78o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



brunettes. Environment and race here join hands to produce 

 greater blondness in the mountains. It is in the south of Italy 

 that the two work in opposition, and here we turn for test of our 

 law. In the south the mountains should contain the Mediterra- 

 nean brunette type in relatively undisturbed purity, for the north- 

 ern blondes are more frequent in the attractive districts open to 

 immigration. Even here in many cases this racial probability is 

 reversed or equalized by some cause which works in oi^position 

 to race, so that we find comfort at every turn. 



The law which we have sought to prove is not radically new. 

 Many years ago Waitz asserted that mountaineers tended to be 

 lighter in color of skin than the people of -the plains,* educing 

 some interesting evidence to that effect from the study of primi- 

 tive peoples. He held that the true cause lay in the modifying 

 influences of climate. Much of the data which we have here col- 

 lected does not prove this. In fact, climatic changes can not be 

 related to some of the variations in blondness which have been 

 outlined. It seems as if some other factor had been at work. Dr. 

 Livi ascribes the blondness of mountain peoples rather to the 

 unfavorable economic environment, to the poor food, unsanitary 

 dwellings, and general poverty of such populations. This ex- 

 planation fits neatly into our social theory : for we assert that the 

 population of mountains is relatively pure because there is no in- 

 centive for immigration of other types. Thus a pure population 

 implies poverty of environment a poverty which may stand in 

 direct relation to the lack of pigmentation. It is yet too early to 

 assert that this is the main cause. For the present it will suffice 

 to have proved that appreciable differences in pigmentation exist, 

 leaving the cause for future discussion. Much interesting mate- 

 rial drawn from comparisons of urban with rural populations 

 may help to throw light upon it. Our main purpose here has 

 been to prove that pigmentation is a trait which is affected by 

 environment. If, as we hope to have shown, the shape of the 

 head is not open to such modification, we shall know where to 

 turn when conflict of evidence arises. We shall pin our faith to 

 that characteristic which pursues the even tenor of its racial way, 

 unmoved by outward circumstances. 



Commenting on the possibilities foi'eshadowed l>y the opening' of the 

 Niagara water power and foreseeing the extension of the principle to 

 other cataracts, the London Spectator suggests that we shall perhaps ask 

 in the future not ''Has the country got coal;"' but "Has it got water- 

 falls ? " 



* Anthropologie der Naturvolker, vol. i, p. 49 &eq. 



