NEW TYPES AMONG MEN 177 



bom in this country are distinctly shorter than their brothers 

 and sisters born in Sicily. Among the immigrants from the 

 southern mainland of Italy, who are mostly Neapolitans, the 

 same tendency is observable, but to a less degree. The question 

 arises whether these changes can be due to economic conditions. 

 If the stature increased in all cases, we might feel quite sure that 

 the greater opportunities, higher wages, and more varied food 

 of America were the cause. If all the American-born children 

 showed a decrease in stature we might attribute it to the con- 

 gestion of life in a big city. Among the Jews the change in the 

 mode of life on coming to America is less than among any of the 

 [ other races. They were town-dwellens and sedentary workers in 

 ', the Old World, and so they are in the New. It is doubtful 

 ' whether they change their food any more than do the others, if 

 as much. Therefore the group that suffers the smallest change 

 in general habits shows the greatest change in stature. This is 

 surprising, but perhaps it is merely an evidence of the great 

 plasticity of the Hebrews as a race. If economic conditions are 

 r=the cause of the increased stature of the non- Jewish Bohemian 

 group we must suppose that better food offsets the disadvantage 

 of city life compared with country life, and thus leads to greater 

 stature. Among the Sicilians, on the contrary, we must suppose 

 that the confined city life of New York and possibly the absence 

 of the fresh fruit and vegetables to which they were accustomed 

 in Sicily have a depressing effect upon stature. The other 

 Italians are influenced a little in the same way. On the whole 

 we may conclude that the changes in stature may perhaps be due 

 to economic conditions, although there is nothing to prove that 

 this is the case. The state of affairs in this respect is almost 

 identical with that which we have described in relation to stature 

 among the Jews in Europe. An economic explanation may be 

 possible, but it is not convincing. 



Turning now to the form of the head we find that the Jews 

 show the greatest change. The heads of the children born in this 



