THE RACIAL GEOGRAPHY OF EUROPE. 595 



immigrants from the country or of their immediate descendants. 

 Dr. Ammon, of Carlsruhe, in a most suggestive work which we have 

 constantly cited in these pages,* has carefully analyzed in detail 

 the populations of certain representative cities in Baden. In Carls- 

 ruhe and Freiburg, for example, he found that among the con- 

 scripts examined for military service an overwhelming proportion 

 of the residents were either immigrants themselves or else the chil- 

 dren of immigrants. Less than eight per cent, in fact, were the chil- 

 dren of city-born parents that is to say, were the outcome of three 

 generations of continued urban residence. In a similar investi- 

 gation of other German cities, Hansen found that nearly one half 

 their residents were of direct country descent. In London it has 

 been shown that over one third of its population are immigrants; 

 and in Paris the same is true. For thirty of the principal cities of 

 Europe it has been calculated that only about one fifth of their in- 

 crease is from the loins of their own people, the overwhelming ma- 

 jority being of country birth. One direct result of this state of 

 affairs is that cities as a rule contain more than their due proportion 

 of middle-aged adults. They do not immigrate until they have 

 attained majority; they do not marry till comparatively late in life, 

 so that children and young persons form an unusually small percent- 

 age of the entire population. The aged, moreover, often betake 

 themselves to the country after the stress of life is abated. They 

 return to their place of birth, there to spend the last days in peace. 

 These latter, together with those who are driven back to their homes 

 by the fierce competitions of city life, constitute a certain feeble 

 counter current of migration from the city outward. Yet this is 

 insignificant compared with the inflowing tide. Thousands are 

 yearly pouring into the towns, while those who emerge may be 

 numbered by hundreds, perhaps even by scores. The fact is that 

 the great majority of these immigrants either fall by the way: or 

 else their line, lacking vitality, dwindling in numbers either through 

 late marriages and few children, or else the opposite extreme of over- 

 production and abnormal mortality, comes to naught in a few gen- 

 erations. Thus the steady influx of immigration goes on. Truly, 

 cities are, as has been observed, " consumers of population." Our 

 problem here is to determine whether such consumption is being 

 applied equally to all our racial types; if not, the future of Europe, 

 ethnically, can not but be profoundly affected. The future char- 

 acter of European peoples will be largely determined by this circum- 

 stance. From the point of view of relative increase, the German 

 nation is undoubtedly in the lead, especially as compared with the 



* Die naturliche Auslese beim Menschen. Jena, 1893. 



