The Racial Elements in the Present Population of Europe 1

Abstract

THE lecturer opened his discourse with a graceful acknowledgment of the honour conferred upon him by the Anthropological Institute, and paid a respectful tribute to the memory of Huxley, who was the first to make the two-fold division of the peoples of Europe into xanthochroid and rnelanochroid races. With the name of Huxley he coupled the names of Beddoe and Broca as pioneers in European ethnographical research. To the two races mentioned above a third was soon added—the Mediterranean race—and the lecturer himself had in 1897 made a further step by dividing the population of Europe into six main races. He then dealt with criticisms which had been passed upon his own theories, chiefly by the American ethnologist Ripley, and stated that the further researches upon which he had continually been engaged since that date, and of which he was about to lay the results before the audience, had confirmed him in his first opinion. During a considerable number of years he had been diligently collecting statistics concerning the stature, colour of eyes and hair, and head measurements of the various nationalities, and now, in spite of certain lacunae, some of which he regretted to observe occurred in Britain, he was able to say that he possessed data covering the whole of Europe.