

The chest measurements of the colored are as follows : 



DISTRIBUTION OF CHEST MEASUREMENTS ACCORDING TO AGE 



OF ACCEPTED UNITED STATES RECRUITS (COLORED) 



1906-1915, PER 1000 



Total 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 



No. of men 597 518 327 2334 1608 1166 1344 1052 9056 18002 



Whether these statistics are really useful and conclusive for scientific 

 purposes is an open question. How far the results are in consequence 

 of methods of selection cannot, of course, be decided until the data have 

 been subjected to extended analysis. It is shown^ for illustration, that of 

 the white recruits the proportion with a chest measurement of less than 

 33 inches was 33.4 per cent., in comparison with 31.1 per cent, for the 

 colored. General investigations into the comparative anthropometry 

 of white and colored races, especially Americans of African descent, 

 disclose more pronounced differences in their vital capacity than are 

 here indicated. An admirable illustration of such comparative studies 

 in physical anthropology is the report by Dr. Ales Hrdlicka on One 

 Thousand White and Colored Children, Inmates of the New York 

 Juvenile Asylum. It may also be said that the chest measure- 

 ments in the Army are required to be taken on a level, just above the 

 nipples, and that the following standard table has been adopted by the 

 army authorities as a basic regulation governing physical examinations, 

 under the Selective Service Act of May 18, 1917. Under the revised 

 regulations (June 5, 1918), however, the minimum permissible height 

 is 63 inches,* and the weight 116 Ibs., excepting registrants from our 

 insular possessions : 



* The minimum height under the regulations of May 18, 1917, has since been again 

 reduced to 60 inches (July 19, 1918). The importance of the racial aspects of medical 

 examinations for military service was brought up by Dr. O. L,. Williamson, of . Mariana, Ark., 

 at the Conference of Physical Examination under the Selective Service (held in Chicago, 

 June 13, 1918), who said that "Many physically fit negroes have not a chest mobility of 

 two inches and they do not know how to expand the chest." The answer made by the 

 chairman of the meeting was that this was entirely a local question and a problem for 

 local disposition. The problem, however, can only be solved by a better understanding of 

 the principles of physical anthropology and the known facts of race pathology. 



45 



