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The origin of races

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 REVIEWS OF BOOKS
to show that preformed extranuclear cell
structure (i.e. the cytoplasm) has autonomy and
plays an essential part in cell heredity. The sig-
nificance ofthis finding in relation to the influence
of environment on the evolution of inborn
qualities of a species is not discussed.
The last three papers show ways in which
molecular diversification may be modified by
cellular interactions and cellular products, dur-
ing cellular differentiation and morphogenesis
in bird and mammalian embryos and experi-
mental organisms (including tissue and organ
cultures, fruit flies and silk worms).
This volume is recommended to all who wish
to learn more about several aspects of the recent
status of our knowledge concerning the funda-
mental nature of biological variation.
D. T. HUGHES
Carson, Hampton L. Heredity and Human Life.
New York and London, 1963. Columbia Uni-
versity Press. Pp. 218. Price 37s. 6d.
IN THIS SCIENTIFIC age, it is rather sad to
reflect that our children are still conscien-
tiously taught outdatedly-oriented religion but
hardly a scrap of human biology. Whether we
like it or not, the former still contributes much
to "emotional" and uncritical thinking, whereas
the latter offers to provide a balanced account
of the scientific basis of human variation,
aspirations and dignity. Professor Carson clearly
had this modern dilemma in mind when pre-
paring this introductory book, and indeed points
out that it is likely to be most useful to teachers,
social workers and ministers. In this it fully
accomplishes what it sets out to do and, more-
over, its easy style should be appealing also to the
general reader.
Logically, he begins with a detailed description
-down to molecular level-of human hered-
itary material, its stability, and the type of
"information" it controls. He makes it clear that
even with our present limited knowledge, there
is no longer need to postulate "some elusive,
non-material vital principle", a statement which
may cause some heart-searching among the
more religious readers.
Although animal data is called upon at times,
human genetic examples are given whenever
suitable. Following sections consider combina-
tions and recombinations of genes, and the
nature-nurture problem. The latter includes a
good summary of the value of twin studies. As
regards cerebral abilities, he points out that
biological variability extends into the field of
mental performance, which should be remem-
bered when designing educational "moulds".
From the individual, Carson moves to the
position of the individual in his group, and the
affect on the gene pool of inbreeding and
isolation or outbreeding.
Considering the wealth of data now available
on fossil man, it is no small task to condense this
into a brief intelligible survey. This is done very
well in Chapter 7, although one or two question-
able statements are made. For example, he states
that the 1961 Olduvai Gorge immature indi-
vidual was a "twelve-year-old boy"-a most
dubious fact. The "prominent chin" of the
Kanam jaw is now well known to be the result
of a tumour. Again, he mentions "one" skull
from Kanjera and one from Fontechevade, when
in actual fact there were remains of four and
two respectively. Incidentally, it is a pity in
some ways that he employed, both in figures and
text, the idea of "lines" of descent. In actual
fact there has obviously been a complex "mesh"
or "mosaic" of population change, and I think
it is important to emphasize this even in
introductory works.
The final part of the book is mainly concerned
with race formation, the evolutionary factors
involved, and with putting the genetic differ-
ences between modern peoples into proper
perspective. The last chapters are particularly
valuable in that they state in simple terms the
"fundamental similarity" of human groups. It
is inevitable and right that he should also debate
the population explosion and eugenics.
In sum, Carson has produced a concise,
readable, suitably illustrated, introductory work,
quite suitable for schools and adult educa-
tionalists.
DON BROTHWELL
ANTHROPOLOGY
Coon, Carleton S. The Origin of Races. London,
1963. Cape. Pp. xli + 724 + xxi. Price 63s.
IN THIS BOOK Professor Coon sets out to investi-
gate the theory, first advanced by Weidenreich,
23S
 THE EUGENICS REVIEW
that the living races of Man are older than
the species Homo sapiens, and that the differ-
ences between populations of Middle Pleistocene
hominids, which have in the past been allotted
to separate genera such as Pithecanthropus and
Sinanthropus, were the early expression of the
same racial differences which now divide Homo
sapiens. Sections are devoted to general con-
siderations of evolutionary processes and forces,
especially those believed to be acting upon Man;
to the taxonomy and fossil history of the
Primates, and-the most comprehensive section
-to a detailed consideration, as the author puts
it "of every scrap of existing information about
every single fossil-man in the world".
The value of this book is twofold. On the
factual level, it brings to light and reviews a
great deal of information, much of it newly
published and unfamiliar, or old and forgotten.
The "Statistical Appendix" (which contains
many dimensions of fossil Man, but few statis-
tics) and the bibliography, are particularly
valuable. The text itself is fluent and extremely
readable. On the theoretical side, Professor
Coon's work will probably lead to a general
acceptance of a much simpler and less "inflated"
version of hominid taxonomy than that which
is current, thus bringing the group more closely
into line with other mammalian families. As the
author demonstrates, this is an essential first
step to the rationalization of hominid evolu-
tionary history. The theory that sees evolution
in the genus Homo as proceeding from one
polytypic species (erectus) to another (sapiens),
at the same time preserving local genetic
idiosyncrasies such as "shovelled" incisors, is
an attractive one, accounting as it does for the
persistence of such characters, and making it
unnecessary to postulate wholesale extinction
of hominid lines at the end of the Middle
Pleistocene. Similarly, the peculiarities of certain
living human populations, such as the skull-
form of Australian aborigines, are more satis-
factorily explained as "archaic" relics from an
erectus stage than as modifications of a Cro-
magnonlike ancestor. Another refreshing feature
of the work is Coon's readiness to discuss
unfashionable topics such as the relationship
between brain-size and mental ability, and
physical variation and cultural achievement.
236
The book has been attacked on the grounds
that it supposedly supports the views of
"racists". To this Coon has replied to the effect
that a work of science must be judged solely on
its value as an accurate and useful interpretation
of fact. Coon's reply is a valid one, and this
review will not attempt to criticize his work on
other than scientific grounds. However, any
scientist entering a field of public controversy is
under an especially heavy obligation to avoid
factual error and looseness of argument.
The work has some obvious shortcomings,
both factual and theoretical. Much of the book
gives the impression of having been written in
great haste. Spelling mistakes, especially in
scientific and authors' names, are frequent. In
attempting to be fully comprehensive, Professor
Coon has tried to cover territory with which he is
unfamiliar; factual mistakes in anatomy are
numerous (for instance, the coronoid process of
the mandible is throughout referred to as the
"coracoid" process; the atlas is said to be the
second cervical vertebra, etc.). An elaborate
theory is evolved to explain the "carrying-angle"
in the lower limb of the Pongidae, which does
not exist. Mistakes in palaeontology (for
example, attributing a Stegodon-Ailuropoda
fauna to Choukoutien), are also found, and the
short sections on living Primates are so full of
inaccuracies that their value is questionable.
In his final chapter, Professor Coon finds it
proved that "at the beginning of our record,
over half a million years ago, man was a single
species, Homo erectus, perhaps already divided
into five geographic races or subspecies. Homo
erectus then evolved into Homo sapiens not once
but five times, as each subspecies, living in its
own territory, passed a critical threshold from
a more brutal to a more sapient state". Nowhere,
however, has the author established the existence
of such "subspecies", either in living or in
fossil Man. In Chapter 8 he mentions features of
the dentition and facial skeleton by which his
five "subspecies" may be distinguished, but
almost invariably, on the author's own figures,
these fail to establish the "75 per cent differ-
ence". In other cases, means only are quoted,
so that the "overlap test", in which the author
has professed faith, cannot be applied. Professor
Coon apparently feels that the "subspecies" are
 REVIEWS OF BOOKS
sufficiently established by long usage; they are
much the same as those generally presented in
unspecialized anthropological textbooks (e.g.
Ashley Montagu, 1951). Accordingly, much of
the descriptive text is slanted towards an inter-
pretation in terms of the postulated subspecies;
for instance, of the femora of Pithecanthropus
". . . in view of its length of 45 5 cm. it could
have been the femur of a recently deceased
Australian aborigine or Papuan standing 5 ft.
6 in. (168 cm.) tall". But why not a 5 ft. 6 in.
Mongoloid or Caucasoid? In the next para-
graph "Pithecanthropus, then, had the legs of
an Australian aborigine... ." Fact is established
by repetition. Again, discussing Rhodesian
Man "None of these bones [the fragmentary
humerus and femora] deviate conspicuously
from those of modern Negroes." But how do
they differ from those of other "subspecies"?
As the existence of separate major subspecies of
Homo sapiens is not established, the question
of their separate attainment of sapiens status,
which Coon suggests, and which has raised such
a furore in the anthropological world, does not
arise.
Even if "75 per cent differences" could have
been established between Coon's "subspecies"
on the grounds of one or two dental characters,
the value of applying the subspecies concept to
human taxonomy is questionable. As the varia-
tion of animal species becomes better known,
and the distribution of more characters studied,
it frequently becomes clear that clines for
different characters do not correspond, since
each is influenced by a different environmental
factor or combination of factors. Where this is
the case, the species can be subdivided almost
indefinitely, and the subspecies concept becomes
meaningless (Wilson and Brown, 1953). This
situation was recognized in Homo sapiens
earlier than in most other animal species, in
which studies on features other than the tradi-
tional ones of taxonomy are less advanced.
Professor Coon's book, therefore, like his
famous picture of Neanderthal Man in a trilby
hat, shows both archaic and progressive features.
In emphasizing that Homo in the Middle
Pleistocene was a single species, and exhibited
variations analagous to those of Homo sapiens, it
is a major, if not entirely original, contribution.
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His attempt to fit the facts of this variation into
an unsupportable framework of "separate
subspecies" must be regarded not only as a
controversial, but as a retrograde step, both
anthropologically and zoologically.
C. J. JOLLY
Ashley Montagu, M. F. 1951. An Introduction to Physical
Anthropology, 2nd edn., Thomas Books, Springfield.
Wilson, E. 0. and Brown, W. L. 1953. The Subspecies
concept and its taxonomic application. Syst. Zool. 2,
pp. 27-111.
CONTRACEPTION
Rock, John, The Time Has Come. London,
1963. Longmans. Pp. xvi + 216. Price 18s.
DR. ROCK WAS Clinical Professor of Gynae-
cology at Harvard University from 1947 to
1956, and his researches over a long period have
been concerned principally with human con-
ception and embryology, and with the clinical
disorders of human reproductive physiology. A
convinced and practising Roman Catholic, he
took a leading part in the development of the
steroid compounds on which the oral contracep-
tive pill is based, and he sees in these the
possibility of resolving the theological con-
troversy about contraception.
His main argument is that by perfecting the
therapeutic and regulative properties of the pill,
medical science could ensure in all cases the
complete stability of the menstrual cycle, thus
enabling all married couples to use the theo-
logically-approved rhythm method of family
planning with entire confidence and success.
But he is also optimistic enough to envisage the
remote possibility that the moral theologians
themselves may determine eventually that the
use of the pill for contraceptive purposes is not
contra naturam. Further, the accidental suspen-
sion of ovulation as a result of steroid treatment
for various gynaecological conditions creates
temporary sterility as a side-effect of medical
treatment; but the effect is contraceptive. He
even contends that there is a case for recon-
sideration of the Thomist natural law theory in
its application to contraception, since "frustra-
tion of nature ... is man's vocation" (a quotation
from a Roman Catholic moralist), and may well
be consonant with Man's nature as a rational
being.
237