NA TURE 



[August 6, 1908 



been under the spell of the presence of a truly great 

 man ; it is impossible to describe our experiences. We 

 loved him as no master was ever before loved by his 

 disciples. We icnow something of the greatness of his 

 worli, but we are too close to him to measure its real 

 grandeur. It is only at far-away Interlaken that one 

 can see the magnificence of the Jungfrau; it will be 

 a hundred years hence that anybody will be able to 

 write justly about Kelvin. That .Vyrton should write 

 as he has done was a thing astonishing to many, but 

 quite expected by us. That Larmor should have 

 written as he has done has filled us with unspeakable 

 pleasure. 



THE STATURE OF THE RACES OF EUROPE. 



'"pHE spread of interest in anthropometry during 

 J- recent years is clearly indicated in the second 

 part of Dr. Deniker's treatise on European ethno- 

 graphy, which has just been issued by the Association 

 Fran^aise pour I'Avancement des Sciences. A com- 

 parison of the data collected by the author in this 

 paper with those he was able to draw on for his 

 Huxley memorial lecture in 1904 shows that all over 

 Europe active work is in progress, and that many 

 of the gaps in our knowledge of the physical 

 characters of the living populations are being rapidly 

 tilled. 



In the present paper Dr. Deniker has supplemented 

 his observations on the cephalic index published in 

 1899 bv a study of the average stature of the male 

 population of the various territorial units of Europe, 

 the results being shown by means of varying shades 

 and colours on a large-scale map. There are separate 

 shades for each difference of twenty-five millimetres 

 in average stature between 1599 and 1725. 



The greater part of the material available for study 

 consists of returns of the stature of conscripts in the 

 various countries, and unfortunately the mode of 

 return employed is not uniform. In some States 

 the returns include the stature of all called 

 up for service, whether ultimately enrolled or 

 not, while in others the figures for those re- 

 jected from military service on account of de- 

 ficiency in physique or other causes are omitted. 

 To obviate as far as possible the difficulty arising from 

 this difference of method Dr. Deniker has designed 

 and applied various correction factors. In the main 

 these have consisted in adding one centimetre to allow 

 for growth subsequent to the age of twenty, when the 

 average was based on the stature of all called up for 

 seivice, whether ultimately accepted or rejected; to 

 make no change when the stature of accepted indi- 

 viduals only was recorded, the deficiency of the re- 

 jected being regarded as a counterpoise to the subse- 

 quent growth of the recruits actually enrolled; and to 

 deduct a centimetre from the average when it was 

 based on measurements of soldiers between twenty- 

 two and twenty-five years of age. 



Dr. Deniker would seem to have utilised every 

 possible source of information, with the result that the 

 bibliography appended is most e.xhaustive, and is par- 

 ticularly valuable in its references to publications in 

 the various Slavic languages. The value of the aver- 

 ages as recorded on the map shows wide variation, 

 since they are based in some cases on thousands of 

 observations, and in others onlv on tens. This is 

 pointed out in the text, but it might be possible in a 

 succeeding volume to indicate by shading, not, as in 

 this case, the actual average, but the range within 

 which subsequent series of averages might be expected 

 to fall. 



NO. 2023, VOL. 78] 



Information is absolutely lacking from verv few- 

 districts, chiefly small areas in Russia and the Balkan 

 peninsula, though in these countries recent work has 

 done much to fill up the gaps appearing in previous 

 maps of the distribution of physical characters. Far 

 more regrettable is the fact that there are no returns 

 at all of stature from North Germany other than 

 Schleswig-Holstein and part of Mecklenburg. This 

 is the more astonishing; when w-e consider the stand- 

 ing and the activity in other directions of the German 

 school of anthropology. 



The map shows that the populations with the tallest 

 average stature are to be found bordering on the 

 shores of the North Sea and the Baltic in the British 

 Isles, Scandinavia, Finland, and Esthonia. These 

 people, also characterised by long heads and fair or 

 light brown hair, are termed by Dr. Deniker the 

 Nordic race. This term is coextensive with Teutonic, 

 the designation more commonly employed in this 

 country, but presents the advantage of being less liable 

 to misconception. 



The word Teutonic is rapidly tending to become 

 as comprehensive and therefore useless as the word 

 Celtic. 



.\nother zone of tall populations stretches up through 

 the Balkan peninsula into Central Europe as tar 

 as the Tyrol, and a third is situated in the Cau- 

 casus. 



These latter populations are broad-headed, and, as 

 has been pointed out by Prof. J. L. Myres, very prob- 

 ably represent a race which entered Europe at the 

 close of the Ice age from the Anatolian highlands, 

 and are referred to by Dr. Deniker as the .Adriatic or 

 Dinaric race. 



Short statures predominate in two great centres, 

 Russia, where the population is in the main broad- 

 headed, and the Italian and Iberian peninsulas, where 

 long-headedness is the rule. The former group is 

 termed the Oriental race ; the latter, usually referred 

 to in this country as the .^Iediterranean or Iberian race, 

 has been divided by Dr. Deniker into two groups, 

 according to stature. Where the average exceeds 165 

 centimetres he refers to a population as belonging to 

 the Atlanto-Mediterranean race ; where it is below this 

 level he terms them Ibero-Insular. Since in other 

 characters the two groups are very similar, it would 

 seem doubtful if the subdivision were quite necessary. 

 The remaining populations of Europe are of inter- 

 mediate stature. 



The division of the European populations into 

 northern and southern long-headed groups, the former 

 characterised by tall stature and fair hair, and the 

 latter by short stature and dark hair, rests on plainly 

 established foundations, and all the members of each 

 group are clearly related, though it is uncertain 

 whether the two main groups had a common origin 

 in comparatively recent times. The relations of the 

 central European broad-headed group are less clear, 

 and further research is needed to determine the affini- 

 ties, if any, of the Cevenole or .\lpine race of short 

 broad-heads with the short eastern European broad- 

 heads who chiefly speak Slavic languages and the 

 taller Balkan and Caucasian broad-heads. It is only 

 bv more complete knowledge and detailed analysis, 

 such as characterises the present work, that we may 

 look for answers to these and allied problems. 



The value assigned to the population of the British 

 Isles in Dr. Deniker's map is probably an example 

 of the dangers of incomplete surveys. From the 

 figures obtainable chiefly from the report of the 

 British .Association Committee in 1883, and the work 

 of Haddon and Browne, Beddoe, Gray and Tocher, it 

 would seem that this country presents the highest 



