The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-11-11
Frederick Haskin's Letter
The Secret of Racial Traits.
Especial Correspondents of The Argus. ,

Washington, d. c., Nov. 9.-That
the color and texture of a mans
skin and hair, the form of his
features, his Stature, the proportion
of his limbs-au of his physical
characteristics which mark him as
belonging to a certain race-and
many of the traits of mind and
character which are associated with
those physical characteristics are
regulated by half a dozen small
glands in the body is one of the
most revolutionary of the recent
conclusions of science.
This much of the evidence for
new theory is set forth by Arthur
Keith, a British scientist, in an ar
ticle recently published by the
Smithsonian Institution in this
country.
This new idea is revolutionary
in more ways than one. It upsets
the old Darwinian theory of sexual
selection as the mechanism of race
variation, as completely as that, for
the scientist, upset the biblical no.
tons on the subject 1t shows that
what We call racial characteristics
are by no means confined to per-
sons of the race with which they are
associated. In persons of the pure
Nordic strain there may be Mon
gollan or negro physical character
lstIcS, and they are apt to be evil
dence of mental and emotional
traits such as are associated with
those races. In word, here is a
M 10 !,
character. A fiat nose, a project
ing lower jaw, an exceptional
length of leg or size of hand has a
new significance for the careful
observer, when he knows that
these physical characteristics show
the degree of development of Ger
tain controlling glands, and that
these glands have a definite effect
on mind S well as on body.
Control of Growth.
Lastly, it seems certain that in
the course of time knowledge of
the ductless glands will give 2 man
a control over his own character
istics such as he never had before.
IL would be a rash prediction, of
the kind which every conservative
scientist deplores, to say that race
characteristics will be controlled,
that d baby born black may be
turned white, and a stocky, fat
faced Tartar child be made TO grow
tall and have the salient features of
a Nordic; but something of the kind
is certainly in some degree possible
Scientists have already produced
marked changes in physical de-
velopment by administering the ex-
tract Of some of these glands Thus
a disease known as MyxOedema has
been found to be due wholly to de-
fiCiency of the thyroid gland. In it
the skin becomes dry and often vel
lOwiSh and the hair tends TO fall
out, showing plainly that the thy
roid controls in some degree the
development of hair and skin, which
are race characteristics The ad-
of thyroid extract is a
cure for this disease
The degree of control which man
may attain over his own character
istics by his knowledge of the
ductless glands is limited chiefly by
the factor of receptivity Thus it
has been quite definitely proved
that the suprarenal glands control
fermentation. And it has been
found that the action of any of the
ductless glands may generally be
regulated by administering an ex-
tract of those glands taken from the
bodies OF animals. Could then a
black or yellow child be made white
by a treatment with suprarenaI ex-