30 CIRCUMFERENCE OF CHEST. 



Circumference of Chest. — The reader sliould bear in mind that all the meas- 

 urements of girth of chest which appear in the tables of this work were taken with the 

 tape pressed evenly upon the nipples in front, and meeting over the angles of the 

 scapula? posteriorly. This caution is necessary, as the expression "over the nipj^les" 

 has been misunderstood to mean above, instead of itjJOii. In every case the man was 

 naked, and the girth was carefully ascertained, both when the lungs were fully inflated 

 and when expiration was completed. It is obvious that the direction given to "take a 

 full breath " led to a more complete inflation than usual, so that the expansion recorded 

 is slightly in excess of what is termed pulmonary play, and which consists of the rate of 

 mobility of the chest in quiet, ordinary breathing. The diflerence in the circumfer- 

 ence of the thorax when thus fully inflated, and when measured again after a forced 

 expiration, constitutes the "expansion of cliesV of the tables. The tenn "vital capacity,^'' 

 which was originated by Mr. Hutchinson, indicates the numbei- of cubic inches of air 

 exjjelled from the lungs under these conditions. When the expression "mean yirth of 

 chest" is made use of in the comparative tables of this introduction, it is to be under- 

 stood as meaning always at completed expiration. 



Whether the development of the thorax increases in regular relation to increasing 

 height is a question Avliich has been much debated without any definite conclusion 

 having been attained. Hutchinson, in his valuable and elaborate treatise on the respi- 

 ratory functions,' says : "I have been fi-equently asked if the depth of the chest did 

 not increase with the height of the individual — I find this not to be the case."' Else- 

 where he asserts that there is no relation between stature and the cubic dimensions of 

 the thorax;^ and an examination of his tables will show that height, even when modi- 

 fied by age, has no regulaiity in its relation to girth of chest.'' Baron Larrey, while 

 insisting upon a well-formed chest as an indispensable qualification in the soldier, 

 states that, in his experience, very tall men were not as well-proportioned in that par- 

 ticular as men of less stature.'* De Jouvencel, commenting on the physical charac- 

 teristics of the men of Germanic origin who people a great part of Alsace and some 

 other portions of the -northeast of France, together with the adjacent German terri- 

 tories, describes them as of remarkably high stature, but as quite deficient in develop- 

 ment of chest." M. A. Godron confirms this account. It would be easy to accumu- 

 late similar experiences from the writings of ethnographers; but it will be more satis- 

 factory- to ascertain the results of actual measuremeut;j upon a large scale. 



Mr. Gould's researches on behalf of the Sanitary Commission are first to be exam- 

 ined. He does not furnish the relation of girth of chest to increasing height in the 

 same race or class; but his tables permit of the selection of the necessary mean dimen- 

 sion by nativities. The result, as set forth in the following table, would seem to defy 

 all attempts to establish a regular relation between stature and circumference of chest. 



' On the capacity of the luiign and on the rcujjiralorij functions, Med.-Chirurg. Tmusactioiis, vol. xxix, pp. i:<7-252, 

 1,'pimIoii, 181(1. 



■ Ibid.. 1). 17!». . 



' Ibid., p. -Hd. 



* Ibid., p. 170. 



■■■ Bull, dehi Soc. d'uuthivp., 2c sdr.. t. i\, p. 580, Paris, 1869 



"Bull, de lu Snr. d'a.ilhroj).. f. ii, ]>. 105, Palis, 1861. 



