88 OBSERVATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS ACADEMY MEMBERS IMemo, [vol N xxm' 



The hands of the old American members of the Academy in both their measurements and 

 their index are identical with those of the more highly cultured old Americans at large. The 

 hands of the European born or more recent American academicians are distinctly larger in both 

 dimensions. 



The variability of the hand dimensions and also the index is lower than that of the chest, 

 ear, or face measurements, but higher than that of the dimensions of the head. The head breadth 

 and consequently also the index are seen to vary distinctly more than the hand length. 



The influence of age is difficult to gage properly in such small series; the old Americans at 

 large 41 showed that the hands grow moderately well into adult life. The hands of the old mem- 

 bers of both groups appear slightly smaller. This I believe is partly due to disuse, partly to 

 less ability to stretch the hand as effectively as is possible in younger persons. In relation to 

 stature the hands of the old Americans within and outside the Academy give practically the 

 same values, the hands of the not old American members showing somewhat larger. Why this 

 should be so is for the present difficult to conjecture. 



The whole showing of the hand in the members of the Academy means that in general there 

 has been in the life of these men a fair amount of manual work or exercise; that only rare 

 individuals have had lives of leisure; and that old age has had some effect on the hand dimensions. 



The exceedingly close relation of both the dimensions and the index of the hand, together 

 with the marked similarity to identity of other parts in the old Americans within and outside of 

 the Academy, goes far to sustain the deduction arrived at in connection with the studies on the 

 old Americans at large, that this part of the population in this country constitutes a rather well 

 denned national strain, which already is more or less distinct from other white groups and 

 approaches something distinctly "American." 



" The Old Americans, 323 ot seq. 



