Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899Various
History
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, March 1899: Volume LIV, No. 5, March 1899
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
As for the second trait, the exaggerated broad-headedness, it too,
like the tallness of stature, seems to center about Herzegovina and
Montenegro. Thus at Scutari, in the corner of Albania near this
last-named country, Zampa[19] found a cranial index of 89; in
Herzegovina the index upon the living head ranges above 87. It would
be difficult to exceed this brachycephaly anywhere in the world. The
square foreheads and broad faces of the people correspond in every way
to the shape of the heads. Its significance appears immediately on
comparison with the long oval faces of the Greeks.
One more trait of the Balkan Slavs remains for us to note. The people
are mainly pure brunets, as we might expect, but they seem to be less
dark than either the Greeks or the Turks. Especially among the
Albanians are light traits by no means infrequent. In this respect the
contrast with the Greeks is apparent, as well as with the Dalmatians
along the coast and the Italians in the same latitude across the
Adriatic. Weisbach found nearly ten per cent of blond and red hair
among his Bosnian soldiers, while about one third of the eyes were
either gray or blue. The Herzegovinians are even lighter than the
Bosnians, almost as much so as the Albanians. From consideration of
these facts it would appear as if the harsh climate of these upland
districts had been indeed influential in setting off the inland
peoples from the Italian-speaking Dalmatians along the coast. For
among the latter brunetness certainly increases from north to south,
conformably to the general rule for the rest of Europe. In the
interior, blondness apparently moves in the contrary direction,
culminating in the mountain fastnesses of northern Albania and the
vicinity. On the whole, we find also in this trait of brunetness
competent evidence to connect these Illyrians with the great body of
the Alpine race farther to the west. We have another illustration of
its determined predilection for a mountainous habitat, in which it
stoutly resists all immigrant tendencies toward variation from its
primitive type.
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