73 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



between some of the highest mountains in Italy and the sea. He 

 holds that they were here driven to cover in this corner of Tus- 

 cany by the developed Roman power in the south. Dr. Beddoe 

 gives another explanation which is interesting. He believes this 

 population to be the result of artificial colonization. Livy tells 

 us that the Romans at one time, in pursuance of a long-settled 

 policy, transported forty thousand Ligurians (?) to Samnium, fill- 

 ing their places with others from the south. If this artificial 

 transplanting had been effected a sufficient number of times ; if 

 the Liguria of Livy had surely been this modern one instead of 

 the Alpine ancient one; and thirdly, if we could thus account for 

 the tallness of stature, certainly not of southern origin, we might 

 place more reliance upon this ingenious hypothesis. As it is we 

 can not think it far reaching enough. To us it seems more likely 

 that we have to do rather with a population highly individualized 

 by geographical isolation. Much of the region is very fertile ; it 

 is densely populated ; it is closely bounded by mountain and sea. 

 May it not contain a remnant of a more ancient people than others 

 roundabout ? This accords with both Sergi's and Livi's view. At 

 a later time we shall be able to prove that in many respects the old- 

 est, most primitive layer of population in Italy possessed many of 

 these peculiar traits of the Garfagnanans and Luccheser. We in- 

 cline to the belief that a bit of this primitive substratum has per- 

 sisted in this place. The people of the island of Elba off the 

 coast are quite similar to it. Insularity explains their peculiar 

 physical traits. Why not environmental isolation about Lucca 

 as well ? 



One of the most disputed points in the ethnological history of 

 Europe concerns the origin of the ancient Etruscans, who domi- 

 nated middle Italy a thousand years or more before the Christian 

 era. Ancient Etruria covered what is now made up of the two 

 compartimenti of Toscana and Roma extending, that is to say, 

 from the Arno to the Tiber. Here we find a sub- area of char- 

 acterization, rich alike in soil and climate, somewhat isolated 

 from the rest of the peninsula. This district is the center of one 

 of the earliest highly evolved cultures in Europe. The Etruscans 

 appear suddenly upon the scene, invading the territory of the 

 Umbrians, who seem to have been indigenous to the soil, akin to 

 the Oscians, Italians (Vituli), and other native peoples. With the 

 advent of this immigrant people a great advance in culture seems 

 to have occurred, from which Rome afterward derived her suprem- 

 acy in that respect : for the Etruscans were the real founders of 

 the Eternal City. 



Popularly, the word " Etruscan " at once suggests the ceramic 

 art ; the progress effected in a short time was certainly startling. 

 To give an idea of the sudden change, we have reproduced upon 



