REPORT OF THE ANTHROPOMEXltlC COMMITTEE. 121 



I. As to Classification of Returns. 



In deciding upon the arrangement for practical purposes of returns so 

 various in their origin, and yet consisting in so large a proportion of infor- 

 mation derived from special sources, the first consideration has been to 

 establish a classification of the returns. In this the Committee have had 

 material assistance from their colleague, Mr. Roberts, who has prepared 

 the subjoined scheme of classification (Table III.), vv^hich the Committee 

 have adopted. It is based on the principle of collecting into a standard 

 class as large a number of cases as possible which imply the most 

 favourable conditions of existence in respect to fresh air, exercise, and 

 wholesome and sufiicient food— in one word, nurture — and specialising 

 into classes which may be compared Avith this standard, those which depart 

 more or less from the most favourable condition. By this means, in 

 respect to social condition, the influence of mental and manual work ; in 

 respect to nurture, the influence of food, clothing, &c., on development ; 

 in respect to occupation, the influence of physical conditions ; and in 

 respect to cKmate and sanitary conditions, the influence of town and 

 country life may, as sufiicient materials accumulate under the hands of 

 observers, be determined. 



The classification has been constructed on the physiological and 

 hygienic laws which are familiar to the students of sanitary science, and 

 on a careful comparison of the measurements of different classes of the 

 people, and especially of school children of the age of from eleven to 

 twelve years. This age has been selected by Mr. Roberts as particularly 

 suited to the study of the media, or conditions of life, which influence 

 the development of the human body, as it is subject to all the wide and 

 more powerful agencies which surround and divide class from class, but 

 is yet free from the disturbing elements of puberty and the numerous 

 minor modifying influences, such as occupation, personal habits, &c., 

 which in a measure shape the physique of the adult. Table IV. 

 contains some of the data on which the classification has been based. 

 The most obvious fact which it discloses, apart from the check which 

 growth receives as we descend lower and lower in the social scale, is, that 

 a difference of five inches exists between the average statures of the best 

 and the worst nurtured classes of the community. When it is remem- 

 bered that at birth children are of the same average size in all classes, it 

 is evident that the conditions of life, combined with heredity, exert a 

 most potent influence on the physique of the population of this country, 

 and it will be seen that the labours of the Committee are directed to the 

 elucidation of a subject which is of great national importance as well as 

 of scientific interest. 



II. Results of Returns relating to Glass I. (Standard No. I.) 



Tables V.-X.' and the accompanying diagi-am give the results of 

 the returns which the Committee have obtained relating to individuals 

 coming under the Standard Class (Class I.) 



' It is necessary to call attention to the difference in the meaning of the terms 

 average and mean — which in common language are synonymous — when used in this 

 report. An average is obtained by dividing the sum of the values observed by the 

 number of observations, while a mean is the value at which the largest number of 

 observations occur. An average includes and is influenced by exceptional cases, 

 while a mean excludes exceptional cases, and is consequently uninfluenced by them. 



