202 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A final step in our constitution of races that is, of hereditary 

 types is to prove that they are persistent ; that like father like 

 son corresponds to the facts in the case. Of direct testimony 

 we possess nothing. No single investigator, save perhaps Gal- 

 ton, has to my knowledge followed down a line from one genera- 

 tion to another. Anthropologists are human themselves. The 

 life of man is all too short to cover such tasks. But of indirect 

 proof we have plenty. We know, for example, that in the north 

 of Europe, as far back as archaeology can carry us, men of a 

 type of head form identical with the living population to-day 

 were in a majority. Likewise the lake dwellers in Switzerland 

 in the stone age, little more civilized than the natives of Africa, 

 were true ancestors of the present Alpine race. Prehistoric ar- 

 chaeology thus comes to our aid with cumulative proof that at all 

 events traits are hereditary in populations, even if not always so 

 in men. In truth, we here enter upon a larger field of investiga- 

 tion than the anthropological one. The whole topic of heredity 

 opens up before us, too immense to discuss in this place. Suffice 

 it to say that in the main no question is entertained upon the sub- 

 ject, save in the special cases of artificially acquired characteristics 

 and the like. 



After this tedious summary of methods, let us turn to results. 

 The table on this page shows the combinations of traits into 

 racial types which seem best to accord with the facts. It speaks 

 for itself. 



European Racial Types. 



The first of our races is perhaps the most characteristic. It 

 is entirely restricted to northwestern Europe, with a center of 

 dispersion in Scandinavia. Our portraits, chosen as typical by 

 Dr. Arbo of the Norwegian army, show certain of the physical 

 peculiarities, especially the great length of the head, the long 

 oval face, and the straight aquiline nose. The face is rather 

 smooth in outline, the cheek bones not being prominent. The 

 narrow nose seems to be a very constant trait, as much so as the 



