REPORT OF THE ANTHROPOMETRIC COMMITTEE. 209 



to the amount of general knowledge on the physical and intellectual 

 powers of man. 1 



Professor Bowditch, of Harvard, Mass., has published a supplementary 

 investigation of the growth of children, with suggestions in regard to 

 methods of research, in the 10th Annual Report of the State Board of 

 Health (Boston, 1879). His object was to ascertain whether differences of 

 race or differences in the mode of life affect the rate of growth the more 

 profoundly. The general conclusion he arrives at is that mode of life, as 

 indicated by the occnpation of the parents, is equally important with race 

 in determining the rate of growth of children. In his remarks on An- 

 thropometrical methods, Dr. Bowditch reprints, with approval, the forms 

 and instructions which have been issued by this Committee, and recom- 

 mends the manual and chart prepared by Mr. Roberts. He also advises 

 the use of the card system, extensively adopted in Germany, in which the 

 facts relating to every single person are collected upon a card, which can 

 be combined with other cards in any number of ways, according to the 

 nature of the facts desired to be grouped together. This plan the Com- 

 mittee have resolved to adopt wherever it can conveniently be applied, 

 and a form of card has been drawn up for use by the head-masters of" 

 public schools. 



A special inquiry has recently been instituted in almost every primary 

 school throughout Switzerland, at the instance of a Committee of the 

 Societe des Sciences Naturelles, for the purpose of ascertaining the dis- 

 tribution of the different colours of the iris, hair, and skin, as connected 

 with the settlement of the aboriginal races in that country. 



The coincidence of these several inquiries with that undertaken by 

 this Committee is exceedingly interesting, and leads to the hope that, 

 from all these various sources, information of great value may in due 

 course be elicited. 



The Committee have made progress during the year in the collection 

 of typical photographs of the inhabitants of the British Islands, and have 

 compiled an album which is exhibited to this section. A sub- Committee 

 has been appointed for Bradford, but has not yet furnished a report. 

 Mr. Soi-by, LL.D,, F.R.S., has kindly undertaken to assist the Committee 

 m Sheffield with the results of his experience and observation. The 

 Committee hope to continue this branch of their operations during the 

 coming year. 



_ In addition to the collections referred to in the last Report, the Com- 

 mittee have been favoured with several other gifts and loans, and in par- 

 ticular with the loan of a fine collection, comprising 102 Maori and 4 

 Fijian photographs belonging to Mr. Alfred Eccles, of Torquay, with per- 

 mission to select from them such as may be suitable for reproduction in a 

 collection of photographic types of the races of the Empire. 



The Committee owe thanks to the numerous emplovers of labour 



head-masters of public schools, medical officers of volunteer regiments' 



public officers, and other persons who have furnished them with statistics! 



s well as to those who are now engaged in the collection of observations 



tor their use next vear. 



1 Communicated by Professor Leone Levi. 

 1879. 



