Abstract
A DECIDED stage in the progress of Finnish studies is marked by the sumptuous work on “Finnish Crania,” recently published by the native ethnologist, Gustavus Retzius.1 Continuing the investigations of his father, Anders Retzius, this distinguished anthropologist has at last been enabled to arrive at some definite conclusions both as regards the type itself and its geographical area. The elder writer was a warm advocate of what may be called the Finno-European theory, which is still popular amongst a certain school of fearless anthropologists, and which, since the discovery of the Cuneiform writings, has received a fresh impulse and a wider extension. This is not the place to discuss the angry question of the Finno-Ugrian relations to the Accad language and civilisation of Babylonia. But many enthusiasts will probably be disappointed to hear that the younger writer abandons his father's position, and deals a severe blow to the doctrine of a former wide-spread diffusion of the Finnish race over the greater part of Central and Western Europe. The laborious attempts of many ingenious philologists to discover traces of Ugrian affinities in the Italic and Teutonic tongues, and even to remove the Etruscan from the Aryan to the Ural-Altaic family, can scarcely be regarded as at all successful. On the other hand, a few ancient skulls presenting certain traits characteristic of the same race, together with some hatchets and other stone implements picked up here and there analogous in form to those often dug up in Finland, offered far too flimsy materials to supply a solid basis for such a vast superstructure. Hence it is not perhaps surprising that in the light of further investigation and more serious research the theory should prove to be somewhat visionary.
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References
"Finska Kranier". Skildrade af Gustaf Retzius, Stockholm, 1878.
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KEANE, A. Finnic Ethnology . Nature 21, 179–180 (1879). https://doi.org/10.1038/021179a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/021179a0