Heredity, race, and society.

  • Leslie Clarence Dunn
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Heredity, race, and society. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1. Human Differences Human beings are not all alike. From the beginning ©£ the record and to this day there have always been big men and small men, strong men and weak men, wise men and fools. To some people music is the source of greatest pleasure, to others it is just unnecessary noise; some people draw easily and well, others can not sketch a simple figure; some enjoy intense activity and violent exercise, others prefer repose and meditation. In any large group of persons you will find some with good eyesight, others with poor, some will be color-blind or unable to taste or smell some particular substance; and if you examine their facial features or their finger pat terns, you will find that actually no two persons are alike. One thing you can be sure of is that the next man you meet will be different from the last, and if you visit a new country you will certainly find different customs and ways of doing things. Differences among men are important because they underlie the conflicts which have shaken the world since history began. But human diversity is also responsible Cor the great material and cultural progress of mankind. If you do not believe that it takes all kinds of people to make our kind of world, just try to imagine its opposite, a world in which all men are alike. Could such a world have farms and factories, automobiles and airplanes, newspapers and symphony orchestras, poetry and scien tific research? That human diversity leads to both bad and good results should make us pause and consider that it is not 7