Racial Contours: The Factor of Race In Human Survival

427 Pages·1965·6.963 MB·English

by  H.B. Isherwood

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RACIAL
CONTOURS
H. B. ISHERWOOD

RACIAL CONTOURS
Pithecanthropus erectus
Bypermissionof the
Trustees of the British
Museum (Natural History)

RACIAL CONTOURS
The Factor of Race in Human Survival
H. B. ISHERWOOD
"I1MES LONGBOOI:.S
Copyright © 1965
H. B. Isherwood
LONGBOOKS
are puIltishcd by
TIMES PRESS LIMITED
A1ho1 Street, Douglas
Isle of Man
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
Introduction 7
I. Musings on the myth of racial equality 9
2. The real meaning of race 22
3. The mystery of creation and evolution 39
4. An animal givesbirth to man ... 72
5. The races of to-day get started 96
6. Caucasoids... 118
7. Mongoloids 219
8. Negroids 256
9. Amerinds 327
10. Australoids 338
1I. Race and Prejudice 343
12. Racial friction in England and elsewhere ... 3S3
13. The racial summing up ... 379
Bibliography 387
Index 407

INTRODUCTION
..He (mankind) has given rise to many races, some of which
differ so much from each other that they have often been ranked
by naturalists asdistinct species."
Charles Darwin
That separate racesexist as sub-species or varietiesof the
£hehuman species and are the product ofage-longevolution
few would question to-day, but many may still doubt
whether the discernible differences which characterize the
raceshave any real significance or serveany purpose worth
heeding in the story of humanity. In an attempt to resolve
this doubt the author goes back to the beginning of time
and from that remote point traces in looseoutline the rise
of organic life on earth up to the birth of those ape-like
creatures from whom later under different conditions in
different territories and at different times our racial
ancestorsemerged with their distinctive bodily and mental
features.
Accepting as valid the hypothesis of evolutionby natural
selection the author holds amongst other things that the
inborn cerebral functions as displayed in mental attributes
and potentialities are inseparably a part of the evolved
biological condition of man, some necessarily being of a
racial nature.
Sometimes the author strays into the realms of
philosophy, hoping thereby to bring the issues discussed
Intoa universalperspectiveto showthat the sameevolution
ary compulsionsthat produced the ape-man's handaxe have
now produced modern man's hydrogen bomb. Lest such
a deterministic view of mankind offend the more devout
reader, the author hastens to say that for his part he can
find nothing irreconcilable between scientific fact and
spiritual faith.
Touching lightly on the rise and fall of races and their
cultures the author speculates with a minimum of technical
detail on the dynamics of human survivaland the role each
race has played and is still playing in the rivalry for
supremacy in the eternal struggle for existence. In his
appraisal of the changing patterns and fortunes of the races
the author comes inexorably to the conclusion that racial
convergence is not a regenerative or upward evolutionary
trend as some philosophers have supposed, and that if a
higher destiny for mankind on earth is a hope worth
entertaining such a process should be resolutely resisted'.
It should perhaps hardly be necessary for the author to
say that he is well aware that many of his findings are not
acceptable to all authorities. On certain major aspects of
the natural history of man the specialists themselves do not
always agree, which makes it a matter of regret that it is
not possible to setout in any detail in this small volume the
alternative opinions. Nor for the same reason could more
than a tiny fraction of the massive evidence available be
quoted in support of assertions made where the inferences
drawn do not seem to be entirely justified by the facts
adduced.
Amongst the works listed in the bibliography are some
which at first sight may not appear germane to the subject
under discussion, but their inclusion will bear witness to
the universal nature and infinite diversity of what has
become a most controversial topic.
In ending this all too brief introduction it would be
unforgivable if the author failed to express his thanks to
his many friends of races different from his own who have
given him without pretence or prejudice an intimate and
valuable insight into their racial personalities.
Ringwood., Hants.
January, 1965.