilization, 10.—Summary, 16.

Are anatomical characteristics of foreign races
expressions of inferiority? 17.—Lower characteristics
of various parts of the body, 18.—Development in
different races of traits differentiating man from
animal, 21.—Significance of these traits for discussion
of mental character, 22.—Size of brain, 24.—Lack of
correlation between size of brain and ability,
28.—Structure of brain, 29.—Summary, 29.

II. INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT UPON HUMAN TYPES 30

Problems of racial and social characteristics,
30.—Definition and description of variability of types,
31.

Differences between civilized and primitive members of
the same race, 39.—Problem of stability of type of the
human species, 41.—Evolution of human species,
41.—Problem of stability of races, 44.—Variations due
to changes in rate of growth, 45.—Arrest of growth,
49.—Variations not due to growth, 50.—Differences
between rural and urban types, 50.—Influence of
selection, 53.—Changes in bodily form of American
immigrants, 53.—Explanation of changes, 57.—Range of
changes, 63.—Changes of mental traits, 64.

Domestication, 65.—Changes due to environment,
70.—Changes due to selection, 72.—Changes due to
crossing, 73.

III. INFLUENCE OF HEREDITY UPON HUMAN TYPES 76

Importance of heredity, 76.—Alternating and mid-parental
heredity, 77.—Heredity in race-mixture,
78.—Intra-racial heredity, 80.—Regression to ancestral
types, 81.—Similarity of brothers and sisters,
83.—Mendelian inheritance, 84.

Origin of local types, 84.—Descent in large and in small
communities, 84.—Johannsen’s observations on plants,
89.—Mixture of local types, 90.—Variability in local
types and in races, 91.

IV. THE MENTAL TRAITS OF PRIMITIVE MAN AND OF CIVILIZED MAN 95

Method of approach, 95.—Animal and man, 96.—Primitive man
and civilized man, 97.—Historical notes, 99.—Racial and
social problem, 101.

Mental characteristics of primitive man regardless of
race, 104.—Inhibition, 106.—Improvidence, 109.
Attention, 110.—Originality of thought,
111.—Quantitative character of racial differences,
114.—Differences between closely related groups of
people, 116.—Effects of malnutrition, 117.—Experimental
method, 117.

Influence of continued civilization, 118.—Relapse of
individuals into primitive life, 120.—Influence of
early habits, 121.—Summary, 122.

V. RACE AND LANGUAGE 124

Is language an expression of the mental development of a
race? 124.

Relations between type, language, and culture,
125.—Classifications from these three points of view
irreconcilable, 126.—Permanence of type and change of
language, 127.—Permanence of language and change of
type, 129.—Permanence of type and language and change
of culture, 132.—Hypothesis of original correlation
between type, language, and culture, 134.

Are there “lower” and “higher” languages? 140.—Phonetics,
140.—Classification of ideas, 142.—Examples,
145.—Holophrasis, 147.—Necessity of formal elements,
147.—Relations between language and thought,
148.—Abstract terms, 149.—Numeral systems, 152.

VI. THE UNIVERSALITY OF CULTURAL TRAITS 155

Similarities of cultural traits, 155.—Explained as due to
the influence of environment, 159.—Cases of lack of
adjustment to environment, 162.—Influence of former
environment, 163.—Similarities explained as survivals
of times antedating dispersion of human species,
164.—Dissemination, 166.—Areas of dissemination,
169.—Similarities explained as due to sameness of
elementary ideas, 171.—Psychological explanation, 173.

VII. THE EVOLUTIONARY VIEWPOINT 174

Does human culture represent an evolutionary series?
174.—Examples: Social organization, 176.—Inventions,
177.—Agriculture, 178.—Art, 179.—Religion,
180.—Parallelism of cultural development,
181.—Dissimilarity of sequence in industrial
development, 182.

Convergent development, 184.—Lack of comparability of
data, 188.—Examples: Life after death, 189.—Totemism,
190.—Ethics, 191.

Types of development from simple to complex forms, and
_vice versâ_, 193.

VIII. SOME TRAITS OF PRIMITIVE CULTURE 197

Mental re-actions of primitive and of civilized man,
197.—Classification of phenomena, 198.—With the advance
of civilization, principles of classification rise into
consciousness, 201.—Effect of traditional material upon
thought, 203.—Example of development of ethical
concepts, 206.

Types of association in civilized society,
209.—Associations due to customary re-actions, and
their emotional value, 211.—Secondary explanations,
214.

Types of association in primitive society, 220.—Their
unconscious origin, 221.—Their rise into consciousness,
224.—Secondary explanations, 225.—Associations peculiar
to primitive life, 228.—Ritual, 229.—Myth,
230.—Decorative art, 231.—Totemism, 235.—Origin of
associations, 237.—Importance of emotional elements in
establishing associations, 237.

IX. SUMMARY 244

X. RACE PROBLEMS IN THE UNITED STATES 251

Origins of the American nation, 252.—Characteristics of
race-mixture in the United States and in Europe,
254.—Amalgamation of distinct types, 258.—Effects of
change of environment and of mixture, 261.—The negro
problem, 268.

NOTES 279

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THE MIND OF PRIMITIVE MAN

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