292 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



west, must needs take Orleans before they could enter the heart 

 of the country. Finally, it was for the same reason that the 

 English fought for the same city in 1429, and the Germans took 

 it twice, in 1815 and again in 1870. This district, then, between 

 Paris and Orleans, is the key to the geographical situation, be- 

 cause it lies at the middle point of this backbone of fertility 

 from north to south. 



The second axis, lying along the river Rhone, is of somewhat 

 less importance as a center of population because of its extreme 

 narrowness. Yet it is a highway of migration between the north 

 and the south of Europe, skirting the Alps ; and it is easily 

 accessible to the people of the Seine basin by the low plateau of 

 Langres near the city of Dijon. This renders it the main artery 

 of communication from Paris to the Mediterranean. Down its 

 course Teutonic blood has flowed. The culture of the south has 

 spread into northern Europe in the contrary direction. Such is 

 the normal exchange between the two climates in human history^ 

 the world over. The great fertility of the Rhone axis, moreover, 

 is in strong contrast to the character of the country upon either 

 side. Judged by its population, it merits the important position 

 we have here assigned to it. 



These two axes of fertility divide France, as we have said, 

 into three areas which exhibit the phenomena of social isolation 

 in different degrees. East of the Rhone lies Savoy, exceedingly 

 mountainous, with a rigorous Alpine climate, and of a geologi- 

 cal formation yielding with difficulty to cultivation. This region 

 combines two safeguards against ethnic invasion. In the first 

 place, it is not economically attractive; for the colonist is un- 

 moved by those charms which appeal to the tourist to-day. We 

 reiterate, the movement of peoples is dependent upon the imme- 

 diate prosperity of the country for them. It matters not whether 

 the invading hosts be colonists, coming for permanent settlement, 

 or barbarians in search of booty ; the result is the same in either 

 case. Savoy, therefore, has seldom attracted the foreigner. It 

 could not offer him a livelihood if he came. In the second place, 

 whenever threatened with invasion, the defense of the country 

 was easy. Permanent conquest is impossible in so mountainous 

 a district. Combining both of these safeguards in an extreme 

 degree. Savoy, therefore, offers some of the most remarkable ex- 

 amples of social individuality in all France. 



The second area of isolation lies between our two north and 

 south axes of fertility that is to say, between the Rhone on the 

 east and the Garonne on the southwest. It centers in the ancient 

 province of Auvergne, known geographically as the Massif Cen- 

 trale. This comprises only a little less than two thirds of France 

 south of Dijon. In reality it is an outpost of the Alps cut off 



