344 PHYSIOLOGY CHAP. 



America, made at the time of the Civil War, is of considerably 

 greater value. He confined himself to testing the strength of the 

 hips by Quetelet's method ; in other words, the force exercised in 

 raising the trunk erect on the loins, measured by means of a special 

 dynamometer. The results are shown in the following table : 



From these figures it would appear that the coloured races are 

 stronger than the white Americans. The proportion changes, 

 however, when the original occupation and home of the white 

 soldiers is taken into consideration ; thus the lumbar force of the 

 white soldiers belonging to the second series of measurements, who 

 were for the most part farmers and working men from the 

 northern states, averaged 155 '7 kgrms., the number measured 

 being 6381. 



Quetelet's measurements of Belgians show that the strength of 

 the hips increases with age (just as does that of the hands) from 

 earliest youth till from 25 to 30 years of age, when it reaches its 

 highest point, after which it slowly declines. 



Gould's measurements showed that the white American soldier 

 was at his strongest at 31 years old, and that no change took 

 place during the following three years ; this holds good of negroes 

 and mulattos also. The Iroque Indians, on the contrary, attain 

 their maximum lumbar strength after their thirty-fourth year, 

 between 35 and 44 years of age. 



IV. One of the characteristics which varies most amongst 

 different races, and even amongst different tribes of the same 

 race, is language, or the nature of the means used by social man 

 in order to communicate his sentiments, thoughts, and wishes to 

 his fellow-men. Some modern ethnologists, Deniker and Vierkandt 

 amongst others, judge the stage of civilisation reached by different 

 races by these linguistic characteristics, classifying the various 

 races as follows : 



(a) Uncivilised races, who have no written language but some- 

 times make use of pictography. These are further subdivided 

 into two classes: (1) hunters (Bushmen, Australians, Tierra del 

 Fuegians) ; (2) agriculturists (North American Indians, Melanes- 

 ians and most negro peoples). 



(5) Semi-civilised races, who make use of ideographic, and even 

 phonetic writing, but whose literature is rudimentary. These 

 may be subdivided into two groups : (1) agriculturists (Chinese, 



