SELFXTION IN MAN. 



( Continued. ) 



SINCE the publication of my last article on this subject, 

 Dr. de Cazal has brought out an analysis of the 

 French recruiting returns for seven recent years (1887 to 

 1893 inclusive). 



Examined from the point of view I have been taking, 

 viz., the possibility of natural selection and modification of 

 race-type by way of colour-change, De Cazal's figures do 

 not afford much assistance. It is evident that there is now 

 more laxity in admission, a lower standard of qualification, 

 than was formerly the case ; probably, moreover, there has 

 really been an improvement in the physical health of the 

 population generally. Anyhow, the releases on account of 

 infirmities are not half so numerous as they were thirty 

 years ago, while the releases on account of deficient stature 

 have been done away with altogether. 



The remissions for France in general averaging ioo'4 

 per thousand, those for the 10 departments with the most 

 blond population were 98*3, those for the 5 most distinctly 

 presenting the combination of blond coloration, long head 

 and tall stature which characterises the North European 

 (Aryan ?) type were 977, these for the 10 of darkest com- 

 plexion were 106 '8. Here there is no inferiority in the 

 blond type. Let us now see how the exemptions for 

 phthisis and for the euphemisms which often cover it are 

 distributed. 



^ I have excluded the densely peopled departments of the Nord, Seine 

 Inferieure and Bouches du Rhone. 



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