ANTHROPOLOGICAL MISCELLANEA.

An EXAMINATION of some OFFICIAL STATISTICS relating to the POPULATION of FINLAND. By A. L. LEWIS, F.C.A., M.A.I.

A SHORT time ago I became possessed of a small work entitled "Renseignements sur la Population de Finlande," by C. E. F. Ignatius, Chief of the Statistical Bureau, and published at Helsingfors in 1869 at the expense of the Government. This little work, which I have now the pleasure of presenting to our library, is very well got up, and contains nine nicely executed maps of the country, coloured to illustrate the tables of statistics.

The Grand Duchy of Finland was united to the Russian Empire in 1809, but continued to enjoy its own government, constitution, and laws; it is about two-thirds the size of France, and the climate, though naturally much more severe than our own, is said to be, like that of Scandinavia, milder than that of Siberia, Labrador, Greenland, and other parts of the world in the same latitude. Although the registered population in 1865 was only 1,843,253, it was of considerable interest from an anthropological point of view, as it included Finns (so called), Lapps, Swedes, and Russians, besides more than 40,000 Greeks.

The country is divided into 50 arrondissements, of which the most northerly one is inhabited by Lapps, who in 1865 were 6,415 in number-less than one to a square kilomètre. The statistics show a lower average of crimes, deaths, marriages, and births amongst the Lapps than amongst the other populations as a whole, which may partly be accounted for by the difficulty of registration amongst such a people in such a country. The illegitimate births registered there are low-3 to 5 in every hundred.

The arrondissement of Euröpää, no part of which is more than thirty miles from St. Petersburgh, is set down as exclusively Russian; its population in 1865 was 32,694. The crimes registered in this department were rather low; the births, deaths, and marriages at a medium rate; and the growth of population from 1840 to 1865 decidedly low, as compared to those in other arrondissements. As the density of the population was at the highest rural rate, namely, between 10 and 20 to the square kilomètre, it may be supposed that the slower growth of the population is due to the fact of its having been more fully populated before 1840 than other arrondissements. The illegitimate births were low-3 to 5 in every hundred.

The Swedes (and I suppose the Greeks, though they are not

distinguished) were distributed in 14 arrondissements bordering on the sea, and one (the Isles of Aland) surrounded by it. Of these 15 the last named is said to have contained more than 90 per cent. of Swedes. Its population was comparatively thick, marriages high, births and deaths and growth of population medium, illegitimate births 5 to 8 in every hundred, but crimes at the lowest rate, perhaps from a possible difficulty in escaping detection and apprehension. In the other 14 mixed arrondissements Swedes were found in varying proportions from 2 to 90 per cent. of the population. Helsingfors and Abo, the two largest places in the country, with populations exceeding (in 1865) 25,000 and 18,000 respectively, are situated in two of these arrondissements, and in them crimes, marriages, and illegitimate births attained their highest proportions; this is only what might be expected, but the average of crime is probably unduly swelled, as the births, deaths, and marriages appear to have depended mainly on lists compiled by the clergy, whose attention is evaded by many inhabitants of the towns, while the records of crime must have been obtained from other and more all-embracing sources.

Finally we have 33 arrondissements which are said to have been practically all Finnish, and here I may say M. Ignatius points out that these people call themselves Suomalaiset,' and do not appear to have got into Finland from their habitations on the middle Wolga till the eighth century of our era-600 years after Tacitus introduced the name Fenni; they are generally classed as "Turanians," but I have no statistics as to their physical characteristics. In these 33 arrondissements the density of the population varied from less than 1 to 11.20 inhabitants in the square kilomètre, and its rate of growth, marriage, death, fecundity, crime, and illegitimacy were no less various.

In a country so large the conditions of life must be very varied, and it is no doubt greatly owing to this that, although I have diligently scrutinised these statistics, I have not been able to deduce any general conclusions from them, except that the illegitimate birth rate of the Lapps and Russians is said to have been from 3 to 5 per cent. only, and that of the almost entirely Swedish population of the Isles of Äland from 5 to 8 per cent., while that of the Swedish and Finnish arrondissements varied from below 3 to over 10 per cent., the latter figure being attained not only in Helsingfors and Abo, which gave 21 and 14 per cent. respectively, but in rural arrondissements, where the Finns perhaps contribute the highest number, although, on the other hand, in the arrondissement containing Wiborg, the third largest place in the country (population over 8,000), and considered as purely Finnish, the rate was only from 3 to 5 per cent., and its purity is commented on by

1 Mr. Howorth says that this means Marshmen." (See "Westerly Driftings, &c., Part 9, Fins."-Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. ii, p. 205.)

2 Mr. Howorth quotes Mr. De Capel Brooke as describing the Finns as tall and fair.

M. Ignatius. The percentage of illegitimate births varied then in 1861-5 from under 3 to over 21 per cent. in different localities, but the general average of the whole of Finland was nearly 7 out of every hundred. In England the rate of illegitimacy has declined from 7 per cent. in 1845 to between 6 and 61 in 1863-5, and 5.2 in 1873, varying in the latter year from 4 per cent. in London, Surrey, and Middlesex, to 11 per cent. in Cumberland. In Scotland the rate is higher than in England, and in Wurtemburg and Bavaria higher still.

The general birth rate in Finland in 1861-5 was 3.73 per cent. of the inhabitants, while that of England varied in 1868 from 3.19 in Devon to 4.29 in Durham, so that there was no great difference between the two countries in that respect.

The best kept registers of deaths in Finland seem to have been those of some Lutheran congregations, but they disclose a very inferior duration of life to that prevailing in this country as given by our colleague, Mr. Cornelius Walford, in his excellent "Insurance Guide and Handbook." Thus out of every hundred persons born in 1860, 1861, 1862

The Finnish statistics do not divide the deaths into periods after 50, a fact which speaks for itself.

From 1865 to 1869 great hardships were endured by the people of Finland, and the birth rate decreased, while the death rate, which in 1860, 1861, and 1862 was, as I have shown, very high, increased to one in every thirteen people, and more than three deaths for every birth; but the years 1860, 1861, and 1862 may, I think, be taken as not showing any unusual mortality.

In conclusion, I may perhaps be allowed to point out that the fact that these statistics are about twenty years old makes them more valuable, as we all know that populations everywhere become more mixed and lose their distinguishing characteristics more and more quickly every year.

DR. FINSCH'S COLLECTION of CASTS.

DR. OTTO FINSCH has prepared a large collection of plaster casts, taken from living individuals, illustrating the physiognomy of the various peoples whom he studied during his travels in the South Sea Islands between 1879 and 1882. These casts may be obtained on terms to be had on application to Dr. Finsch, in Bremen.

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INDEX.