[Footnote X:  Gustave Le Bon maintains, in his brilliant, but sophistical, work on “The Psychology of Peoples,” that the “soul of a race” unalterably determines even its art.  He states that a Hindu artist, in copying an European model several times, gradually eliminates the European characteristics, so that, “the second or third copy ... will have become exclusively Hindu.”  His entire argument is of this nature; I must confess that I do not in the least feel its force.  The reason the Hindu artist transforms a Western picture in copying it is because he has been trained in Hindu art, not because he is a Hindu physiologically.  If that same Hindu artist, taken in infancy to Europe and raised as a European and trained in European art, should still persist in replacing European by Hindu art characteristics, then the argument would have some force, and his contention that the “soul of races” can be modified only by intermarriage of races would seem more reasonable.]

[Footnote Y:  “The Human Species,” p. 283.]

[Footnote Z:  Ibid., p. 282.]

[Footnote AA:  Ibid., p. 384.]

[Footnote AB:  The manuscript of this work was largely prepared in 1897 and 1898.  Since writing the above lines, a vigorous discussion has been carried on in the Japanese press as to the advantages and disadvantages of the present system of writing.  Many have advocated boldly the entire abandonment of the Chinese character and the exclusive use of the Roman alphabet.  The difficulties of such a step are enormous and cannot be appreciated by anyone not familiar with the written language of Japan.  One or the strongest arguments for such a course, however, has been the obstacle placed by the Chinese in the way of popular education, due to the time required for its mastery and the mechanical nature of the mind it tends to produce.  In August of 1900 the Educational Department enacted some regulations that have great significance in this connection.  Perhaps the most important is the requirement that not more than one thousand two hundred Chinese characters are to be taught to the common-school children, and the form of the character is not to be taught independently of the meaning.  The remarks in the text above are directed chiefly to the ancient methods of education.]

[Footnote AC:  Griffis’ “Religions of Japan,” p. 272.]

[Footnote AD:  P. 24.]

[Footnote AE:  Far East for January, 1898.]

[Footnote AF:  January 20, 1900.]

[Footnote AG:  Japan Mail, November 12, 1898.]

[Footnote AH:  P. 17.]

[Footnote AI:  P. 18.]

[Footnote AJ:  P. 18.]

[Footnote AK:  “History of the Empire of Japan,” compiled and translated for the Imperial Japanese Commission of the World’s Columbian Exposition.]

[Footnote AL:  “Japanese Literature,” p. 4.]

[Footnote AM:  Cf. chapter xvi. p. 199.]