ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE BLOND EUROPEANS. 



By Dr. Adolphe Bloch. 



In continuation of my researches on the filiation of the human races, 

 there is here presented a discussion of the origin and evolution of the 

 blond Europeans, which mclude (1) the first blond races, known in 

 history as Celto-Gallic-Galatians, Cimbrians, Germans, etc; (2) the 

 blond Finns and blond Lapps; (3) the blonds sporadically met with 

 in all parts of Europe. 



THE ARYAN HYPOTHESIS. 



As the first blonds are regarded by certain authors as the genuine 

 Aryans, we have to consider the origin of the Aryans, although the 

 term is of little importance in designating these blonds, for what we 

 ■wish to know most is what tie binds the different races among them- 

 selves, and what is the physiologic process through which they are 

 derived one from the other. 



The Aryan hypothesis, according to which the first ancestors of the 

 Indo-Ar3^ans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, etc., came from one 

 and the same point in central Asia, now has no adherents, but in 

 accord with the works of Poesche (1878), Penka (1893), Schrader 

 (1883), Wilser (1899), Kossinna (1902), and Michelis (1903) the theory 

 of European origin has been generally adopted. We recall that as 

 early as 1839 and succeedmg years tlie Belgian geologist and anthro- 

 pologist, d'Omalius <rHaUoy, opposed the Asiatic theory of the Euro- 

 pean blonds (Notes a FAcademie de Belgique) and that it was the 

 subject of two communications to our society in 1864 and 1865. 

 Likewise the English philologist, Latham, was opposed to the Asiatic 

 origin of the blonds, for he placed their cradle in what is now a sub- 

 merged plain in Scandinavia (Elements de philologie comparee, 

 London, 1861). 



iVs one of the early advocates of European origin there must also 

 be mentioned the German Cuno, who maintained that the j)rimitive 

 Aryans, instead of being a small clan, constituted a numerous people 



' Translated, by permission, from Origine et Evolution des Blonds Europdcns. Tar M. le Dr. Adolphe 

 Bloch. Bulletins et M6moires de la Socidt6 d'Anthropologie de Paris. 6th sen, vol. 2, Nos. 1 and 2. 

 Paris, 1911, pp. 55-79. 



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