Aleš Hrdlička

“ The real capacity of the more cultured Slav for self-government and leadership is perhaps best demonstrated in Bohemia. The history of Bohemia shows us that in that intensely Slav country, notwithstanding all the German encroachments and machinations, a single native dynasty, that of Přemysl, has lasted—not counting its prolongation in the female line—for nearly five centuries without interruption ”

“ In their civic life, since the earliest known times the Slavs of all branches were essentially democratic and patriarchal. Their attitude toward a centralized government is not the same as among their neighbors; they do not readily submit to any save freely chosen or freely approved authority. Their cherished ideal of power has always been, however, the national assembly rather than the nobility, or king, though their history shows many instances of a strong devotion to capable leaders. ”

“ Mental characteristics.—This is a dangerous field to tread upon, and would be quite prohibitive to those not personally and thoroughly acquainted with the Slavs, as well as with the more important groups of non-Slavic Europeans. To those, however, who have been fortunate enough to gain close personal knowledge of these various groups, it unquestionably appears that the Slavs as a whole possess certain mental characteristics or shades of characteristics which are better developed or more general than among other groups of the white world. ”

“ That the Slavs, particularly those of the north and those of the Balkans, are capable of much endurance, has been well shown by the Russians in the Napoleonic, some of the Turkish and the present wars, and by the Serbians and Bulgarians in their past as well as recent wars with Turkey, in the late Serbian struggle and retreat together with the astonishing following rejuvenation, and on many other occasions. ”

“ Morever, the phenomenon of longevity is plainly generalized among the Slavs. It has received various explanations, but in all probability is merely a physiological expression of the relatively high grade of soundness of the race.
A good many of the Slav centenarians have been known to reach considerably above one hundred years. Thus in 1912, in Russia, at the 100th aniversary of the Napoleonic war, eight contemporaries and veterans of that war were found still living among the rural Slav population of Russia, and they ranged in age from 109 to 122 years. ”

“ Among the men there may also be noted occasional tendency to a prominence of the angles of the lower jaw. The skin is as in other central Europeans, never swarthy except in those with Mediterranean or other darker admixture. The hair and beard in their general characteristics are also as in other Europeans, though the growth of hair as well as that of beard seems to be especially favored by nature among the Russians. The prevalent hair color in the north is grizzly to brown, but as one proceeds westward and southwest darker shades increase in frequency. ”

“ The Slavs, and particularly perhaps the Russians, are hearty eaters. This connects in all probability again with their relatively high average of physical condition. In Russia it may also be in part a result of the exacting climate, which calls for plenty of fuel. In the culturally most advanced of the Slavic countries, Bohemia and Moravia, the hearty appetite is connected with and partly converted to a very considerable culinary refinement. ”

“ One of the best and most general characteristics of the Slav is a fondness for work, coupled with dexterity. This is manifest not only in husbandry and agriculture, but in all vocations, except perhaps what may be expressed by the term business. He shows good mechanical ability and inventiveness, but does not—with exceptions of course—make a good business man ”

“ Longevity.—While our data in respect to relative longevity may not be all that could be wished for, they are nevertheless sufficient to show that in this respect, too, the Slavs as a whole and some of their groups in particular differ appreciably from the rest of the European population. ”

“ But the business part of industry often remains unsympathetic, and it is on this account that it is found so often left to the Jew, the Armenian, the German and others, who live among and of the Slav. Modern education in a degree is changing these conditions, but they are evidently too basic to be wholly altered by such means. ”

“ The teeth on the whole are probably more regular and better preserved than in the more western European and particularly the Anglo-Saxon populations. The women are inclined to fullness of face and healthy fullness of figure. ”

“ Of old, he developed a relatively high class naturalistic religion of his own, with a single mighty thunder-God in the heavens, and a host of minor deities and spirits, a few bad but most good and poetically conceived, peopling the air, groves, lakes and rivers. ”

“ His faults when studied without prejudice are seen to be primarily the faults of ignorance and inexperience, of instinctive preference of idealism and sentiment to realism, and of unschooled, easily offended individualism. ”

“ But while blocked and suffering losses in the west the Slav strain kept on gaining in eastern Europe and then in Asia, so that the total territory they occupied towards the beginning of the present century was greater than that covered by them ever before in their history. ”

“ In addition they brought qualities of ready adaptation to new conditions as well as to new neighbors, together with other assets which favored a ready assimilation of the remnants of native populations; though in some localities and from the same reasons in the course of time they became assimilated themselves into stronger alien groups.
The Slavs spread until they occupied all the territories between the Baltic and the Ægean and from the Elbe to the Volga and eventually the Far East. In the course of the Middle Ages they lost some of these territories by denationalization. ”

“ In a summary, it may be said that strict observation shows the Slav in general to be well endowed physically, as a result of which he shows also certain important physiological advantages. Mentally, on the whole, he has had lesser advantages of intensive training than the more western Europeans and hence is less developed ”

“ Comenius, the world leader in education, etc. The development of government as well as that of leaders, when viewed abstractly seem much more matters of circumstances and education than of special endowments of any particular group. ”