Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 50.djvu/787

Rh thus equally shaded there are about the same proportions of traits or types, as the case may be, which are entitled to be called brunette.

In a rough way, the extremes in the distribution of the blond and brunette varieties within the population of Europe are as follows. At the northern limit we find that about one third of the people are pure blondes, characterized by light hair and blue eyes; about one tenth are pure brunettes; the remainder, over one half, being mixed with a tendency to blondness. On the other hand, in the south of Italy the pure blondes have almost entirely disappeared. About one half the population are pure brunettes, with deep brown or black hair, and eyes of a corresponding shade; and the other half is mixed, with a tendency to brunetteness. The half-and-half line seems to lie about where it ought, not far from the Alps. Yet it does not follow the parallels of latitude. A circle, described with Copenhagen as a center, sweeping around near Vienna, across the middle of Switzerland, thence up through the British Isles, might serve roughly to indicate such a boundary. North of it blondness prevails, although always with an appreciable percentage of pure brunettes. South of it brunetteness finally dominates quite exclusively. It should not fail of 'note that toward the east there is a slight though constant increase of brunetteness along the same degrees of latitude and that the western portion of the British Isles is a northern outpost of the brunette type.

Thus we see at a glance that there is a gradual though constant increase in the proportion of dark eyes and hair from north to south. There are none of those sharp contrasts which appeared upon our map showing the distribution of the long and broad heads in Europe. On that map the extremes were separated by only half a continent in either direction from the Alps; whereas in this case the change from dark to light covers the whole extent of the continent. It is as if a blending wash had been spread over the map of head form, toning down all its sharp racial division lines. Some cause other than race has evidently exerted an influence upon all types of men alike, tending to obliterate their physical differences. It is not a question of Celt, Slav, or Teuton. It lies deeper than these. The Czechs in Bohemia are as much darker than the Poles to the north of them, both being Slavic; as the Bavarians exceed the Prussians