MEASUREMENTS OF FORBES AND QUETELET. 723 



We also learn from Professor Forbes, that the 

 better classes in Ireland are taller, heavier, and 

 stronger, than the same classes in Scotland, who 

 are superior to the same classes in England.* Is 

 this because the temperature of Ireland is more 

 uniform, being less exposed to the cold east winds 

 from the continent, and more open to the preva- 

 lent west winds from the Atlantic ? or is it be- 

 cause the Irish consume less animal food and 

 more potatoes ? In favour of the former hypothe- 

 sis it may be observed, that in the maritime cli- 

 mate of Japan, the natives are larger and stronger 

 than in the same latitudes of China, where the 

 extremes of winter and summer are great ; that 

 in the tropical islands of the Pacific, where the 

 temperature is mild and uniform, the inhabitants 

 are much larger, stronger, and better formed, 

 than in the same latitudes of Africa, Asia, South 



may therefore be regarded as an example of the perfect average 

 man. Alexander the great, Julius Csesar, Cromwell, and the 

 Duke of Wellington, were of nearly the same stature as that of 

 the Adonis, and Napoleon considerably less. It is evident, how- 

 ever, from all the foregoing facts, that the average stature of man 

 varies in different climates. 



* For example, the mean height of the Irish, with shoes, was 

 70-2 inches, of the Scotch 69-3, of the English 68-9, and of the 

 Belgians 68-3, which is, perhaps, very near the average among 

 the French and Germans. But among eighty students of Cam- 

 bridge, (belonging chiefly to the aristocracy df England, which are 

 somewhat taller than the lower orders,) M. Quetelet found the 

 average height to be five feet nine inches and three-fifths, which is 

 considerably above the average stature in both the north and south 

 of Europe. 



