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The first and most fundamental inquiry that has to be made relates to a description of the various types constituting the population of the United States. As explained before, it will not be sufficient to describe the adult male and female forms, but it will also be necessary to determine the course of growth and development which is characteristic of each form. In order to carry through this inquiry it is necessary to obtain information with regard to the forms characteristic of each moment of the period of the development, and to determine the sequence of the characteristic developmental stages of each type. It is not admissible to assume that the physiological conditions which are found in a six-year-old Italian child must be the same as those of a six-year-old Scandinavian child. Furthermore, the individuals of each racial group will differ among themselves considerably with regard to the time when certain stages of physical development are reached, and it is therefore necessary to investigate fully the variability of physiological development characteristic of each group. It must be considered one of the most urgent aims of an investigation to determine the sequence of events and the racial and environmental conditions that influence them. There are indications that these problems may be found to be exceedingly intricate. An example may illustrate this point. The development of poor children is considerably retarded. Nevertheless, the second dentition among these children is accelerated. This may perhaps be due to less care given to the deciduous teeth and their earlier loss which stimulates the appearance of the permanent teeth—or it may be due to other causes. It is, however, an indication that the sequence of events indicating the physiological changes in the body are subject to quite diverse causes.

The determination of all phenomena of this kind is very difficult when the attempt is made to derive data by the so-called generalizing method, that is to say, if we merely collect information that children of a certain age show the stage of development in question so and so often, and if we try to derive the rate of development by subtracting the relative frequency of occurrence observed in one year from the relative frequency of occurrence in the next year. If we observe, for instance, that a certain tooth is present in 50 per cent of the children of one age and in 70 per cent of another set of children who are one year older, and conclude that in 20 per cent of the children the tooth in question will erupt in the course of that year, the different composition of the annual groups and the different numbers observed make it difficult to obtain reliable results. It is almost indispensable that for each individual there should be noted the moment of occurrence of the physiological change which is being studied. Material of this type is almost non-existent.

The movability of our modern city populations causes great practical difficulty in the organization of this work. It is not easy for an investigator to remain in touch for a sufficiently long time with the same children, and so many children change from one place to another that an initial number of, let us say one hundred, who are studied when five years old, will have dwindled down to an insignificant number at the time when the adult stage is reached. For this reason an elaborate organization is needed to carry through this work completely. To a greater or less extent, the work must be pieced together of fragments. For children of school age, roughly speaking from four or five years to fourteen years, the investigation might be organized. For older children of high-school age, it will also ordinarily be possible to carry through the inquiry, and in certain cases the transfer of a subject from high school to college may also be followed up. It is, however, obvious that the individuals who can be followed in this way are a group selected according to economic and social conditions. Those groups of the population which are well-to-do and which lay great stress upon the acquisition of a good education will be represented much more fully than other groups. The observations for different ages will therefore require a consideration of the different composition of the series. An organization like the Child Study Bureau of Chicago or the corresponding organizations in Iowa City and Detroit, or the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor in New York, will be best able to control inquiries into these subjects.

The most difficult problem encountered in these investigations is the differentiation between hereditary differences and those due to retardation or acceleration. To give an example: A boy twelve years old may be tall because his hereditary characteristics are such that he belongs to a tall stock, or it may be that he is tall on account of an acceleration of his development. Since, furthermore, the adult stature of the individual will depend not only upon his hereditary characteristics, but also upon environmental conditions that have an effect upon the acceleration or retardation of his growth, it is difficult to determine directly how much is contributed by hereditary and how much by environmental causes. From a practical point of view the demand is always made that the anthropometric investigation of the individual shall differentiate between these two causes.

In most cases, however, it seems almost impossible to do so, except by a very detailed investigation of the physiological conditions of the body. Measurements are always subject to alternative explanations, as being due either to hereditary causes or to acceleration or retardation, while physiological changes are not so likely to be fundamentally different for different hereditary lines. If, for instance, in a certain individual the loss of healthy deciduous canines should be very much retarded, we should have the right to assume that, in whole or in part, his bodily development may be influenced by retardation. This, of course, presupposes a previous investigation which would show that the hereditary characteristics of different strains do not show very great differences in the time element of the loss of the first canine, provided the environmental conditions remain the same. Here, again, we are entirely lacking in material that would enable us to answer this question, and it is evident that a very considerable amount of information would have to be amassed in order to enable us to solve the problem. It does not seem a hopeless task to determine the contributory effect of retardation and acceleration in an individual child, but it presupposes a much more thorough knowledge of the sequence of the developmental stages than we now possess.

The description of racial types cannot be considered complete without an inquiry into the homogeneity or the heterogeneity of the series. It is clear from the remarks made on pages 32 et seq. that this problem can be solved only by an investigation of the forms represented in fraternities, because homogeneity can be proved only by showing that the types represented in different families are the same. In other words, the investigation of homogeneity must be based on an inquiry into the variations presented by different families. The small size of the human family makes it necessary to see to it that the proper weight is given to each fraternity in accordance with its numerical composition.^[29] This investigation must be supplemented by an inquiry into each fraternity, the variability of which will depend upon the more or less composite character of its ancestry.

We are thus led to a consideration of the problem of how far it is possible to discover relative unity or multiplicity in the ancestry of a racial type. The method to be pursued will depend entirely upon the laws of heredity involved. In those cases in which we have some kind of Mendelian inheritance—that is to say, a tendency of certain traits of the offspring to revert to either parental type—we must obviously expect a higher degree of variability in the mixed types than the one found in the pure parental types. Attention has been called to the occurrence of such a phenomenon with regard to the head index of Italians.^[30] The short-headed north Italians are, comparatively speaking, uniform in type, and the long-headed south Italians are also fairly uniform in type, while in the intermediate regions in which undoubtedly the two types have intermingled for a long period, the variability of the head index is very much increased. In a similar way, we find that there is an increase of variability in Sweden in those regions in which there is an admixture of foreign types that are more short-headed than the Swedes.^[31] It has also been shown that in those cases in which father and mother belong to the same racial group, but in which they represent extreme head forms, the one extremely short-headed, the other extremely long-headed, the variability of the children is greater than in those cases in which the parents represent nearly the same type.^[32] We recognize, therefore, that when a Mendelian reversion occurs, increased variability may indicate composite descent.

There are, however, other cases in which the results of mixture have not the effect of increasing variability. Statistics of half-blood Indians have shown that the width of face, which is great in the Indian race and very small in the White race, has an intermediate value among the half-bloods, with a marked tendency, however, of reversion to a form that is narrower than the face of the pure Indian and wider than the face of the pure White, while the values for width of face which are half-way between the characteristic values of the Indians and of the Whites are not so frequent as the two other values previously mentioned. There is, therefore, a certain kind of reversion in this case. Nevertheless, the total variability of the width of the face of the half-bloods is almost the same as that of the pure parental types.^[33] If we assume in this case a pure reversion to either type, we should find that the variability would be considerably more than that of the parental races. It appears, therefore, that we cannot generalize with regard to the phenomenon, and we have not the right to assume that mixture will always be accompanied by increased variability and that slight variability does not always indicate purity of descent.

Whenever the laws of heredity are of a still different type, the variability may be affected in a very different manner. Thus it has been shown that mixture between Europeans and Indians results in a stature which exceeds that of the pure Indians, which in turn is greater than that of the pure Whites. It is obviously quite impossible to predict in this case what the variability of the series may be.

Another method of investigating mixed descent of a race is by means of a study of the correlations of different measurements of the body. To give an instance: when two peoples intermingle, one of which has very long and very narrow heads, while the other has very short and very broad heads, and if, furthermore, reversion to parental forms obtains, then we must expect that among the individuals representing this population very broad heads are commonly associated with shortness, while very narrow heads are associated with greater length. We should, therefore, expect of such a population that the broader the head, the shorter it will be. In other cases, where we have a single line of descent, the condition is reversed. The size of the head depends upon the bulk of the body, and since in such a case broad heads are indicative of length of body, the length of head is also increased, and we find that a broad head is associated with greater length of head. In the case mentioned before, the reversion of the normal correlation is indicative of mixed descent.

Here again many variations may occur. If, for instance, we had two races intermingled with a tendency to reversion to parental forms in which the heads of one group are very high and at the same time narrow and short, while those in the other group are flat and at the same time broad and long, then the result would be that in the study of the correlation between length and breadth of head, the correlation would appear inordinately high, because all the shortest heads would belong to the high type and would, therefore, also be narrow, while all the longest heads would belong to the low type and would also therefore be broad.

A characteristic case in which heterogeneity of a series causes abnormal correlation between physical features is found in Italy. Normally there is practically no correlation between hair color and stature, but in Italy the tall Alpine type has lighter hair than the short Mediterranean type. In Piedmont where the Mediterranean type is practically absent we find the following distribution:

Stature	Hair
	Red	Blond	Brown	Black
Less than 160	0.5	12.3	64.1	23.1
160-165	0.8	12.4	63.9	22.9
165-170	0.8	12.2	63.4	23.6
170 and more	0.8	12.9	64.3	22.0

In Sicily where the Alpine type is practically absent we find:

Stature	Hair
	Red	Blond	Brown	Black
Less than 160	0.3	4.8	56.8	38.1
160-165	0.4	5.1	55.7	38.9
165-170	0.4	5.2	56.6	37.8
170 and more	0.5	5.0	56.6	37.9

In Venice and Latium, on the other hand, where mixed types occur, we find:

Hair
Stature	Venice	Latium
	Red	Blond	Brown	Black	Red	Blond	Brown	Black
Less than 160	0.8	10.1	63.8	25.3	0.7	5.4	60.5	33.4
160-165	0.7	11.9	62.0	25.4	0.6	6.1	60.6	32.7
165-170	0.8	12.8	60.9	25.5	1.1	6.4	60.7	31.9
170 and more	0.8	14.0	61.2	23.6	0.6	8.2	62.4	28.8

and still more clearly for the whole Kingdom:

Stature	Hair
	Red	Blond	Brown	Black
Less than 160	0.5	7.0	59.7	32.8
160-165	0.5	7.9	60.0	31.6
165-170	0.6	8.5	60.1	30.8
170 and more	0.6	9.5	61.0	28.8

On account of the greatly varying laws of heredity it is impossible to predict which method of inquiry will lead to a satisfactory result. By some of the means here described the problem of pure or mixed descent may be approached.

The study of any particular type will, therefore, require a multiplicity of investigations, the most important of which relate to the development of the racial type from childhood on, the homogeneity of the series, and the purity of the ancestry. For these purposes the investigations of children and of families are indispensable and must accompany a generalized investigation of the population as a whole.

For the study of the influence of environment the investigation of growing children is, if anything, more important than for the investigation of racial characteristics. After the adult stage has been reached environment will not exert any further influence. The earlier in life the investigation can begin, the more likely we are to obtain adequate results.

In this investigation the generalizing method of comparing local types or types presented in social strata is of little use, because in order to establish definitely an influence of environmental causes, we must be certain that the hereditary composition of the populations which we study is the same. For instance, when we compare a rural and an urban community, there is nothing that will guarantee to us that both populations are derived from the same ancestry. On the contrary, we may assume that the urban population is drawn from a wider group than the rural population. In the same way, when we compare the inhabitants of a long secluded valley and find differences in bodily form between the people living in the lower part and those living in the upper part, the question would arise whether the ancestry of the two groups is the same and whether the people in the upper regions have not been more isolated than those farther down. It is on the whole easier to exclude obvious environmental influences in an investigation of racial types than to exclude differences of racial descent in studies of the influence of environment. The only way to escape from these complications is by confining the studies strictly to a comparison between parents and children.

It has been explained before that in a number of cases we may find apparent hereditary traits which may be deduced from the similarity of parents and their own children, and which nevertheless are primarily due to environmental causes. If we should find, for instance, a low stature among individuals who have been undernourished as children, and if the next generation will also be undernourished, we may have an apparent similarity in stature which is not due primarily to heredity, but rather to the fact that the same environmental causes act upon the parental group and upon the group of children. In most cases these elements cannot be eliminated unless we have the opportunity to study the same racial type in different forms of environment.

It has been stated before that a modification of bodily form due to environment which is observed by comparing parents and their children does not contradict the phenomena of heredity. If we find, for instance, that the stature of Jewish immigrants into the United States is lower than that of their children, the hereditary stability of stature will nevertheless manifest itself. The children of an exceptionally tall couple who exceed the average stature of the immigrant Jew by a certain amount may be expected to show an excess of stature which is correlated to the excess of stature of the parents, which, however, has to be added to the increased average stature of the children of immigrants. In short, a change in type due to environmental influences simply means that the correlated deviations in the group of parents and of children must be reckoned from the point which is typical for the generation in question.

In some cases in which the environmental influences are very strong, a generalizing method may give adequate results. Bowditch, in his investigation of Boston children, was able to show that Irish children differ in their development according to the economic condition of the parents, and there is little reason to doubt the uniformity of the genetic composition of his various Irish groups. But whenever the differences involved are slight, and when they may be equally well explained on the basis of difference in genetic composition, the comparison between parents and children is indispensable. The data for the study of environmental influences must, therefore, be based on the comparison of the bodily forms of parents and their offspring. In this manner the doubt as to the difference in genetic composition may be eliminated, although it is at least conceivable even in this case that there may have been selective rather than environmental influences. It might be said, for instance, that when some parents have children in charitable institutions while other children stay at home, differences between the two groups of children might not be due to environmental influences only but also to selection. This example indicates that care must be taken to eliminate the influences of selection even when we are dealing with family groups in which diversity of genetic descent has been excluded.

At the present time it is unknown to what extent the influences of environment may determine bodily form. Notwithstanding the numerous claims of the fundamental effect of climate upon the body of man, we have no evidence whatever that will show that pigmentation undergoes fundamental changes under climatic conditions; that the White race would become darker in the tropics; or that the Negroes would become lighter in the north. Whatever statistics we have on this subject show rather a remarkable stability of pigmentation. We have not even any definite indication that the pigmentation of the hair undergoes changes under different climatic conditions, although in this case the change in color from the period of childhood until middle life is so great that we might very well expect environmental influences to express themselves. On the other hand, we know that the bulk of the body is very susceptible to environmental influences, and it is but natural that retardation or acceleration during the period of growth will also leave its effect upon those proportions of the body which depend upon bulk. Other changes which occur very early in life are not so easily explained. I think the evidence showing that the form of the head is susceptible to environmental influences is incontrovertible. I also believe that adequate proof has been given for modifications in the width of the face under changed conditions of life. The causes of these changes are still entirely obscure. It may well be, as suggested by Harvey Cushing, that chemical changes occur under new environmental conditions and unequally influence growth in different directions. This would agree with the changes in chemical constitution found in lower animals living in different types of environment. If it is true that changes of this kind do occur and modify the form of body so fundamentally that according to the ordinary schemes of classification a people might be removed from one group and placed in another one, then we have to consider the investigation of the instability of the body under varying environmental conditions as one of the most fundamental subjects to be considered in an anthropometric study of our population.

[29]	See footnotes on p. 32.

[30]	Franz Boas and Helene M. Boas, “The Head Forms of the Italians as Influenced by Heredity and Environment,” American Anthropologist, N. S., vol. 15 (1913), pp. 163 et seq.

[31]	Franz Boas, “Notes on the Anthropology of Sweden,” Amer. Jour. of Physical Anthropology, vol. 1 (1918), pp. 415 et seq.

[32]	Franz Boas, Changes in Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants, Columbia University Press (New York, 1912), pp. 76 et seq.

[33]

Franz Boas, “Zur Anthropologie der nordamerikanischen Indianer,” Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte, vol. 27 (1895), pp. 404 et seq.Louis R. Sullivan, “Anthropometry of the Siouan tribes,” Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, vol. 23, Part III (1920) pp. 3, 136, 161.