Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/307

Rh the head by expressing the breadth in percentage of the length from front to back. This is known as the cephalic index. We have also seen that a high index—that is, a broad head—is the most permanent characteristic of the so-called Alpine race of central Europe. This type is bounded on the north by the long-headed and blond Teutons, on the south by a similarly long-headed Mediterranean stock, which is, however, markedly brunette. It is with these three racial types that we have mainly to do in this paper. Passing over all technicalities, our map of cephalic index shows the location of the Alpine racial type by its darker tints; while, in proportion as the shades become lighter, the prevalency of long and narrow heads increases.

The significance of these differences in head form to the eye is manifested by the three portraits at hand. The northern long-headed blond type, with its oval face and narrow chin, is not unlike the Mediterranean one in respect of its cranial conformation. This particular Teutonic type is slightly misleading, from the mode of dressing the hair, which tends to exaggerate the width at the forehead. The Alpine populations of central France are exemplified by rather an extreme type in our portrait, in which the head is almost globular, while the face is correspondingly round. Such extremes are rare. They indicate the tendency, however, with great distinctness. The contrast between the middle type and either extreme is well marked. Even with differences but half as great as those between our portrait types, it is no wonder that Durand and other early observers should have insisted that they were real and not the product of imagination. They may have erred in their explanations, although not in their facts.

Recalling the physical geography of the country, as we have described it, the most patent feature of our map of cephalic index is a continuous belt of long-headedness, which extends from Flanders to Bordeaux on the southwest. It covers what we have termed the main axis of fertility of France. A second strip of long-headed population fringes the fertile Mediterranean coast, with a tendency to spread up the Rhone Valley. In fact, these two areas of long-headed populations show a disposition to unite south of Lyons in a narrow light strip. This divides the dark-colored areas of Alpine people into two wings. One of these