Stature of the Men of Roxburgh and Selkirk. 315 



and the latter 5 feet 6f inches. If, however, we confine 

 ourselves to North Northumbrians, their average height cannot 

 be estimated at less than 5 feet 8 inches." As regards 

 "bulk," he says, "The Volunteers yield an average of 162-3 

 lb., which exceeds the averages both of England and 

 Scotland; Dr Beddoe estimating the former at 145 lb., and 

 the latter at 165 lb. Probably the bulk of Nortlmmbrians 

 is about that of Scotsmen." 



It is stated, with reference to these Northumbrian figures, 

 that "the height is without shoes and stockings, and the 

 weight without clothes." 



In the following notes I regret that I am obliged to 

 confine myself entirely to only one of the particulars dealt 

 with in Mr Tate's paper, viz. the Stature. This I have 

 obtained from the Enrolment Books of the Border Rifle 

 Volunteers, it being a requirement that, on the enrolment 

 of every Volunteer, there be recorded, along with certain 

 other particulars, his age, height, and chest measurement. 

 Here I may observe in passing that the very effectual method 

 which seems to have been adopted five and twenty years ago 

 in Northumberland for ascertaining the "bulk" of the 

 Volunteers, viz. weighing them without clothes, is one not very 

 easily followed in ordinary circumstances, being attended with 

 some obvious inconvenience. And with regard to the chest 

 measurement, by which, taken along with the stature, the 

 "bulk" of a man may be fairly well indicated, I have not 

 thought it expedient to calculate or reduce it to an average, 

 because I am not confident that this measurement is taken 

 in Volunteer Corps with the requisite exactness and uniformity. 

 Army recruits are, of course, stripped for measurement, and 

 the tape is drawn tight while the breath is expired from 

 the chest, and unless this be carefully attended to, considerable 

 error is liable to occur. But measuring the height is a 

 simple operation, in which it is hardly possible to go far 

 wrong, unless wilfully. 



The "Border Rifles," or Ist Roxburgh and Selkirk Rifle 

 Volunteers, are made up of six detachments, whose headquarters 

 are at Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose, Hawick, Galashiels, and 

 Selkirk, those at the three first-named and the last places 

 consisting of one company each, while at Hawick and Galashiels 

 they have gradually increased from one company in 1860 to 



