Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/358

 344 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

vain to avoid this objection by placing the cradle of the Aryans in southern Sweden. This localization appears to be accurate only for the primitive Germans. The country would have been too small for the various Aryan peoples, who had become differ- entiated to a degree which presupposes a considerable geo- graphical separation. Moreover, even in Scandinavia some brachycephalics are found in the neolithic sepultures. Lastly, it is certain that even early in the neolithic period H. Europaiis had already a wide area of dispersion around the North Sea and the southern part of the Baltic.

THE BRACHYCEPHALIC HYPOTHESIS.

The supporters of the brachycephalics' claim to Aryan glory are somewhat numerous. Behind Mortillet and Topinard are ranged Sergi and Ripley ; the ethnographic and philological division is led by Taylor ; and the more practical part of the campaign appears to have been taken up by M. Drumont and his anti-Semitic guerillas.'

This hypothesis is, however, even less sustainable than that of Penka. It is one of the forms of that oriental mirage which makes both the people and the civilization of Europe appear to its victims to rise out of the East. The conception of Mortillet and Topinard is that the brachycephalics came from Asia, swing- ing the hatchet of polished stone, and leading the domestic ani- mals. They are supposed, also, to have introduced wheat and various useful plants and trees. Now, in the Portuguese Kjdk- kenmoddings, m the grottos of the region of Corbieres, and in other localities also, the brachycephalic appears anterior to the neolithic epoch. He has not, therefore, brought the tools of polished stone. On the other hand, the asylian deposits of the

' By reason of the prominence of the anti-Semitic movement and the unpleasant notoriety which it has given to the term " Aryan," it is desirable to indicate in what sense the word is used by these agitators. The anti-Semitics assume the title "Aryan" for our brachycephalic masses. In point of fact, the real representative of the Aryans, the dolichocephalic-blond, has not much more liking for the anti-Semitic campaign than has the Jew himself. M. Drumont has no love for the Anglo-Saxons, and perhaps he is right, for it little rj \'.ters to the brachycephalic, destined, in any case, to be con- trolled by some other clement, what is the nasal profile of his master.