LXXII INTKODUCTORY. 



The most extensive series of observations made in Great Britain was obtained by 

 the energy and zeal of Dr. John Beddoe, president of the Anthropological Society of 

 London. That g-entleman had assisted Dr. Barnard Davis in ubtaining some dimen- 

 sions of living subjects, to be made use of in the great work of the latter on Crania 

 Britannica, and, struck with their interest and value, determined to continue his efforts 

 on a larger scale. He pre^^ared printed forms, with instructions for making the desired 

 measurements, and sent them to members of the medical profession, and to other per- 

 sons likely to interest themselves in the matter, in all parts of the United Kingdom.' 

 He thus obtained returns of the examination of over 17,000 men. About half of the 

 number were from civil life ; 4,144 were recruits for the army, of the age of twenty- 

 three and upward. Dr. Beddoe coinciding in opinion with Liharzik, Aitken, and others, 

 that the full growth is not attained until the twenty-third year ; 2,479 were criminals 

 in the various prisons; and 1,857 were lunatics in the public asylums. These tables, 

 which are quite copious in detail, covering nearly 200 octavo pages, set forth the dis- 

 tricts or counties, the towns, and villages where the men were found, with their occu- 

 pations, and remarks upon their sanitary surroundings ; their height and weight, and, in 

 some instances, the color of hair and eyes is also recorded. The latter subject has 

 been treated of more specifically by the same writer in another essay .^ 



Dr. Beddoe's work treats exclusively of natives of Great Britain ; but as the 

 tables keep the particulars as to the Englishman, Scotchman, and Irishman separate, 

 the results as to mean height and weight admit of comparison with the measure- 

 ments of such nativities in this work. Dr. Beddoe's instructions to his correspondents 

 required that no selection should be attempted, but that men should be taken as they 

 were met with, tall or short, robust or slender ; the limits of age, however, being from 

 twenty-three to fifty years. In this manner, the adult man was, he thinks, fairly 

 represented iu the returns. In his opinion, the mean height of Englishmen may be 

 stated at 5 feet Q.6 inches, (1.692 metres ;) of Scotchmen, at 5 feet 7^ inches, (1.715 

 metres;) of the soldier-class, including rejected recruits, 5 feet 7 inches, (1.702 metres;) 

 of lunatics and criminals, 5 feet 5J inches, (1.664 metres.) His measurements of 

 Irislimen were almost entirely from recruits. 



A grave defect in these valuable and interesting tables is the want of clearness 

 and precision in exhibiting the total number of men examined. The repetition by 

 counties and districts of prior separate entries is inserted in the body of the tables, 

 without dividing lines, or any indication of Avhat the consolidated number is composed 

 of; and as there are no additions, separate totals, or mean results furnished, the difficulty 

 of obtaining the conclusions warrranted by the tables is excessive and provoking. 

 The possessor of a great mass of statistics confers but imperfect favor on the scien- 

 tific world if he print the crude material only, and evade the labor of setting forth the 

 important results, with their relations of ratio and mean. 



In Germany, Dr. Meyer, a distinguished statistician of Munich, published, in 1863, 

 the results of the examination of 12,740 men drafted for the Bavarian arniy.^ The 



' On the stature and bulk of r.ian in the Briiisk Isles, vol. iii of Memoirs read before /Ac Anthropological SocieUj of Lov- 

 don, 18C7-'69; pulilisbud separately, Hvo, I.ondou, 1870. 



' On tlw siij}j)os(d inercasinri imniUiHT. of dark hair in England. Anthrop. liiv., vol. i, p. 310, Loudou, 1863. 

 •Aei-ztlichcs intclligenz-hlatt rut: liaija-n. 18G;i. 



