224 SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN MIND 



to which reference has already been made. Con- 

 sidered physically, European people differ chiefly in 

 three characters : stature, coloration, and skull- 

 shape. On the average of large numbers, moving 

 northward, until we approach the arctic region, the 

 stature becomes greater and the colouring fairer, 

 while, the farther to the south we go, the shorter and 

 darker becomes the population. In the intermediate 

 Alpine region, stature and colouring are intermediate 

 also. But the head shape tells a different tale. 

 While both north and south folk are long-skulled, 

 the people of the hills are broader skulled than 

 either of the others. 



To explain these facts we have to suppose three 

 primary races a tall fair race, found in its greatest 

 purity round the shores of the Baltic, a short dark 

 race stationed about the Mediterranean coasts and up 

 the Atlantic seaboard, both with long skulls, and a 

 broad-headed race, intermediate in colour and stature, 

 inhabiting the mountainous regions of Central Europe. 

 We have already pointed out that the history of Europe 

 is the story of the interaction of these three races. 



Similar methods of investigation, using often other 

 characters such as the texture of the hair, have been 

 applied to the physical anthropology of other con- 

 tinents, where more primitive folk are to be found. 



The Origin of Species raised anew the great question 

 of the origin of the human race. It was treated in 

 detail in 1863 by Huxley in his book, Man's Place in 

 Nature, and by Darwin himself in 1871 in a work 

 named The Descent of Man. 



It is a curious psychological fact that, whether in 

 studying family history or in speculating about the 



