EDITOR'S TABLE. 



269 



past if only right methods of re- 

 search had been aised. This was too 

 much to expect in his day; and, in- 

 deed, it is only in very recent times 

 that the study of human origins has 

 been placed upon anything like an 

 adequate scientific basis. A refer- 

 ence to Mr. Eipley's work will show 

 how numerous are the lines of in- 

 vestigation now pursued. Lan- 

 guage, which at one time was con- 

 sidered an all-important test of ori- 

 gin, has fallen from its high posi- 

 tion; and theories which, on the 

 strength of linguistic evidence, were 

 very widely entertained, have lost 

 their authority. Particluarly has 

 this been the case with the so-called 

 " Aryan " theory. It was simple 

 and beautiful and interesting, but as 

 observations accimiulated it became 

 more and more untenable, until 

 finally it had to be discarded. 



The problems which the anthro- 

 pologist and ethnologist attack are 

 indeed of the highest degree of com- ' 

 plexity. If our predecessors went 

 astray therein, we ourselves are only 

 feeling our way very cautiously and 

 somewhat uncertainly. We have 

 not yet reached an era of victorious 

 generalizations. Professor Eipley 

 well indicates the difficulties of the 

 research. Things will go well for a 

 considerable time along certain lines 

 of observation until the facts come 

 to be gleaned in some special field, 

 and then the result will perhaps be 

 just the opposite of what theory re- 

 quired. In a brachycephalic region, 

 for example, where craniological 

 and other tests call for a population 

 of short stature, the stature will re- 

 veal itself as much above the aver- 

 age. In a region where, looking at 

 race characteristics as elsewhere 

 established, the tendency, say, to 

 suicide should be particularly low, it 

 is found by statistics to be particu- 

 larly high. The ethnologist finds 

 his path strewn with endless difficul- 

 ties of this nature, and yet he is 

 not discouraged. The truth lies 



somewhere, and he knows that a 

 vigorous and courageous sifting of 

 the facts will be sure to bring it 

 to light, if not to-day, to-morrow. 

 We gather from Professor Ripley's 

 pages a strong impression of the 

 confident patience with which the 

 true man of science attacks his prob- 

 lems; he is sure that his methods 

 are right, and that in the end they 

 must triumph. 



The interesting points of view 

 which the study of racial geography 

 presents are numberless. This is 

 particularly shown in Professor Rip- 

 ley's chapter on Modern Social 

 Problems. In this chapter the writer 

 acknowledges, as he does elsewhere, 

 that theories of race and of heredity 

 have sometimes been pushed too far. 

 He demands a due recognition of 

 the influence of environment, and 

 cites cases where environment will 

 explain divergences from what are 

 recognized as race characteristics or 

 tendencies. An example of this is 

 afforded by the case of Brittany, in 

 connection with separateness of 

 home life. The population of Brit- 

 tany belongs to a race that is par- 

 ticularly prone to such separateness, 

 and yet in Brittany there is an un- 

 usual intermingling of families un- 

 I der one roof. We can not enter into 

 the explanation here, but Professor 

 Ripley shows how the physical geog- 

 raphy of the country may account 

 for the variation from type. In the 

 same chapter the writer shows very 

 interestingly how the Celtic parts of 

 Prance manifest almost invariably 

 conservative tendencies : how they 

 shun divorce, afford a very low rate 

 of suicide, and, in the matter of 

 crime, tend rather to deeds of vio- 

 lence than to acts of dishonesty. 

 The general impression which the 

 intelligent reader will gather from 

 the whole work is that " racial geog- 

 raphy " has all the interest of a 

 rapidly growing science; but that, 

 while much has been accomplished, 

 much more remains to be done. The 



