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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



distinctions, on which ethnographic classifi- 

 cations have for some time been assumed, 

 are likewise very fallacious. People have 

 been capable of changing their vocabulary 

 and their grammar, and even of discarding 

 their whole language and adopting another 

 of diiferent spirit. The groups of the hu- 

 man race are, as a whole, the product of his- 

 torical changes in the different phases of 

 their existence, and the influence of the sur- 

 roundings in which they have developed 

 themselves. Professor Hal6vy supports M. 

 Rosny's theory, and believes that nations 

 may change their language, their disposition, 

 and their moral character, according to the 

 surroundings among which they live, and 

 according to their institutions. Africans, 

 for example, show a change from the mo- 

 ment they become Mohammedans. The 

 word " race " should no longer be used in 

 ethnology. " When I was in Abyssinia," 

 be says, " during the war between England 

 and King Theodore, it was quite impossible 

 to distinguish a Hindoo in the British ser- 

 vice, when he was stripped, from a native 

 Abyssinian. Even Theophrastus was aware 

 of the striking similarity, and classed the 

 Indians and Abyssinians together as Ethio- 

 pians." 



The Check in the Growth of France.— 



The attention of French economists has been 

 drawn for several years to the fact that the 

 population of their country is not increasing, 

 but shows rather a tendency, in many parts 

 of the country, to diminish. The tendency 

 is steadily manifested, in several depart- 

 ments, to a greater degree than in others, 

 and has been maintained with considerable 

 uniformity in those departments where it is 

 most marked. The departments in which 

 the decrease is most observable are the 

 group in Languedoc and the group in Nor- 

 mandy. Of the five Norman departments, 

 only one, that of the Lower Seine, shows an 

 increase, and the increase there is solely due 

 to the attraction of the large towns of Havre 

 and Rouen. The tendency of population to 

 gravitate toward the cities, at the expense 

 of the rural districts, is as marked in France 

 as in other countries, and contributes its 

 quota toward retarding the growth of the 

 country as a whole ; for mankind are less 

 prolific in towns than in the country. A 



few departments show an increase of popu- 

 lation, and these, curiously, are about even- 

 ly divided between the richest and the poor- 

 est departments in the nation. The cause 

 of the stationary condition of the population 

 is found, by those who endeavor to account 

 for it, in the evenly comfortable situation of 

 the people. They are contented with things 

 as they are, and avoid having large families, 

 in order to evade extra exertion and prevent 

 the diminution of their estates that would 

 follow if there were many heirs to divide 

 them among. Every one aims to live and 

 save, so as to leave his children as well off 

 as himself, and a little better off if possible. 

 Hence very few have more than three chil- 

 dren. All the large towns have increased 

 enormously during the present century, at 

 such a rate that, if the population of the 

 whole country had increased at the same 

 rate, France would have had seventy-five 

 million inhabitants, or would have been as 

 densely populated as England. Had it not 

 been, in fact, for the augmentation of the 

 populations of Paris, Lyons, and Marseilles, 

 the population of all France would have act- 

 ually diminished during the last five years. 

 This augmentative population, except as it 

 is of foreign origin, contributes, as we have 

 seen, to the tendency to depletion of the 

 aggregate. 



Anthropology in Italy.— Anthropology 

 is studied in Italy with considerable zeal, 

 and nearly every large town has its collec- 

 tion and its specialist of repute. The coun- 

 try, as may be judged from the figure it has 

 made in history, is rich in monuments dat- 

 ing from a very great antiquity. In upper 

 Italy earth-walls have I'ecently been discov- 

 ered on the mountain-heights, which are at- 

 tributed to the Celts. The plains of Lom- 

 bardy and Emilia have furnished numerous 

 remains of lake-dwellings, which have been 

 studied by Pigorini, Strobel, and Chierici, 

 and are represented in the collections of 

 Parma and Reggio. Not less important are 

 the Etruscan necropolis of Margabotto and 

 that of the Cerlosa of Bologna. Bologna 

 has its newly built Museo Civico under the 

 direction of Gozzodini, and the accomplished 

 geologist Capelini, who has discovered traces 

 of cannibalism in a cave on the Island of 

 Palmaria. The Olmo skull, which Cocchi 



