208 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [YoL. II. 



the extreme, tenacious of their soil, customs, habits, they are a very 

 important constituent part of the British nation, and so they will 

 remain. 



From the whole of the observations and studies of which the foregoing 

 remarks are a brief resume, we may gather part proofs of how long 

 inherited characteristics endure, even under the most adverse circum- 

 stances; that language and religion change, but that habits, idioms, and 

 complexions* endure from generation to generation, almost forever. 



* A singular and interesting investigation has recently been made in France under the 

 auspices of the French Association for the Advance ment of Science. Statistics have been collected 

 in each department, of the color of the hair and eyes of the populations, and are published with 

 graphical maps in the Proceedings of the i8th Session. If a line be drawn from Savoy to the 

 extremity of Finisterre, the country north-east is that of the blond peoples, the rest is that of the 

 darker races. One is not surprised to find the dark haired tribes occupying almost exclusively 

 the Mediterranean littoral and the slopes of the Pyrenees, nor to find the greatest proportion of 

 blond races along the Channel ; but there are most singular irregularities and important specia, 

 features. For instance, Morbihan, the most Breton part of Brittany, is one of the most blond of 

 the departments, while the country on both sides of the Lower Loire is one of the darkest. 

 A flood of light may, by this investigation of Dr. Topinaid's, of Paris, be let in upon anthropolo- 

 gical subjects ; historical problems be resolved, and possibly the influence of climate and soil con- 

 sidered in a new way. What is the Celtic type of hair and eyes ? What are (if any) the 

 permanent characters of other races ? Is it true that the Canadian population is losing the blue 

 eye and acquiring n increased proportion of brown eyes ? 



