Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/212

202 A final step in our constitution of races—that is, of hereditary types—is to prove that they are persistent; that like father like son corresponds to the facts in the case. Of direct testimony we possess nothing. No single investigator, save perhaps Galton, has to my knowledge followed down a line from one generation to another. Anthropologists are human themselves. The life of man is all too short to cover such tasks. But of indirect proof we have plenty. We know, for example, that in the north of Europe, as far back as archæology can carry us, men of a type of head form identical with the living population to-day were in a majority. Likewise the lake dwellers in Switzerland in the stone age, little more civilized than the natives of Africa, were true ancestors of the present Alpine race. Prehistoric archæology thus comes to our aid with cumulative proof that at all events traits are hereditary in populations, even if not always so in men. In truth, we here enter upon a larger field of investigation than the anthropological one. The whole topic of heredity opens up before us, too immense to discuss in this place. Suffice it to say that in the main no question is entertained upon the subject, save in the special cases of artificially acquired characteristics and the like.

After this tedious summary of methods, let us turn to results. The table on this page shows the combinations of traits into racial types which seem best to accord with the facts. It speaks for itself.

The first of our races is perhaps the most characteristic. It is entirely restricted to northwestern Europe, with a center of dispersion in Scandinavia. Our portraits, chosen as typical by Dr. Arbo of the Norwegian army, show certain of the physical peculiarities, especially the great length of the head, the long oval face, and the straight aquiline nose. The face is rather smooth in outline, the cheek bones not being prominent. The narrow nose seems to be a very constant trait, as much so as the