ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE MELTING POT—STEWART 339 
ferent military roles and might be more generally applied. Again, 
clinical studies point to a high correlation between body build, or 
constitution, and such things as gastric ulcers, gall-bladder disease, 
arthritis, certain major psychoses, etc. This information is being 
applied in clinical diagnosis.’$ 
To the general field of body build, or constitution, physical anthro- 
pologists have been giving considerable attention of late. Descrip- 
tive techniques are rapidly being perfected. Because photography 
is being utilized in this connection, it is possible to make an accurate 
record speedily. Such techniques carry high promise for national 
surveys such as we are considering.“ 
Life Magazine * recently carried pictures of Hooton measuring peo- 
ple for the purpose of getting specifications for a car seat that would 
more nearly accommodate the general public in greater comfort. Pub- 
lic seating, like ready-made clothing and anything else mass-produced 
to meet the needs of all types of human bodies, has been a hit or miss 
proposition. The public has suffered from this lack of knowledge of 
the human form. 
During World War II the Army Air Forces was forced to take this 
problem into consideration. More and more gadgets were being 
crammed into planes without corresponding adjustments for the size 
of the men who were to operate them. Also, helmets and oxygen 
masks were being produced with very little regard for the variations 
in the head sizes of the men who were going to wear them. Physical 
anthropologists remedied this situation by measuring a sample of the 
fliers and producing manikins to which machines and equipment could 
be adjusted.7® 
Wider application of physical anthropology in peacetime industry 
promises to be of great benefit to the American people. If this mate- 
rializes, there should be a rapid increase in our knowledge of physical 
types in America. Yet I venture to doubt that commercial interests 
will supply data on a scale sufficient to define the over-all American 
type, much less to follow its development. Commercial interests will 
be content if they can produce something better than exists at the 
moment; or at least if they can advertise it as better. 
Human biology probably will gain most if the problem is tackled 
by an agency which is not seeking profit. In this connection it is 
encouraging to note that Hrdlitka willed a sum of money to the 
National Academy of Sciences for periodic surveys of the American 
people. Perhaps this gift to pure science, from a man who was himself 
18 See the publications by Draper et al. (1944), Heath (1945), and Woods et al. (1943). 
14 Sheldon (1940) has developed a technique that he calls “somatotyping.”’ 
15 Web. 11, 1946, pp. 33-36. 
16 A general account of the physical anthropology in the Army Air Forces has been 
published by Damon and Randall (1944). 
