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Show 264 BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1900 the psychological field tends to show that such mental differences as occur are due to experience and environment rather than to innate differences of mental capacity. 1 The common statement and popular belief that the Indian has senses more acute than the white man has been shown to mean nothing more than that the Indian ^ trained in certain " fields of observation, for wherever the European is practised under the same conditions he acquires the same skill as the native. The usual belief that Indian ethics and art are lower than those of the whites carries us no further, for in conformity to the standards which he recognizes, the Indian compares favorably with his white competitor. The few cases which have occurred in which an Indian has been entirely removed from his natural environment at an early age and educated amid civilized surroundings seem to show no particular inferiority in mental capacity. J Whatever the truth with respect to innate ability, tradition and social environment are the determining forces in the expression of Indian character as in that of all other races. It is hard to understand the numerous misconceptions in even the educated mind with regard to Indian character and habits. Probably the commonest conception of the Indian is of a grave, gloomy, taciturn, and * Boas," The Mind of Primitive Man " ( Science, N. S., XIII., 281). |