LINGUISTIC AREAS IN EUROPE DOMINIAN. 415 



which the basal Alpine strain has been permeated by strong admix- 

 tures of Teutonic blood. The confusion of dark and fair physiog- 

 nomies represents the two elements in the population.^ In a broader 

 sense the Alsatians are identical with the Swiss population to the 

 south and the Lorrainers and Walloons to the north. The districts 

 occupied by all these people once constituted the Middle Kingdom 

 of Burgundy. 



Alsace Avas a province of purely German speech until the end of 

 the eighteenth century. French took solid foothold mainly after 

 the revolution and during the nineteenth century. An enlightened 

 policy of tolerance toward the Province's institutions cemented 

 strong ties of friendship between the inhabitants and their French 

 rulers. Alsatian leanings toward France were regarded with sus- 

 picion by the victors of 1871, who proceeded to pass prohibitionary 

 laws regarding the use of French in schools, churches or law courts. 

 These measures of Germanization were attended by a notable emi- 

 gration to France. In 1871 there were 1,517,494 inhabitants in 

 Alsace-Lorraine. The number dwindled to 1,499,020 in 1875 in 

 spite of 52.12 per cent excess of birtlis over deaths. 



Nancy by its situation was destined to welcome Alsatians who 

 had decided to remain faithful to France. The number of immi- 

 grants it received after the Franco-Prussian war was estimated at 

 15,000.- Pressing need of workingmen in the city's growing indus- 

 trial plants intensified this movement. Alsatian dialects were the 

 only languages heard in entire sections of the urban area. Peopled 

 by about 50,000 inhabitants in 1866, Nancy's population jumped to 

 66,303 in 1876. Metz, on the other hand, with a population of 

 54,820 inhabitants in 1866, could not boast of more than 45,675 

 citizens in 1875. The census taken in 1910 raised this figure to 

 68,598 by including the unusually strong garrison maintained at 

 this point. 



The present line of linguistic demarcation in Alsace rarely coin- 

 cides with the political boundary. Conformitj^ is observable only in 

 stretches of their southernmost extension. East and southeast of 

 Belfort, however, two areas of French speech spread into German 

 territory at Courtaron and Montreux. 



In the elevated southern section of the Vosges the line runs from 

 peak to peak with a general tendency to proceed east of the crest 

 line and to reveal conspicuous deflections in certain high valleys of 

 the eastern slope. Its irregularity with respect to topography may 

 be regarded as an indication of the fluctuation of racial sites in 

 early historical times. 



1 French writers claim an average brnnetteness of 70 per cent for Alsace and point 

 thereby to the predominance of the Celtic strain. 



2 R. Blanchard, Deux Grandes Villes Frangaises. La G4ogr., 30, Nos. 2-6, 1914, pp. 

 120-121. 



