328 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



to judge, the countryman came out incontestaWy superior in tone 

 of muscular activity. These figures are recorded in the Anthro- 

 pometric Society's Transactions. Standing alone, they are of no 

 value ; they prove nothing, because I had no evidence at what age 

 town-dwelling ceased. It is in the mass of statistics that we can 

 find proof. Mr. Francis Galton, to whom science is so much in- 

 debted, has recently recorded some measurements made by him- 

 self in his laboratory at South Kensington on men during the 

 Health Exhibition, and has made a comparison with those of 

 Cambridge University men. Mr. Galton's inquiry extended to as 

 many as nine thousand persons. The relation of the two points 

 to a considerable advantage of the Cambridge men : 



These figures appear to substantiate the statistics of the Anthro- 

 pometric Society : that the average well-to-do man has a higher 

 general physical condition than the average of a lower grade of 

 society ; a similar, though not so well-defined, brain-development 

 exists. These measurements, so far as proof of stature is con- 

 cerned, must be accepted with some degree of reservation. Pre- 

 suming that the Cambridge students were drafted from the upper 

 stratum of society, and from the country mainly, there is no evi- 

 dence that the other class were all from towns. 



The tables of the Anthropometric Society, as issued by Mr. 

 Roberts and published in the " York Meeting Transactions," state 

 that the result of a comparison as to the average height and 

 weight of the several classes of the population distinguished as 

 (1) the professional classes, including town and country ; (2) the 

 commercial classes in towns ; (3) the laboring classes in the coun- 

 try ; and (4) the artisans in towns. The relative position of the 

 four classes stands in the order stated, Classes 1 and 2 being taller 

 and Classes 3 and 4 slightly shorter than the general population. 

 This relation is maintained throughout, and the tables afford ma- 

 terial for study as to the comparative effects of occupation and 

 town and country life on growth. Another table (No. 6) relates 

 to weight. Here, again, the relative position of the four classes 

 stands in nearly the same order. Class 1 being heavier, and Class 

 4 (i. e., artisans in towns) lighter than the general population ; but 

 Class 3 (country laborers) very nearly coincides with the general 

 average, and is, in general, superior in weight to Class 2 (commer- 

 cial classes in towns). In other words, the occupation of the coun- 

 try laborer places him in weight over the town tradesman, though 

 the latter has the advantage in height. 



