12 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



have been transferred from race to race, by con- 

 quest, or by proximity and slow absorption. Of the 

 three characteristics, race is the only one which is pro- 

 bably fundamental in determining the genius alike 

 of an individual and of a nation. 



When first examined, the peoples of Europe seem 

 endless in the variety of their physical characters. 

 Yet, by studying the shape of the head, the texture 

 of the hair, the stature and the colouring, anthro- 

 pologists have found that, as we approach three 

 definite regions, three definite combinations of char- 

 acters are found in greater and greater purity. Hence 

 the broad outlines of European ethnology have been 

 explained by the hypothesis of three main races, 

 taking their respective origins in these three regions, 

 and giving rise to the complexity of existing conditions 

 by racial mixture and interpenetration across their 

 lines of contact. This view is in agreement with 

 what historical evidence is available ; indeed, the 

 history of Europe is in its essence the story of the 

 interaction of these races with each other, and with 

 those other peoples that touch them on the east and 

 south. 



The earliest stratum of population still represented 

 largely in Europe were the comparatively short, dark- 

 haired and long-headed people, seen in their greatest 

 purity in present populations of southern and eastern 

 Spain, southern France, Italy as far north as Rome, 

 and to a less degree in Wales, Cornwall and West 

 Devon, the west of Ireland and parts of Scotland. 



In the north-west of Europe and in lands, con- 

 tinental and insular, which are washed by the North 

 Sea, there has been, ever since historic and indeed 



