perhaps be arranged synoptically in the following manner, where
dark types are given, in proportion to light, letting light == 10.
Nationality Number Eyes Hair Complexion Dark Fair
Scandinavian .. (6,782) 2 : 10 2 10 2 10 2 10
German (89,021) „ 4 : 10 4 10 4 10 . 4 10
Scotch T . . . 7,313 4 : 10 5 1$: ‘ 4 10 4 10 •
English . . . . 30,037 4 : 10 5 10 4 10 4 10
Irish . . . . . 83,128 3 : 10 6 10 5 10 5 10
North American . 544,000 5 : 10 7 10 4 10 5 10
French . . . . 6,809 9 : 10 . 9 lo ■ 12 10 10 10
Sonth European . 897 14 : io 31 10 36 10 27 ,10
Scandinavians, and with them Norwegians, are thns characterised
on the whole, as the fairest among the so-called white races, just
as we have seen that they are the tallest (after the Americans) and
the broadest.
For the last 21 years, it has been possible to find anthropological
data in our own recruiting statistics, which, however, do
not include the three most northern provinces. The results for
the last few periods of five years may be summed up as follows:
i878—82 1883—87 1888—92 . 1893—97
Height (average of battalions) 168.8 cm. 169.1 cm. 169.6 cm. 170.1 cm.:
Less than 158 cm.................... ' 1.9 % 1.9 °/o 1.4 % 1.3 S/o’ ^
F it for service (line) . . . .62.0 % 58.0 %■ 65.0 % 66.0 i k : i
Of weak frame . . . . . 8,7 % 6.0 % 3.3 °/o ' 2 3 &
These figures show a constant and rapid improvement in the
physical development of Norwegians during this period. The height
has not yet indeed reached that of the Norwegian volunteers in
America in the sixties, but the latter were, on an average, older,
and growth after 22 years of age is without doubt considerable
(in a battalion observed to be about 3 cm. from 22 to 25); Full-grown
Norwegians are, now, on an average, scarcely less than 172 cm.
(5 ft. 7 | in.), and the Americans’ former maximum among the
white races is probably reached. The Norwegians in the most
northerly provinces are above the average.
It has been thought that the extraordinarily large amount of
emigration during these 2D . years would lower the physical efficiency
of the nation. Recruiting statistics show, however, that the
reverse is the case, and that in years of great emigration in the
districts, there is a better quality in those left behind (a greater
percentage of able-bodied men, fewer men incapable of all military
service, fewer with narrow chest or with weak frame).
The Norwegians are no more an unmixed race in an anthropological
sense than any other European nation. C. 0. A r b o ’s comprehensive
investigations have shown that a distinction must be
made between two pronounced anthropological types. There is a
type which possesses in a marked degree those very qualities already
mentioned, which characterise Norwegians as a whole, namely,
great height and fairness • (white skin, fair hair and blue eyes). I t
proves to be further marked by the form of its skull. I t is a
dolichocephalic (cephalic index about 75, of living persons about 77),
with narrow, straight forehead, strongly-marked superciliary arch,
flat lateral surfaces, and a somewhat projecting occiput, and powerful
muscular attachments. The face is long, the nose narrow and
prominent. The. occurrence elsewhere of these characteristic features
shows that this is the true. Germanic, or rather Aryan type.
By the side of this type, we find, however, another — the
brachycephalic type (cephalic index about 83, of living persons
about 84), with a more rounded forehead, and less pointed occiput,
a shorter face and a broader nose on a flatter base. This type
seems originally to have been dark-complexioned,' as a yellowish
complexion, dark hair and brown eyes, are far more general than
among the dolichocephali. Height only medium. The type is
certainly closely related to the Central European brachycephali in
South Germany, France, etc., the Alpine type.
Between these two anthropological types, a ' very extensive
crossing has of course taken place. A r b o ’s investigations, however,
show that there are many districts in the country where the long-
skulled type appears in a tolerably pure form, and with marked
mental characteristics, and others where the short skulls, with their
peculiar mental habit, are the prevailing. The latter is especially
the case along the coast as far as it has been examined, and in
a few of the forest districts inland. One specially strong centre of
the. short skulls is in the Stavanger province, where they perhaps
amount to 8/<l Even there, however, the Aryan element in the
6