There might well be secondary differences, for example, in certain manifestations of public life, in political revolutions, to which we assign far too great an importance; but the same roads would reproduce the same social types, and would impose on them the same essential characters." There is no contending with a pious opinion, especially when it takes the form of an unverifiable prophecy.

Let the level-headed anthropologist beware, however, lest he put all his eggs into one basket.

Let him seek to give each factor in the problem its due.

Race must count for something, or why do not the other animals take a leaf out of our book and build up rival civilizations on suitable sites?
Why do men herd cattle, instead of the cattle herding the men?
We are rational beings, in other words, because we have it in us to be rational beings.

Again, culture, with the intelligence and choice it involves, counts for something too.