7jo POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



With the exception of Lombardy the blood of the Teutonic 

 invaders in Italy seems to have been diluted to extinction. 

 Notwithstanding this, it is curious to note that the German lan- 

 guage still survives in a number of isolated communities in the 

 back waters of the streams of immigration. Up in the side val- 

 leys along the main highways over the Alps are still to be found 

 German customs and folklore as well. The peasants, however, 

 are not to be distinguished physically at this present day from 

 their true Italian-speaking neighbors. These southern Alps are 

 also places of refuge for many other curious membra disjecta. 

 Mendini, for example, has studied in Piedmont, with some detail, 

 a little community of the Valdesi, descendants of the followers of 

 Juan Valdes, the mediaeval reformer. Here they have persisted 

 in their heretical beliefs despite five hundred years of persecu- 

 tion and ostracism. In this case mutual repulsion seems to have 

 produced real physical results, as the people of these villages 

 seem to differ quite appreciably from the Catholic population in 

 many important respects. 



The ethnic transition from the Alpine race in the Po Valley 

 to the Mediterranean race in Italy proper is particularly sharp 

 along the crest of the Apennines from the French frontier to 

 Florence. The population of modern Liguria, the long, narrow 

 strip of country between the mountains and the Gulf of Genoa, 

 is distinctly allied to the south in all respects. Especially does 

 the Mediterranean long-headedness of this region appear upon 

 both of our maps of cephalic index. It is curious to note how 

 the sharpness of the ethnic boundary is softened where the 

 physical barriers against intercourse between north and south 

 are modified. Thus there is just north of Genoa a decided break 

 in the distinct racial frontier of the province ; for just here is, as 

 our topographical map of the country indicates, a broad open- 

 ing in the mountains leading over to the north. The pass is 

 easily traversed by rail to-day. Over it many invasions in 

 either direction have served to confound the populations upon 

 either side. 



The individuality of the modern Ligurians culminates in one 

 of the most puzzling ethnic patches in Italy, viz., the people of the 

 district about Lucca, in the northwest corner of Tuscany. Consid- 

 eration of our maps will show the strong relief with which these 

 people stand forth from their neighbors. These peasants of Gar- 

 fagnana and Lucchese seem to set all ethnic probabilities at 

 naught. They are as tall as the Venetians or any of the north- 

 ern populations of Italy, yet in head form they are closely allied 

 to the people of the extreme south. They are among the longest- 

 headed in all the kingdom. They seem also to be considerably 

 more brunette than any of their neighbors. Nor are these pecul- 



