72 THE CHARTS — GENERAL REMARKS. 



that readers of intelligence fall into the error of accounting for the excess of one ratio 

 over another by the fact that more men were examined in the one case than in the 

 other ; and as such an error must render the statistics worse than useless, it has been 

 thought best to dilate upon the point, even at the risk of being prolix. The " number 

 examined " does not enter into the consideration of the ratio, except in a genei-al way, 

 and under the rule that the greater the number of observations the more reliable will 

 be the resulting ratio. The propriety of giving the number examined, and the import- 

 ance of this general rule, will be apparent when we come to consider the relation of 

 diseases of rare occurrence to nativity, especially to certain nativities of which less than 

 a hundred men were exaiuined. 



In Class I, the conditions in connection with which diseases are considered are : 

 (1,) Social Condition, in regard to which the married men were, as a rule, found to be 

 more affected than the single ; (2,) Complexion, in regard to which the men of light 

 complexion were, almost without exception, found more affected than those of dark ; 

 (3,) Age, in which, as a general rule, the older men furnished a larger ratio of rejec- 

 tions; (4,) Height, in consideration of which it will be observed that the ratio of 

 rejections increases with increase of height; and, (.o,) Nativity, to which no general 

 rule seems to apply. As throwing some light upon these peculiar tendencies, it may 

 be stated, as regards the preponderance of disease among the " married" which seems 

 to conflict with the generally-accepted view, that it is evident the average age of the 

 married greatly exceeded that of the single ; or, in other words, that the married men, 

 as a class, were the older men, and therefore more likely to be diseased. In regard to 

 the almost invariable rule applying to complexion, the fact is, in this connection, sub- 

 mitted without comment. The apparent relation of height to certain diseases is, it is 

 believed, contrary to the general belief that a man's height has nothing to do with his 

 predisposition to disease ; and a partial explanation of this seeming relation may be 

 found in the fact that up to a certain age, and that not an early one, men increase in 

 stature, so that the taller men may be considered as also the older men ; and, as the 

 prevalence of, or susceptibility to disease increases Avith age, naturally the ratio would 

 be larger with increased height. In this connection, the inquiry as to when, or at what 

 age, men attain their full stature, becomes interesting and important ; and partly to 

 meet it Chart LIX has been prepared. By reference to it and the special comments 

 on height in the introduction to the tables, it will be seen that there is, in this respect, 

 a marked difference between natives of different countries ; that while native Americans 

 do not reach their greatest height until they are thirty-five to forty years old, and 

 natives of British America at from thirty to forty, the men of English or Irish birth 

 attain theirs at from thirty to thirty-five, and Germans at from twenty-five to thirty.' 

 In view of these facts, we inay reasonably content ourselves with the explanation that 

 as the number examined consisted largely of native Americans, who attain their greatest 

 height at so late an age, age and height must, as a general rule, in their relation to 

 disease, keep pace with each other. But, in the consideration of some diseases, we 

 shall find that while the ratio of rejections increases rapidly with age, it remains con- 

 stant, or, so to speak, fluctuates with increase of height. These departures from the 



'Tbese facts, importaut iu au ethnological iioiut of view, are treated of more fully in the preceUiug portions of 

 the worii. 



