August 15, 1901J 



NA TURE 



371 



The Neolithic dolichocephals, according to Sergi, were 

 a northern migration of a group of Homo Eurafricaihi. 

 This species may be divided into three races : — 



" The African, with red-brown and black pigmenta- 

 tion ; the Mcditcrrancitii, of brunet complexion ; a Nordic 

 race, of blond skin and hair, blue or grey eyes " (p. 259). 



The Hamitic race never invaded Europe. In the late 

 Quaternary epoch immigrations of the Eurafrican species 

 took place from Africa into Europe. On the mainland 

 of northern Europe a distinct differentiation took place 

 so far as stature and pigmentation were concerned, but 

 the cranial and facial forms were practically unaltered, 

 and the Reihengriiber type of the Germans and the 

 \'iking type of the Scandinavians were evolved. On 

 pp. 252-255 the author discusses the obvious objections 

 to this view. The whole of the Mediterranean basin, 

 western Europe and the British Islands were inhabited 

 by the brunet race. 



The problem of the African blonds is fully discussed 

 (PP' 59~83) by Prof. Sergi. After stating the views of 

 various investigators, he says, 



" It seems to me impossible to find in the blonds of 

 Africa a racial element from northern Europe. If they 

 had come at so early a period (in the times recorded by 

 the Egyptian monuments) they would have radically 

 modified Libyan civilisation beginning with funeral 

 customs and imposed their own language "(p. 72). 



In their "Libyan Notes" (1901), Messrs. D. Randall- 

 Maciver and A. Wilkin state that the Berbers of Algeria 

 are always a white-skinned people, and about ten per 

 cent, are blond or fair-haired. Sergi is satisfied that the 

 differences in colour of hair, skin and eyes between the 

 darker and the lighter people are due to the influence of 

 altitude, as the Atlas chain is the headquarters of the 

 blonds in Morocco, and he regards these mountains as 

 the centre of formation of the blond element in North 

 Africa. 



Neither of the European races of the Eurafrican species 

 has anything in common with the so-called Aryan 

 races. Sergi holds that it is an error to maintain that 

 the Germans and the Scandinavians, blond dolicho- 

 cephals, are Aryans. The Aryans are of Asiatic origin, 

 and constitute a variety of the Eurasiatic species. 



The anthropological unity of Europe, e.xisting from the 

 late Quaternary epoch and greatly increased during 

 Neolithic times, was broken, at first peacefully and to but 

 a slight extent, and afterwards violently, by a new species 

 coming from Asia. Even in Neolithic times the advance 

 guard of the wave of migration of the brachycephalic 

 Homo Eurasica had penetrated slowly and peacefully 

 into France. But then they began to come in larger and 

 hence more turbulent bodies, and caused many changes. 

 These invaders were savages inferior to the Neolithic 

 Europeans, whose civilisation they in large part destroyed, 

 replunging Europe into barbarism, also introducing the 

 new burial custom of cremation, together with other 

 customs, and transforming the existing languages into 

 their own, which was a flexional language. To-day this 

 new anthropological family, which also constitutes a zoo- 

 logical unit, bears three chief names, indicating three 

 characteristic linguistic groups — Celts, Germans, Slavs. 

 The skull of this species shows four primary forms — 

 NO. 1659, VOL. 64] 



cuboid, cuneiform or sphenoid, spheroid and platy- 

 cephalic — all corresponding to broad, brachycephalic 

 skulls which contrast with the pentagonal, ellipsoidal 

 ovoid and arrow-shaped (beloides) cranial varieties of the 

 Eurafrican species. 



Wherever the Mediterranean stock established itself it 

 preserved its primitive burial custom of inhumation and 

 the characteristic architecture of the chambered tomb. 

 This varies from the natural and artificial grottoes of the 

 Mediterranean region to nurags, pyramids, dolmens and 

 tumuli. Sergi has previously expressed the opinion that 

 the prehistoric artists of the French caves, who possessed 

 such developed artistic feeling, were the precursors of the 

 historical artists who created the marvellous works of 

 Egypt, Greece and Rome ; but he strongly holds the 

 view that the Myceniuan or .Egean civilisation was largely 

 of Asiatic origin, although he does not subscribe to the 

 theory of Montelius that "the Mycenaean civilisation in 

 Greece is due, not to an influence from another country, 

 but to immigration of a new people." Sergi believes that 

 the.\siatic immigrants, Pelasgo-Tyrrhenians and possibly 

 others, were not anthropologically foreign to the Mediter- 

 ranean stock. These, and the inhabitants of the .-Egean 

 Islands and the Peloponnesus, already possessed a pre- 

 Mycentean civilisation in common with the Afro- 

 Mediterranean civilisation, but the new culture was the 

 result of -Asiatic influences, probably Mesopotamian and 

 Hittite. 



The introduction of bronze into Europe has been a 

 fruitful subject for discussion. Sergi has given up the 

 Celtic theory, and now believes that the importation of 

 bronze was due to the Mediterraneo-Oriental culture. 



The use of a script is so ancient that it had already 

 reached definite shape in the Magdalenian epoch, that is 

 to say earlier than the Neolithic times, as is proved by 

 the painted pebbles in the cave of Mas d'Azil in the 

 south of France ; and writing signs were widely dififused 

 in countries peopled by the Mediterranean race in very 

 ancient times. The languages of these peoples were also 

 of Eurafrican origin, corresponding to the languages 

 otherwise called Hamitic. 



It is evident that this book bristles with debatable 

 points, and we may look forward to interesting discussions 

 from all quarters, as the intrepid Italian savant does not 

 belong to any one school of Continental thought. Doubt- 

 less Prof. Ridgeway, for one,will have something to say to 

 Prof. Sergi when the second volume of his " Early Age 

 of Greece " is published. A. C. H. 



A MECHANISM FOR THE TRANSMISSION 



OF STIMULI IN PLANTS. 



Die Reizleitung und die reizleitenden Struktureti bci den 



Pflamen. Von Dr. B. Nemec. Mit 3 tafeln und lo 



abbild. im Text. Pp. 153. (Jena: Verlag von Gustav 



Fischer, 1901.) Price Mk. 7. 



T T has long been known that certain parts of many 



plants are capable of being irritated by appropriate 



means, and that the stimulus thus perceived is in some 



way transmitted through an intervening quiescent region 



to a spot or zone at which it is translated into a definite 



motile reaction. But it has also been constantly denied 



that there exists in plants anything comparable to th^ 



