THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 295 



tlie head by expressing the breadth in percentage of the length 

 from front to back.* This is known as the cephalic index. We 

 have also seen that a high index that is, a l)road head is the 

 most permanent characteristic of the so-called Alpine race of cen- 

 tral Europe. This type is bounded on the north by the long- 

 headed and blond Teutons, on the south by a similarly long-headed 

 Mediterranean stock, which is, however, markedly brunette. It is 

 with these three racial types that we have mainly to do in this 

 paper. Passing over all technicalities, our map of cephalic index 

 shows the location of the Alpine racial type by its darker tints ; 

 while, in proportion as the shades become lighter, the pre valency 

 of long and narrow heads increases. 



The significance of these differences in head form to the eye is 

 manifested by the three portraits at hand. The northern long- 

 headed blond type, with its oval face and narrow chin, is not 

 unlike the Mediterranean one in respect of its cranial conforma- 

 tion. This particular Teutonic type is slightly misleading, from 

 the mode of dressing the hair, which tends to exaggerate the 

 width at the forehead. The Alpine populations of central France 

 are exemplified by rather an extreme type in our portrait, in 

 which the head is almost globular, while the face is correspond- 

 ingly round. Such extremes are rare. They indicate the tend- 

 ency, however, with great distinctness. The contrast between 

 the middle type and either extreme is well marked. Even with 

 differences but half as great as those between our portrait types, 

 it is no wonder that Durand and other early observers should 

 have insisted that they were real and not the product of im- 

 agination. They may have erred in their explanations, although 

 not in their facts. 



Recalling the physical geography of the country, as we have 

 described it, the most patent feature of our map of cephalic index 

 is a continuous belt of long-headedness, which extends from 

 Flanders to Bordeaux on the southwest. It covers what we have 

 termed the main axis of fertility of France. A second strip of 

 long-headed population fringes the fertile Mediterranean coast, 

 with a tendency to spread up the Rhone Valley. In fact, these 

 two areas of long-headed populations show a disposition to unite 

 south of Lyons in a narrow light strip. This divides the dark- 

 colored areas of Alpine people into two wings. One of these cen- 



* It should not fail of notice that these maps are constructed from averages for each 

 department as a unit. These last are merely administrative districts, entirely arbitrary in 

 outline, and entirely in dissonance with the topography of the country. The wonder is 

 that, in view of this, the facts should still shine out so clearly. Thus all the Rhone depart- 

 ments lie half up among the mountains on the east. Their averages are therefore repre- 

 sentative neither of the mountains nor the valleys. Between Dijon and Lyons the depart- 

 ments completely span the narrow valley, entirely obliterating its local peculiarities. 



