LXXIV INTRODUCTORY. 



is noted by M. Boudin. lu the class of 1831, 928 out of 10,000 youug men were rejected 

 from defect of statm-e, while in the class of 1860 only 591 out of 10,000 were found 

 deficient in that qualification. The long- and exhausting wars of the first Napoleon in 

 the beginning of the century, by taking away from civil life the able-bodied men of 

 the country, doubtless produced the deficiency in the first case. 



Under the somewhat pretentious title of "An attempt to determine the mean 

 height of man in France," M. 'Lilnt has given the results of his measurement of 2,000 

 prisoners under his professional care.' At the age of twenty to twenty-five years, he 

 finds their mean height to be 1.647 metres, (64.84 inches, English,) a result which, 

 compared with the mean height ascribed to the whole population by Broca, namely, 

 1.65 metres, (64.96 inches, English,) does not correspond with Dr. Beddoe's conclu- 

 sion that the criminal classes exhibit a diminution of mean stature of one inch." 



The scientific contributions of d'Hargenvilliers, Villenn^, Sue, Silbermann, 

 Pruner-Bey, Broca, Aeby, von Baer, Welcker, Virchow, tlie Schlagintweits, Lucae, 

 Knox, Danson, A. S. Thomson, Hannover, and- others, contain much that is of value 

 on the subject of anthropometry, but to which a more specific reference is not here 

 necessary. The bibliography appended will be found to indicate the works referred to. 



In the United States, no particular or extensive effort appears to have been made 

 in this direction until after the breaking-out of the war of the rebellion in 1861. 

 Mention must be made, however, of some statistics of the recruiting service, prepared 

 by the late Richard H. Coolidge, surgeon of the United States Army, and published 

 in 1856 under direction of the Surgeon-General.'' These tables exhibit the nativity, 

 age, and occupation of the men accepted for service in the Arni}^ in the years 1S50, 

 1851, and 1852, with the causes of rejection of those refused. They also exhibit the 

 relation of mean weight to height in the native-born soldier, in those of English birth, 

 and in those of other foreign origins. A table follows of mean height in relation to 

 States, together with the mean prevalence of certain colors of hair, eyes, and of com- 

 plexion in 1,800 accepted recruits. These observations, though not extensive, are quite 

 valuable; tlie well-known conscientious care of the regretted officer who compiled them 

 stamping them with authenticity. A noteworthy contrast is exhibited by them in the 

 character of the material offering for the service in time of peace and in time of war. 

 Of 5,000 recruits enhsted in the Army in the years 1850 and 1851, only 1,484 were 

 native Americans ; the large proportion of 70 per cent, being of foreign birth. In the 

 year 1847, however, the period of the Mexican war, of 5,000 recruits obtained at 

 the general recruiting depot, 3,639 were native-born, thus quite reversing the propor- 

 tion. It is instructive, also, to observe how the proportion of men rejected differs from' 

 the result of tlie recruiting in the late war. In 1852, out of 16,064 men presenting 

 themselves for enlistment, only 2,726 were accepted; the surprising number of 13,338, 

 or 83 per cent, of the wliole, having been rejected for pliysical disqualification. Of 

 806,610 men examined under the operation of the first three drafts during the war of 

 the rebellion, t he rate of rejection for physical causes was 26.24 per cent. It would 



' i'dxrti d'liiic fUltrmhialion ethnologiqnc de la taille moyenne de Vliomme en France, par M. L]£lut, Anu. d'byg., t. xsxi, 

 p. 'i'J', Paris, 1844. 



- Op. cit., p. 545. 



^ Statistical report on the sickncis mid luoriaHlij of the Arm ij of the United States, compiled frow the records of the Sui 

 geon- General's Office, embracing a period of sixteen years, f om January , 1639,10 JunHory,lth5, 4to, Wasbington, 185C,p.6-ii. 



