INDIVIDUALS AND MEASUREMENTS CONSIDERED. 



57 



Thus racial differentiation between European and American popu- 

 lation is ample to account for the observed differences in our mean 

 statures. Our men are intermediate between the general population 

 and a highly selected group like Harvard University students. 55 



In regard to variability, our men are more variable and our women 

 are less variable throughout than those studied by others for purely 

 anthropometric purposes. 



Since the average stature for Americans seems to be higher than 

 that of most of the European groups with which they are compared, 

 the absolute variability would be expected to be greater in Americans; 

 but the relationships noted hold whether variability be measured in 

 centimeters by the standard deviation or in percentages of the total 

 stature by the coefficient of variation. 



TABLE 11. Statistical constants for body weight in adults. 



Now, admitting freely that many of these differences are statis- 

 tically significant, we nevertheless feel that one can hardly examine 

 these constants collected by various writers in anthropometric investi- 

 gations, with no physiological purpose whatever in view, in comparison 

 with our own without being impressed by the general suitability of 

 our materials as a basis for generalizations applicable to large popula- 

 tions. Our averages seem to be roughly representative of the American 

 population. Our men are somewhat more variable than we would like, 

 but our women are distinctly less variable than women in general. 

 It is clear, therefore, that our series of individuals is characterized not 

 merely by an average stature comparable with that of men in general, 

 but that it exhibits (at least in the males) a variability of stature 

 which is (roughly speaking) typical of the population at large. This 

 "lack of uniformity" or "lack of homogeneity" in the series of 



55 The average stature of 327 Amherst College students (of average age 21.5 years) is 172.9 cm. 

 Anthropometric Committee's Report Brit. Ass. Rept. (Southport), 1883, p. 260. 



