PHYSICAL CHARACTERS IN MAX 43 



The data of inheritance of gigantism in man include 

 some interesting cases in the tall Scotch population 

 of North Carolina and Kentucky. It is concluded 

 by Davenport that excessively tall stature is the 

 result of inherited excessive activity in the pituitary 

 gland, the factors for tallness being mostly recessive, 

 due to absence of inhibition to prolonged growth. 

 It is clear that gigantism and dwarfism are not merety 

 the extreme terms in a single series, but they are 

 conditioned in inheritance by entirely different 

 ph3^siological and developmental processes. 



Windle (1891) quotes from Francesco Leporata 

 the case of a dwarf born of normal parents. At the 

 age of 83 years he was i -i 30 metres high. By a normal 

 wife he had six children whose heights are given. 

 They w^ere all dwarfs but one normal daughter, their 

 heights ranging around that of the father. One son, 

 Antonio, married twice, both wives being normal, 

 By the first he had a normal daughter, and b}' the 

 second three children who were below normal. 

 Another son, Pietro, married a normal woman and 

 had three small children, all of whom when measured 

 were below the normal height for their age. Dwarfing 

 in this family appears to be strongly dominant. 



Stature is, of course, also a racial characteristic. 

 The tall races are found in North-Western Europe, 

 the Polynesians, North American Indians, and some 

 negro tribes of the Soudan and Central Africa. Their 

 height is 68 inches or over. The short races comprise 

 those of Indo-China, Japan, Malaya, the Hottentots, 

 and Eskimos. Many dwarfs are small because they 

 cease growth at an early age; others are ver}- small 

 at birth and grow slowly. According to Davenport 

 (191 7), the average stature of man ranges from 4 feet 

 6 inches' in the Negrillo Akkas to 5 feet 10 inches in 

 the Scots of Galloway. Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia 

 contemplated breeding a race of tall grenadiers for 



