26 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



result of his choice. If he chooses to take up the tailor's trade 

 because he is physicaly unfitted for other pursuits, all the influ- 

 ences of the trade tend to degenerate his physique still further. 

 Among these we may count the cramped position in which he 

 works, the long hours, the unsanitary surroundings, etc. An 

 active life conduces to growth and vigor, especially an active life 

 in the open air. Denied all these advantages, everything oper- 

 ates to exaggerate the peculiarities which were due to natural 

 causes in the preceding generation alone. This direct influence 

 of the nature of the employment is probably the second principal 

 cause of the great differences in stature which we observe among 

 the several social classes in any community. At the head stand 

 the liberal professions, followed in order, as our table shows, 

 by the farmers and the commercial group, then by the industrial 



Average Stature in Inches (Great Britain). 



Averages by Occupations. 



open-air classes, and finally by those who are engaged in indoor 

 and sedentary occupations. The difference between these last 

 two namely, those who work in the open air and those who are 

 confined within doors amounts in Great Britain to upward of 

 one half an inch upon the average, if we consider masons, carpen- 

 ters, and day laborers as typical of the first class, and tailors and 

 shoemakers of the second. As our table shows, the differences 

 during the period of growth often amount to upward of two 

 inches, greater among girls than among boys. As an extreme 

 example of divergencies of this kind, we may instance a difference 

 of seven inches between boys of fourteen in the well-to-do classes 

 and those who are in the industrial schools in Great Britain. 

 Later in life this disparity becomes less, as it appears that the 



