MANNER OF DEVELOPMENT. 35 



which indicates the ancestry, seem to exert a marked in- 

 fluence on the stature." For instance, it is established, 

 "* that residence in the Western States, during the years of 

 growth, tends to produce increase of stature." On the 

 other hand, it is certain that with sailors, their life delays 

 growth, as shown "by the great difference between the 

 statures of soldiers and sailors at the ages of seventeen and 

 eighteen years." Mr. B. A. Gould endeavored to ascertain 

 the nature of the influences which thus act on stature; but 

 he arrived only at negative results, namely, that they did 

 not relate to climate, the elevation of the land, soil, nor 

 even '^^in any controlling degree" to the abundance or the 

 need of the comforts of life. This latter conclusion is 

 directly opposed to that arrived at by Villerme, from the 

 statistics of the height of the conscripts in different parts 

 of France. AVhen we compare the differences in stature 

 between the Polynesian chiefs and the lower orders within 

 the same islands, or between the inhabitants of the fertile 

 volcanic and low barren coral islands of the same ocean,* 

 or again between the Fuegians on the eastern and western 

 shores of their country, where the means of subsistence are 

 very different, it is scarcely possible to avoid the conclusion 

 that better food and greater comfort do influence stature. 

 But the preceding statements show how difficult it is to 

 arrive at any precise result. Dr. Beddoe has lately proved 

 that, with the inhabitants of Britain, residence in towns 

 and certain occupations have a deteriorating influence on 

 height; and he infers that the result is to a certain extent 

 inherited, as is likewise the case in the United States. Dr. 

 Beddoe further believes that wherever a *^ race attains its 

 maximum of physical development, it rises highest in 

 energy and moral vigor, "f 



Whether external conditions produce any other direct 

 effect on man is not known. It might have been expected 

 that differences of climate would have had a marked influ- 

 ence, inasmuch as the lungs and kidneys are brought into 



*For the Polynesians, see Prichard's "Physical Hist, of Man- 

 kind," vol. V, 1847, pp. 145, 283. Also Godron* " De I'Espece," lom. 

 ii, p. 289. There is also a remarkable difference in appearance be- 

 tween the closely allied Hindoos inhabiting the Upper Ganges and 

 Bengal ; see Elphinstone's "History of India," vol. i, p. 324. 



f " Memoirs, Anthropolog. Soc.," vol. iii, 1867-69, pp. 561, 565, 

 567. 



