840 ENVIRONMENT AMONG MEN 



seem that at the end of the training there would be anything hke 

 the same difference as regards strength of intellect between them 

 as there would be between- two men, one of whom received an 

 athletic training and the other of whom did not. 



3. Physical changes are not infrequently observed to follow 

 upon changes in the environment, though, when these changes 

 are complex, it is often impossible to say with which features of 

 the environment the changes are connected. Thus ' the Anthro- 

 pological Committee of the British Association long ago showed 

 the beneficent effects of the Factory Acts, which rescued young 

 children from the hardships of daily toil. Boys of nine years in 

 1873 had a height and weight equivalent to the height and weight 

 of boys of ten years old in 1833.' ^ 



It is known that stature has increased in certain European 

 countries during the last century. Soren Hansen gives the 

 following figures for Denmark : ^ 



1852 to 1856 . . 165-42 cm. average height. 



1879 „ 1888 . . 167-78 „ 



1891 „ 1900 . . 168-43 „ 



1904 „ 1905 . . 169-11 „ 



Similarly the stature of the Dutch has increased from 165-5 cm. 

 in 1866 to 167 cm. in 1883 and to 168 cm. in 1899. A number 

 of reasons has been suggested to account for this marked increase, 

 the higher standard of living, the decrease in the incidence of 

 disease which is known to inhibit growth, and the smaller number 

 of children in a family. This last factor is certainly of importance 

 at the present day. From some observations made in an English 

 manufacturing town Ewart concludes that when children are 

 born at a longer interval than two years they are on an average 

 three inches taller and three pounds heavier than children born 

 at a shorter interval.^ It is a fair assumption that in families, 

 where the income is small, the fewer the children the more 

 favourable would be the environmental conditions. 



The physical inferiority of people living in poorly endowed 

 surroundings is often thought to be at least in part due to modi- 

 fications induced by hard conditions. Thus physical inferiority 

 is noticeable in districts in Europe that are markedly poorly 

 endowed, as for instance in the area between Limoges and 



> Mitchell, loo. cit., p. 47. ^ Hansen, ' Increase in Stature ', p. 23, in Problems 



in Euqenics. » Ewart, ' The Influence of Parental Age on Offspring ', Eugenics 

 Review, vol. iii. 



