254 REPORT—1883. . 
7. The points to which the Committee has addressed its inquiries 
are— 
(1) Stature. 
(2) Weight. 
(3) Girth of chest. 
(4) Colour of eyes 
(5) ‘5 hair 
(6) Breathing capacity. 
(7) Strength of arm. 
(8) Sight. 
(9) Span of arms. 
} Complexion. 
To these might have been added others, especially— 
(10) Size and shape of head. 
(11) Length of lower limbs as shown by the difference between 
the sitting and standing positions. 
(12) Girth, length, and breadth of other parts of the body. 
But the Committee was afraid of seeking to obtain more information 
than their contributors would be likely to furnish ; and experience has 
shown that many of them have been unable to supply more than a por- 
tion of that which was requested. Few have furnished complete returns 
on all the subjects, but where one has failed another has succeeded, 
and sufficient data have been collected to give trustworthy statistical 
results on all the subjects of inquiry except those of breathing capacity 
and sight, An abstract of one of the complete returns will be given in 
its proper place, as exhibiting a good epitome of what the Committee 
has sought to obtain in all cases. (See Table XXIII.) 
8. The large body of observations on stature, weight, and complexion 
collected by Dr. Beddoe, and those on stature, weight, and chest-girth 
collected by Mr. Roberts, previously to the formation of the Committee, 
have been made use of; and the Committee has thus had observations 
made on a total number of about 53,000 individuals of both sexes and of 
all ages, from which to construct their tables and to base their conclusions. 
9, The statistics are unique in range and numbers, and have been 
obtained from a very large number of independent observers living in 
different parts of the country, without prejudice, and often in ignorance of 
the use which would be made of them ; and they have been analysed and 
tabulated in a perfectly impartial manner, irrespective of all preconceived 
opinions. The Committee does not claim for them exemption from the 
liability to that amount of imperfection and probable error which must 
attach to all conclusions drawn from a disproportionate, and from a 
comparatively small number of observations. But great care has been 
taken in the examination and classification of all the returns to eliminate 
obvious errors, and to call attention in the body of the Report to any 
apparent discrepancies from faulty observation or deficient numbers.! 
1 «Tf an exceedingly large number of measurements, weights, &c. be taken—sup- 
posing no bias, or any cause of error acting preferably in any one direction to exist 
—not only will the number of small errors vastly exceed that of large ones, but the 
results will be found to group themselves about the mean of the whole always accord- 
ing to one invariable law of numbers, and that the more precisely, the greater the 
total number of determinations... .. Rude and unskilful measurements of any 
kind, accumulated in very great numbers, are competent to afford precise mean 
results. The only conditions are the continual animus mensurandi, the absence of 
