Until very recently physical anthropology has been more or less exclusively concerned with the study of the evolutionary origins of man and with race. During the first half of this century a vast body of literature accumulated describing the physical characteristics of the world's many populations, both past and present, and classifying these populations into races. Innumerable classifications appeared, which not only varied according to their authors' views as to which race a particular population should be ascribed but also, very strikingly, in the number of races that were considered as compounding the human species. Some recognized as few as three or four, others as many as thirty or more. No small effort was spent in searching for methods to ascribe individuals to one race or another and some people were regarded as being more ‘typical’ of a particular race than others.

Urinary cortisol excretion rates were determined from three urine samples given over 2 days, a rest day and a working day, by 51 men and 50 women. Each subject also completed a questionnaire relating to life style factors and to perceived levels of stress, busyness and happiness on each day. In men, an association between raised cortisol and high levels of stress was found. In women, high levels of busyness were associated with low cortisol excretion rates. The subjective experiences measured accounted for around 10–20% of cortisol variation in this naturalistic setting.

Urinary cortisol and adrenaline excretion rates were measured in three Australian Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region in the north-west of the country. The three communities, Derby, Kalumburu and Kupungarri, differ in size and remoteness and some lifestyle parameters. Cortisol excretion rate is associated with age and urine flow rate, but there is no association with smoking or the consumption of alcohol. All three communities show very high cortisol excretion rates compared to a sample of UK (Oxford) residents and there are also differences between the three communities. Adrenaline excretion rate also shows associations with age and urine flow rate, but not with smoking. Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region excrete adrenaline at a slightly higher rate than that found in Oxford, which itself is high by world standards. There are no marked differences between communities in their adrenaline excretion rates. Alcohol drinkers in Derby, where alcohol is freely available, have higher adrenaline output than non-drinkers.