The Origin and Antiquity of the American Indian (Pamphlet)

Description

Author: Hrdlička, Aleš  (1869-1943)

Publisher: Smithsonian Institution

Pub Date: 1925

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Good.  Binding tight.  No marks, tears, bends or folds.  This pamphlet was originally a report  from the 1923 Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution.  The original hardcover had damage to the cover and some of the reports so I cut this report out and had it rebound.

Notes: Pamphlet.  Hrdlička summarizes the physical characteristics of the American Indian and relates them to Siberia and Asia.  Some of his “findings” should probably be taken with a grain of salt–“He is everywhere readily affected by, and falls an easy prey to alcohol; he is physically enduring, with in general being actually exceptionally strong; he is little if at all, subject to various degenerating and constitutional diseases such as cretinism, rachitis (n.b. vitamin c deficiency), cancer, insanity, etc., but is everywhere readily affected by tuberculosis, trachoma (n.b. a bacterial infection of the eye, causing irreversible blindness), measles, smallpox, and syphilis.” (P. 482)  As my cousin Mike used to say, “Make all your words tender and sweet.  You may have to eat them someday.”