WEIGHT. ' o5 



313 pounds, (141 98 kilogrammes,) and measured 51 inches (1,295 millimetres) round 

 the chest at expiration; his mobility of chest was 3 inches, (7G millimetres.) 



Instances of very light weight in connection with diseased condition are of course 

 iinnierous in the list of exemptions, but would contribute nothing of interest to the 

 jirescnt inquiry. I'lie smallest weight recorded of healthy men was 85 pounds, (38.5() 

 Idlogranmies.) A group of men, taken without othei' selection than that each was 

 undei- 1 (to pounds (4;"j.3G kilogrammes) in weight, furnish the following particulars: 

 '['heir mean age was 27.28 years; their mean height, 62.75 inches, (1.594 metres:) 

 their mean girth of chest at expiration was 31.49 inches, (799 millimetres;) and their 

 mean weight was 95.60 pounds, (43.36 kilogrammes.) These men were all rejected 

 for "want of development." 



Dr. Beddoe chronicles, as worthy of note, that he found 30 men from liichmond, 

 in Yorkshire, whose mean height was 70.01 inches, (1.778 metres,) and whose mean 

 weight was 170.7 pounds, (77.43 kilogrammes.) He mentions another lot, consisting 

 of 11 men, from Bentham, in Lancashire, whose weight was 192.9 pounds, (87.50 kilo- 

 grammes,) and their height 70.72 inches, (1.79H metres.)' 



It has been customary to speak of the typical American as tall and thin, and 

 writers, not questioning the correctness of the assumption, have undertaken to explain 

 the cause. Tobacco, diet, climate, excessive devotion to business, have all been sup- 

 posed to bear their part in the production of the slender national figure. It is, perhaps, 

 not too much to say that the statistics derived from the late war show that the mean 

 weight of the white native of the United States is not disproportionate to his statiu-e. 



Other tables in which weight appears as a factor will be found in the foregoing 

 comments upon stature and perimeter of chest.^ 



Statements of the mean weight of races or tribes have but little value if the par- 

 ticulars of age, girth of chest, and height. do not accompany them. The following 

 table, very incomplete and fragmentary, as it must be admitted to be, has been prepared 

 for the sake of bi'inging together, and thus placing on record, many observations which 

 are not readily accessible in their separate condition, or have been prepared for this 

 work by reduction from crude statistics. 



In mau}^ instances of foreigners who appear in our tables, it has not been found 

 possible to procure any authentic statistics of the mean dimensions of their countrymen 

 at home. In others, a compaiison was not practicable. Oar tal)les, for instance, as 

 well as Mr. Gould's, speak of "the Germans" collectively; and no data of measure- 

 ment 6f the inhabitants of separate kingdoms of states of German}' would furnish any 

 means of comparison. In like manner, the natives of Belgium enlisted in our Army are 

 included with the Germans ; their number, it may be added, was very small. 



' Bidlc of man in the British Tales. . 'See ante, pp. 39-41. 



