Academy of Sciences] 

 No. 3] 



MEASUREMENTS 



19 



and energy but to anthropology, which constantly is obliged to deal with inadequate and com- 

 plex determinations, it is liable to do harm instead of good. Besides, it involves the danger 

 following the easy route of the replacing of brains by figures. 



So much, I feel, is needed in introduction to the records which follow. 



Height of the Body 16 



The mean stature of the academicians is high, even though in many of the members it 

 it certainly has already suffered some lowering through age. 16 Its average still exceeds by approx- 

 imately three-fifths of an inch that of American males in general, and practically equals that 

 of the old Americans at large, though the data on these relate only to adults not yet affected 

 by decline. It is certain that if the statures of the academicians had been taken at their opti- 

 mum physical stage they would have exceeded on the average those of the old Americans at 

 large. This speaks either for an above-average somatic endowment of the academicians, or 

 for especially favorable conditions during the growth period of many members of this group. 



Table 20.— Stature 



Subjects 



Mean age, years 



Average 



Minimum 



Maximum 



Range of variation in percentage of the average 



a 



cv 



Members of the Academy 



150 



59. 67 



173. 97 



156. 7 



189. 8 



19. OS 



6. 14 



8.53 



Old Americans 



100 



58. 90 



173. 80 ±0.44 



156.7 



189.8 



19. 04 



6. 45 ±0. 31 



8. 71 ±0. 18 



Not old Americans 



50 



61. 22 



174. 30 ±0. 53 



165. 1 



186.9 



12. 51 



5. 55 ±0.37 



3. 1S±0. 21 



Old Americans 

 at large (labora- 

 tory series) 



727 



28. 5 



174. 30 



153. 7 



193. 



$2.55 



5. 80 



FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION— STATURE: MEMBERS OF THE ACADEMY 



Old Americans 



Not old Americans. 



152.5-157.4 157.5-162.4 162.5-167.4 167.5-172.4 172.5-177.4 177.5-182.4 182.5-187.4 187.5-189.8 



Percent 



1 



Percent 



2 



Percent 

 11 



8 



Percent 

 32 

 34 



Percent 

 24 

 28 



Percent 

 21 

 22 



Percent 



Percent 

 1 



STATURE OF MEMBERS BY AGE 



Subjects to 60 years of age, inclusive 



Mean age, years 



Average stature 



a 



CV 



Over 60 years of age 



Mean age, years 



Average stature 



<j 



CV 



Members of the Academy 



Old Americans Not old Americans 



60 



52. 2 



175. 09 ±0. 57 



6. 56 ±0. 40 



3. 75 ±0. 23 



40 



69. 



171. 75 ±0. 60 



5. 65 ±0. 43 



3. 29 ±0. 25 



22 



51.7 



175. 23 ±0.77 



5. 32 ±0. 54 



3. 04 ±0. 31 



28 



68. 9 



173. 75 ±0. 69 



5. 45 ±0. 49 



3. 14 ±0.28 



>' Method: Subject without shoes and coat; standing upright against wall; heels together; heels, buttocks, and shoulders but not the head 

 (unless it does so without effort) touching the wall; eyes looking straight forward. Measurement taken on anthropometric board, broad tape or 

 the marked wall itself, by a light wooden square which is brought, properly leveled, to top of head until resistance is felt; the procedure being 

 repeated two or three times until assuredly correct reading is had. 



16 In the writer's own case, between the ages of 55 and 63, though everything was normal and there had been plenty of exercise and no illness, 

 the stature declined from 170.2 to 168.8 ceHtimeters, and between 63 and 68 years from 168.8 to 166.9 centimeters. (See also The Old Americans, 

 p. 80.) 



