Of the 4,400 persons observed, about thirty-eight per cent. were born in the city of Bristol, and about seven in the suburbs. Of the remainder,-to whom we must look for the sources of increase of the population,-two-fifths were natives of the rural districts of Somersetshire and Gloucestershire; one-fourth, of the towns situated in those counties, or in Devon and Wilts, or of the metropolis; and the residue came mostly from the nearer parts of South Wales, from Munster, from the rural districts of Devon and Wilts; and in smaller proportions from Herefordshire, Dorset, Cornwall, and more remote counties. Observation of the surnames most prevalent in Bristol leads me to think that Somersetshire, still the chief recruiting ground for the city population, must in former times have contributed still more largely; and that the immigration from South Wales was formerly greater than it is at present. We may expect, therefore, to obtain some light on the question at issue, by comparing the native Bristolians, firstly, with the whole residue of persons observed; and secondly, with those from the least distant districts; and we may then proceed to compare the natives of the surrounding towns with those of the open country. For the sake of brevity and clearness, I will speak only of the index of nigrescence, and of the proportion of dark eyes to light, the latter being always reckoned as 100. I find, then, that the Bristolian index of nigrescence is 1 below that of the remainder; but that the proportion of dark eyes to light is higher by 9 per cent. In the eastern part of Somerset, the ratio of dark eyes is exactly as in Bristol; but the index for the hair is higher in the proportion of 39 to 334. In the whole county, including the Celtic population of the west, the eyes grow lighter by 6 per cent.; but the hair is still darker, exceeding that of Bristol by 9. In the county of Gloucester, excluding the Forest of Dean, the eyes are lighter by 4, and the hair by 7. And in the four counties of Somerset, Gloucester, Devon, and Wilts, taken together, still excluding the towns, the hair is darker than in Bristol by 2, and the eyes lighter by 7. In the suburbs of me to be attended with a gradual change in the prevailing forms of the cranium,* if not of the trunks and limbs. Beyond the Severn, in like manner, the physical type becomes more purely Kymric (or Kymro-Iberic ?) as we proceed from the coast towards the mountainous interior. In the coast districts and low lands of Monmouthshire and Glamorgan, the ancient seats of Saxon, Norman, and Flemish colonisation, I find the indices of hair and eyes so low as 33.5 and 63; while in the interior, excluding the children of English and Irish immigrants, the figures rise to 573 and 109-5,-this last ratio indicating a prevalence of dark eyes, surpassing what I have met with in any other part of Britain. In laying down just now the rule, that in this part of England the amount of dark hair coincides with and indicates the amount of pre-Teutonic blood, I must guard myself from being supposed to ignore the differences of type and of race which may have existed before the landing of Cerdic. I have but just mentioned one of the peculiarities that distinguish the Kymro-Iberic from the Gaelic Celt, or, to put aside theory as much as possible, the pure Welshman from the pure Irishman,—I mean the much greater frequency of dark eyes. Both these races I believe to have been represented in the west of England. Nor do I wish to undervalue the possible effects of that miscellaneous and promiscuous colonisation of Britain by the Romans, which has been investigated by Mr. Wright with his accustomed ability, and of which, I think, I have observed some traces in the course of the present inquiry. The majority of such colonists, and of the aboriginal tribes, would probably be dark haired; and unless we admit that they were so, and that they have transmitted this characteristic to their descendants, I can at present see no possible explanation of the phenomena which I have briefly laid before you. The most common form in the west is that which my friend, Professor Wilson, of Toronto, in his recent paper on the "Physical Characteristics of the Ancient and Modern Celt," characterises as the pear-shaped, or BritishCeltic type. My own observations on this subject are hardly ripe for publication. |