VARIATION IN MAN AND WOMAN. 249 



the size of the female pelvis, which acts as a gauge, as it were, of 

 the race, and eliminates the largest infants, especially those with 

 large heads (and presumably more brains), by preventing their sur- 

 vival at birth." 



It must be added, however, that no direct and final demonstration 

 has been brought forward of the tendency to the elimination of the 

 males (or even infants independently of sex) of the greatest weight 

 or those having the largest heads. For this we require to compare 

 male and female stillborn infants at full term with those who are 

 born living and which subsequently survived for at least a week (a 

 longer period would be more desirable but difficult to secure). Such 

 measurements are not to be found in medical literature, so far as I 

 can discover; at the most we find averages, which are meaningless 

 from the present point of view. I applied to obstetrical and anatomical 

 authorities in various countries and received a number of interesting 

 letters and data, including series of entries from the registers of 

 maternity hospitals. But none of the series so far received contains 

 a sufficient number of stillborn children. So far as they go, they are 

 confirmatory of the belief that it is more especially the large children 

 that are eliminated by the selection of birth. The largest series 

 (with 60 stillborn male babies and 50 stillborn females), for which 

 I am indebted to Dr. C. M. Green, of the Boston Lying-in Hospital, 

 shows that among the stillborn of either sex the range of variation 

 is greater than among the living of the same sex, the absolute range 

 of variation being not only greater as compared with the living babies 

 of the same sex, but there being a greater piling up at each end in 

 the case of the stillborn. The data do not suffice to indicate that 

 there is a greater mortality of the largest sized males than of the largest 

 sized females, when we compare the stillborn with the living of the 

 same sex and weight. Another series, more elaborate in its details 

 but still smaller in number as regards the stillborn for which I am 

 indebted to Professor Whitridge Williams, of Johns Hopkins Hospital 

 leads to a similarly incomplete conclusion. I still await more exten- 

 sive data which have been promised me from a British source.* 



There is, however, another test which, while it can by no means 

 be put forward as having any statistical validity, yet furnishes a highly 

 significant indication in this matter. Just as on the psychic side cer- 

 tain very rare individuals appear in the world whose intellectual 

 capacity enormously excels that of their fellows, so, corresponding to 



* It seems unnecessary to deal with this point more in detail, not only be- 

 cause of the lack of sufficient data but because the establishment of this point 

 is not necessary for the criticism of Professor Pearson's position. I expect 

 to return to the point elsewhere, and hope tbat others, who may be more 

 fortunate than I am in obtaining extensive data, will be able to deal with it 

 on the lines I suggest. 



