30Section III.Whetham.
permanent. This value is of the greater importance because the opportuni
ties for able and ambitious workmen to rise by the economic ladder to the
rank of employers are rapidly disappearing, at any rate, in old countries.
The qualities necessary for a successful party leader are discussed.
Briefly stated, they consist of oratorical ability, which is partly a psychical and
partly a physiological and anatomical character; energy of will; superiority
of intellect and knowledge; a depth of conviction often bordering on
fanaticism and self-confidence, pushed even to the point of self-conceit.
Also in many countries, as for instance Italy, physical beauty is important
in helping a man to rise, while in rarer cases goodness of heart and dis
interestedness influence the crowd by reawakening religious sentiments.
We have seen that some elements of the crowd are seized by the selecting-
machine of the party organisation that raises them above their companions,
increasing automatically the social distance between them and their fol
lowers. To put this automatical selecting-machine into action, certain indi
viduals appear, possessing special physical and intellectual gifts that dis
tinguish them spontaneously from the mass of the party.
THE INFLUENCE OF RACE ON HISTORY.
(Abstract.)
By W. C. D. and C. D. Whetham.
The history of Europe presents a long series of nations successively rising
and falling in the scale of prosperity and influence. Such persistent alterna
tions suggest a common cause underlying the phenomena. All history is
the record of change. The outward change as recorded by the chronicler
has probably its counterpart in unnoticed variations of the internal
biological structure of the nation.
Most nations are composite in character. They contain two or more
racial stocks, fulfilling different functions in the national life. It is
probable that the proportion in which these stocks are present is not always
constant. The variation in proportion is possibly the agent effecting the
internal change in structure, which becomes manifest outwardly in the rise
or decline of the nation.
The physical characters of the population of Europe during historic
times indicate three chief races : (i) the Mediterranean, (2) the Alpine, (3)
the Northern. The individuals of these races possess also distinct mental
and intellectual attributes', and the history of Europe is fundamentally the
story of the interaction of the three races.
It is suggested that the supreme power of Greece and Rome, each in its
own direction, was due to the attainment of a fortunate balance between
