VI THE ARYAN QUESTION 287 



aside the comparatively late incursions of the 

 Asiatic races, the centre of eruption of the invaders 

 of the southern moiety of Europe has been 

 situated in the north and west. In the case of the 

 Teutonic inroads upon the Empire of Rome, it 

 undoubtedly lay in the area now occupied by the 

 blond long-heads ; and, in that of the antecedent 

 Gaulish invasions, the physical characters ascribed 

 to the leading tribes point to the same conclusion. 

 Whatever the causes which led to the breaking 

 out of bounds of the blond long-heads, in mass, at 

 particular epochs, the natural increase in numbers 

 of a vigorous and fertile race must always have 

 impelled them to press upon their neighbours, 

 and thereby afford abundant occasions for inter- 

 mixture. If, at any given pre-historic time, wo 

 suppose the lowlands verging on the Baltic and 

 the North Sea to have been inhabited by pure 

 blond long-heads, while the central highlands were 

 occupied by pure brunet short-heads, the two 

 would certainly meet and intermix in course of 

 time, in spite of the vast belt of dense forest 

 which extended, almost uninterruptedly, from the 

 Carpathians to the Ardennes; and the result 

 would be such an irregular gradation of the one 

 type into the other as we do, in fact, meet with. 



On the south-east, east, and north-east, through- 

 out what was once the kingdom of Poland, and in 

 Finland, the preponderance of broad heads goes 

 along with a wide prevalence of blond complexion 



