lO 



The Journal of Heredity 



traits according to three grades of size 

 of nose does show a slight relationship, 

 in conforniit\' with the other results 

 here gi\en. hut the correlation is a 

 small one (about r = .l()) and the 

 probable error necessarily large, since 

 the total number of cases is small, 

 being only sixty-nine. The distribu- 

 tion is forty large or long noses, 

 twenty-four axerage and five small or 

 short. It has always been my impres- 

 sion from the time I first formed a 

 collection of engravings and photo- 

 graphs of royal t\', .some fifteen ortwenty 

 \ears ago, that their noses were 

 longer than the a\erage. A long nose, 

 a prominent under jaw, a finely mo- 

 deled mouth, "cupid brow" as it is 

 called, thick in the center and pointed 

 or dimpled in the corners, eyes rather 

 near together and nose delicate at the 

 top, the whole face long and narrow, 

 constitute the general facial charac- 

 teristics of this special breed. 



The distribution of nose-sizes given 

 above bears out, as far as this one 

 point is concerned, a hitherto vague 

 and immeasured impression, and if 

 the noses of royaltx' are larger or longer 

 than those of the middle and lower 

 classes it confirms, as far as it goes, my 

 contention made in "The Influence of 

 Monarchs" (\9\^) that royalty as a 

 group taken through the ages has been 

 distinctly superior in natural intellec- 

 tual capacitN' to the average of their 

 subjects. 



what co.xstitutes thi-: "avkracik 

 man" 



This leads to a discussion of what 

 constitutes the "average man"; and 

 before taking up the question of the 

 size, shape and significance of the nose 

 of the average man, it is absolutely 

 necessar>' to pause, and ponder on .some 

 hitherto but little recognized facts. 



Clerks, salaried men, school teachers, 

 small-town doctors and lawyers, far- 

 mers and shopkeefH-rs are often spoken 

 of as forming the middle class; but 

 these peoi)le really do not belong to 

 the middle class in the sense of repre- 

 senting the average or most mmierous 

 class in the community. They are 



really considerably above the middle 

 or a\'erage, which, in the social scale, 

 is occupied by that vastly more 

 numerous class, the laboring class. 

 These alone, if all the skilled and un- 

 skilled artisans be included and added 

 to the number of strictly unskilled 

 laborers, make a total so great as 

 necessarily to establish the average. 

 This "average man" whom until re- 

 cently we were wont to regard as 

 something very fine, we now know, 

 thanks to the army tests, and other 

 mental age tests, to really possess an 

 intellect of about the mental age of a 

 full grown boy. The mental age of 

 fourteen is as high as the average man 

 climbs. 



The reason why we should expect 

 more, is interesting to consider. It is 

 probably not gained from the opinions 

 of people whose business in life is to 

 employ and direct labor. Their con- 

 versations on this point are not compli- 

 mentary. Complaints are always 

 heard of their difficulties in finding 

 such qualities as ambition, mental 

 energy, and efficiency. Yet the aver- 

 age man belie\'es that the "average 

 man" is "just about all right" or 

 "quite the proper thing." The truth 

 of it is that the printed or spoken 

 expression "average man" conveys a 

 imaginary ideal that is entirely at 

 variance with reality. 



This is partly due to the influence of 

 the newspapers. They cater to the 

 general public, and consequently tend 

 to create an idealized and mythical 

 being who really scarcely exists. This 

 imaginary man, who is supposed to be 

 so frequently seen, but really is so 

 rare, is given form and color in our 

 imagination, not only every day 

 through the press, in the writings of 

 reporters and editors, but the multi- 

 tudinous sign ad\'ertisements that greet 

 the willing or unwilling eye at every 

 turn tend to implant forever in the 

 memory the well balanced type of 

 countenance. Whether our ideal citi- 

 zen be seated at his breakfast table 

 ordering his patent breakfast food with 

 his f^retty wife and nice children, or 

 putting on collars or underwear, he is 



