stature, which was 155.4 cm. in 1888, but reduced to 153 cm. in 1889. 

 Of those examined from 1894 to 1905, some 43 per cent, were declined 

 on account of general weakness, 3.3 per cent, for varicose veins, 

 3.1 per cent, for intestinal dislocations (hernia), 2.8 per cent, for 

 goitre and 2.4 per cent, for flatfoot. The proportion rejected on 

 account of errors of refraction was 0.7 per cent., and for other 

 diseases of the eyes 1.4 per cent. Defective dentition caused a re- 

 jection rate of 0.4 per cent, and valvular affections of the heart 

 0.24 per cent. It is remarkable that tuberculosis of the lungs caused 

 a rejection rate of only 0.08 per cent., which may be accepted as 

 evidence that by some other previous process of selection those pre- 

 disposed to pulmonary tuberculosis did not come up for final mil- 

 itary examination at all. The general rejection rate is relatively 

 high for Austria, but the rules and regulations have so frequently been 

 changed during the last forty years that no definite conclusions can be 

 safely advanced, excepting possibly for certain clearly recognized causes. 

 Rejections for general debility increased from 27.9 in 1870 to 44.3 per 

 cent, in 1905. All forms of tuberculosis decreased from 0.61 per cent 

 to 0.57 per cent. Flatfloot decreased from 3.4 per cent, to 2.8 per 

 cent., while goitre decreased from 4.7 per cent, in 1871 to 2.9 per cent, 

 in 1905. There was a remarkable reduction in the rejection rate on 

 account of intermittent malarial fever from 0.12 per cent, at the begin- 

 ning of the period to 0.02 per cent, at the end. Specific rejections for 

 malaria were highest in the southern province of Zara of Dalmatia (1.15 

 per cent.), while rejections on account of goitre were highest in the 

 Innsbruck district of Tyrol (9.5 per cent, of the total examined). These 

 averages are for the decade ending with 1905, and given by regional 

 divisions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but not in such detail as 

 the German statistics, regardless of equally wide variations in local, 

 racial and topographical conditions. 



The Austro-Hungarian statistics are of special interest as regards 

 variations in stature according to race, it being shown that per thousand 

 examined during 1894-1905 in the Zara district of Dalmatia the propor- 

 tion of conscripts below 153 cm. was only 5 per 1,000, or the lowest on 

 record, against 60 per 1,000 in the Przemysl district. Conversely the 

 tallest races were met with in Dalmatia and Croatia, or, respectively, 

 53.2 and 31.2 per cent, of 171 cm. and over, against a general average 

 of 22.2 per cent, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire and 14.2 per cent, 

 for the district of Przemysl. Croatians are the tallest, followed by the 

 Czechs, Moravians and Slavs. The Germans occupy an average po- 

 sition, while the Roumanians, Magyars and Ruthenians are distinctly 

 below the average, returning, in any event, a lesser proportion of those 

 171 cm. in stature and over. The Poles show the largest proportion 

 under 160 cm. and the smallest proportion of 171 cm. and over. The 

 Austrian statistics do not justify the assumption frequently given 



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