ciation, the Lord President of the Council the late Duke of Devon- 

 shire appointed an Inter-Departmental Committee "to make a pre- 

 liminary inquiry into the allegations concerning the deterioration of 

 certain classes of the population." The exact Terms of Reference 

 were : 



(1) To determine, with the aid of such counsel as the medical 

 profession are able to give, the steps that should be taken to fur- 

 nish the Government and the nation at large with periodical data 

 for an accurate comparative estimate of the health and physique of 

 the people; 



(2) To indicate generally the causes of such physical deteriora- 

 tion as does exist in certain classes ; 



(3) To point out the means by which it can be most effectually 

 diminished. 



After sifting all the available evidence, and examining a large num- 

 ber of witnesses, the Committee issued a Report * in the autumn of 

 1904. Their first and chief recommendation was the institution of 

 an "Anthropometric Survey," the recommendation being couched in 

 the following terms : 



"With a view to the collection of definite data bearing upon 

 the condition of the population, the Committee think that a per- 

 manent Anthropometric Survey should be organized as speedily as 

 possible, upon the lines indicated in Part I of this Report." (Re- 

 port, Part I, page 84.) 



The Committee were constrained to place this proposal at the head 

 and front of their recommendations, because they found that, in the 

 absence of any former standard for comparison, it was impossible to 

 determine whether any physical change was occurring in the British 

 population as a whole, or in any particular section of it. The follow- 

 ing quotation from the Report (Part I, page 92) indicates the views 

 of the Committee as to the occurrence of deterioration: 



"The Committee hope that the facts and opinions they have 

 collected will have some effect in allaying the apprehensions of 

 those who, as it appears on insufficient grounds, have made up 

 their minds that progressive deterioration is to be found among 

 the people generally." 



The Council of the Royal Anthropological Institute hopes and is 

 ready to believe that this conclusion was justified, but is nevertheless 

 of opinion that whether the physique of the population is improving, 

 remaining stationary, or deteriorating, it is highly important that the 

 nation should know the true state of affairs, and this can only be 

 achieved by means of a physical census of representative parts of the 

 population. 



* Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Physical Deterioration, 1904. 



106 



