THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 471 



told by a manufacturer that a change of wind from east to west often 

 makes a difference of seven or eight per cent in the product of a weav- 

 ing shed.* To secure the precious humidity, factories have even at 

 times been built half under ground, emulating the example of the 

 Oriental makers of Dacca muslin, or " woven wind," who work sit- 

 ting in holes in the ground, so that their delicate fabrics may be 

 rendered supple by the moisture of the earth. Thus, perhaps, acting 

 in this way, has the factor of climate been able to overcome the in- 

 ertia of the large population once centering in southern England; 

 for it has been compelled to transfer itself to the spot marked out by 

 Nature for the industry. 



To decide between race and environment as the efficient cause 

 of any social phenomenon is a matter of singular interest at this 

 time. A school of sociological writers, dazzled by the recent bril- 

 liant discoveries in European ethnology, show a decided inclination 

 to sink the racial explanation up to the handle in every possible 

 phase of social life in Europe. It must be confessed that there is 

 provocation for it. So persistent have the physical characteristics 

 of the people shown themselves, that it is not surprising to find 

 theories of a corresponding inheritance of mental attributes in great 

 favor. Yet it seems to be high time to call a halt when this " vulgar 

 theory of race," as ClifTe-Leslie termed it, is made sponsor for nearly 

 every conceivable form of social, political, or economic virtues or ills, 

 as the case may be. 



This racial school of social philosophers derives much of its data 

 from French sources. For this reason, and also because our anthro- 

 pological knowledge of that country is more complete than for any 

 other part of Europe, we shall confine our attention primarily to 

 France. Let us refresh our memories of the subject. For this 

 purpose we reproduce herewith a map from a former article, showing 

 the distribution of the head form.f This we hold to be the best 

 expression of the racial facts. On this map the dark tints show the 

 localization of the Alpine broad-headed ,race common to central 

 Europe in the unattractive upland areas of isolation. The light 

 tints at the north, extending down in a broad belt diagonally as far 

 as Limoges and along the coast of Brittany, denote the infusion of 

 the blond, long-headed Teutonic race; while the similar light strip 

 along the southern coast, penetrating 11 p the Rhone Valley, measures 

 the extension of the equally long-headed but brunette Mediterranean 

 stock. The dotted area about Perigueux, in the southwest, we have 



* For interesting data upon this point consult Transactions of the New England Cotton 

 Manufacturers' Association, No. 57, pp. 185 et seq. ; Edward Atkinson, in the Popular Sci- 

 ence Monthly, 1890, pp. 306 et seq. 



f Popular Science Monthly, vol. li, 1897, pp. 289 seq. 



