Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 52.djvu/490

472 surely identified as a bit of the prehistoric Cro-Magnon race persisting here in relative purity. These ethnic facts correspond to physical ones; three areas of geographical isolation dark-colored are



distinct centers of distribution of the Alpine race. These differ in intensity. The high Alps of Savoy are the most isolated of all; Auvergne, the south central plateau, follows next in order. These two are populated by quite pure Alpine types. Brittany, most accessible of the three, contains only an attenuation of this broad headed race, the Teutons having infiltrated through it quite generally.

The organization of the family is the surest criterion of the stage of social evolution attained by a people. No other phase of human association is so many-sided, so fundamental, so pregnant for the future. For this reason we may properly begin our study by an examination of a phenomenon which directly concerns the stability of the domestic institution—viz., divorce. What are the facts as to its distribution in France? Owing to the influence of the Catholic Church, no actual divorces were allowed by law in that country prior