THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 467 



ultimately put. To show the results which have already been 

 achieved is the task to which we have to address ourselves. 



The observations upon which our conclusions for Europe are to 

 rest, cover some ten or more million individuals, the larger frac- 

 tion being school children, a goodly proportion, however, consist- 

 ing of conscripts taken from the soil directly to the recruiting 

 commissions of the various European armies. The labor involved 

 in merely collecting, to say nothing of tabulating, this mass of 

 material is almost superhuman ; and we can not too highly praise 

 the scientific zeal which has made possible our comfortable work 

 of comparing this accumulated data. As an example of the dif- 

 ficulties which have been encountered, let me quote from a per- 

 sonal letter from Dr. Ammon, one of the pioneers in this work, 

 who measured thousands of recruits in the Black Forest of Ger- 

 many. *' One naturally," he writes, " is reluctant to undertake a 

 four or six weeks' trip with the commission in winter, with snow 

 a metre deep, living in the meanest inns in the little hamlets, and 

 moving about every two to five days. The ofiicial inspectors must 

 not be retarded in their work, as the Ministry of War attaches 

 that condition to their permission to view the recruits. Many of 

 those rejected for service are dismissed by the surgeons at a glance, 

 but I must make measurements on all alike. Only when the doc- 

 tor stops to make an auscultation or to test the vision do I have a 

 moment's respite. They are sent to my room from the medical 

 inspector at the rate of two hundred in three hours, sometimes 

 two hundred and forty ; and on all these men I must make many 

 measurements, while rendering instant decision upon the color of 

 the hair and eyes. The mental effort involved in forming so 

 many separate judgments in such quick succession often brings 

 me near fainting at the close of the session.'^ 



Of course, where observations are privately made, to obtain the 

 consent of the owner of the characteristics is the main obstacle to 

 be overcome. To make the subject understand what is wanted is 

 impossible, for it would involve a full discussion of the Keltic 

 question or of the origin of the Aryans, which, after the first one 

 hundred cases, becomes tiresome. The color of the hair and eyes, 

 of course, may be noted in passing, and observers may station 

 themselves on crowded thoroughfares and easily collect a large 

 mass of material. I have myself found profit and entertainment 

 on the Fall River boats in running up some columns from my 

 unsuspecting fellow-passengers. But to make head measurements 

 is another matter. Dr. Beddoe adopted an ingenious device 

 which I will describe in his own words : " Whenever a likely 

 little squad of natives was encountered the two archseologists got 

 up a dispute about the relative size and shape of their own heads. 



