NEW THEORY OF REVOLUTIONS AND REBELLIONS.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 2263, 8 May 1891, Page 6

NEW THEORY OF REVOLUTIONS AND REBELLIONS.

Historians!, a.rs joftejiri called upon to decidefb.et^ee^rflyflJu.bipnsiaip^WbeflHonL Manyoarev-thetieatureS'thßy. have in comradn, ofor -.even < rthe i{ most < ieaiti'mate* ' of revolutions cannob be accomplished with* out& certain, amounttofryiolejacev Success on non -success in the course* of yearS'is of tea- the only piftbf 6'f the legitimacyor iliegitikria^. 'of^tKe* '/agitaVipn 6jE its physio.tpgiQal or', patholpgfca} character. ,A study, fthereforej of ttheit natures and theicafusfes of < their -being ' in agitations ' ' in' which ' they appilai*^ ; will ' giyle us, \iti >pure s.p'ution, as the, chemists would say, the true character and the true causes of those' great evolutions which are called revolutions, distinguishing them perfectly f rooi> revolts. Working on these lines, Lombroso proceeds to examine the various' conditions — the milieux, so to speak — in which revolutions and ,revdl!;s arise — the physical, anthropological, social, political, and economical causes from which they spring. Climate, for instance, and

' METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS strongly influence the abundance or rarity of insurrections, going far also to determine their revolutionary or seditious character. In extremes of heat arid cold, insurrections .are rare. Moderate heat, on tbe other hand, especially if dry,, being favourable to social and political evolution, by reason of the greater energy it infuses into nerve and muscle, is favourable to agitations. Lombroso gives , tables showing that, as in the ancient world so in the modern, revolutions and revolts are most abundant in Europe during the spring and summer. Dryness of the atmosphere, hastening the process of loss and reparation of the nervous system, renders a people excitable and, ready to revolt. Thus is explained also the well -known turbulence and impatience of control of mountaineers, recognised from the times of Pisistratus to our own. If the mountain be too high, however, the rarefaction of the atmosphere lias a depressing effect \ geniuses cease to appear ; the race deteriorates physically, morally, and politically.

RACE HAS ALSO AN ENORMOUS INFLUENCE on popular movements. Dolichocephalouu and fair people are much more inclined t& agitations than bracbycephalous and dark ones. Thus, in the Frpnch Revolution, out of 89 great innovators and revolutionaries, 20 were brachycephalous, 69 dolichocephalous. Tho northern fair races of Europe, which lead the vanguard of civilisation, can show the records of few revolts, but of some great revolutions; while the dark races of the extreme south present us with instances of many revolts, but few great revolutions, Eurther, abundance or poverty of food, the use or abuse of alcoholic drinks, largely influence insurrectionary movements. Extremes of abundance or poverty depress mind and body, and, while they may favour revolts, are hostile to revolutions. ALCOHOLISM IS FATAL to all ptrictly revolutionary movements, while it is most fertile in seditions. The impetuous character of revolts is still further shown by the fact that women and youths are constantly found as their instigators and furtherers, while in revolutions appear men of mature age. Trua, among the Nihilists, many women are to be fonnd, but this Lombroso treats as an exception, adducing various social reasons to explain it, such as the fact that Nihilism represents the mystic-religious tendency iuhefited from the horrors of famine, fire, and inundation in Russia, which has been turned into a political tendency, as is well expressed by the women when they exclaim, speaking of the Revolution, " Thou art my beloved spouse," in the same manner as saints and nuns salute Christ. — Helen Zimmern, in Blackwood's Magazine.