In the evidence and in the Recommendations of the Inter-Depart- 

 mental Committee, the Council finds support for its views as to the 

 need for a physical survey. 



(2) At the meeting of the British Association, held at Cambridge 

 in 1904, a discussion took place on the "Alleged Physical Deteriora- 

 tion of the People." This discussion, with papers read by the late 

 Professor D. J. Cunningham, the late Mr. John Gray, and Dr. F. C. 

 Shrubsall, was published by the Royal Anthropological Institute as 

 Occasional Paper No. 2 (1905), and a copy is enclosed (Enclosure A). 

 The urgency of an Anthropometric Survey was conceded by all, and 

 plans were formulated for carrying out such a survey. Amongst those 

 who took part in the discussion was Dr. Ridolfo Livi, who had been 

 entrusted by the Italian Ministry of War with the drawing up of a 

 report upon measurements made on 300,000 conscripts drawn from all 

 parts of Italy. Dr. Livi's report gave Italy an initial basis on which 

 future comparisons may be founded, and at the same time threw a 

 flood of light on the physical condition and racial constitution of the 

 Italian people. 



Causes tending to produce physical changes in the population. An- 

 other reason for urging the necessity for a survey is based on theoret- 

 ical considerations. The conditions under which the British people 

 now live differ profoundly from those which prevailed some centuries 

 ago. Their food has changed, their houses and surroundings are dif- 

 ferent; their modes of life and of livelihood are new. At present it 

 is only possible to speculate as to whether these altered conditions are 

 effecting a physical change amongst the mass of the population. In 

 the course of time' a physical survey would provide the means of 

 assessing the extent and nature of the changes, if such there are. 



Organisation and Scope of the Survey. 



So far, only the reasons for urging the institution of an anthropomet- 

 rical survey or physical census have been put forward. The Council 

 ventures to assume that the Board of Scientific Studies will agree that 

 such a survey is needed, and that it will be desirous of convincing the 

 Government that a survey ought to be initiated. The manner in which 

 it could best be carried out would then have to be determined. This 

 practical question has already been investigated, and definite sugges- 

 tions put forward, both in the Report of the Inter-Departmental Com- 

 mittee and in the papers contributed to the Discussion at Cambridge. 

 (See Report, Part I, page 8.) 



Broadly speaking, three preliminary problems have to be solved: 



(1) The selection of representative sections of the population. 

 (See below, "Scope of the Survey.") 



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