30 THE DESCENT OP MAN. 



the late war, were measured, and the States in which they were 

 born and reared were recorded." From this astonishing number 

 of observations it is proved that local influences of some kind 

 act directly on stature; and we further learn that "the State 

 "where the physical growth has in great measure taken place, 

 "and the State of birth, which indicates the ancestry, seem to 

 "exert a marked influence on the stature." For instance, it is 

 established, "that residence in the Western States, during the 

 "years of growth, tends to produce increase of stature." On the 

 other hand, it is certain that with sailors, their life delays growth, 

 as shown "by the great difference between the statures of soldiers 

 "and sailors at the ages of seventeen and eighteen years." Mr. B. 

 A. Gould endeavored to ascertain the nature of the influences 

 which thus act on stature; but he arrived only at negative results, 

 namely, that they did not relate to climate, the elevation of the 

 land, soil, nor even "in any controlling degree" to the abundance 

 or the need of the comforts of life. This latter conclusion is 

 directly opposed to that arrived at by Villerme, from the statistics 

 of the height of the conscripts in different parts of France. When 

 we compare the differences in stature between the Polynesian 

 chiefs and the lower orders within the same islands, or between 

 the inhabitants of the fertile volcanic and low barren coral Islands 

 of the same ocean," or again between the Fuegians on the eastern 

 and western shores of their country, where the means of subsist- 

 ence are very different, it is scarcely possible to avoid the con- 

 clusion that better food and greater comfort do influence stature. 

 But the preceding statements show how diflicult it is to arrive 

 at any precise result. Dr. Beddoe has lately proved that, with 

 the inhabitants of Britain, residence in towns and certain occupa- 

 tions have a deteriorating influence on height; and he infers that 

 the result is to a certain extent inherited, as is likewise the case 

 in the United States. Dr. Beddoe further believes that wherever 

 a "race attains its maximum of physical development, it rises 

 "highest In energy and moral vigor."'" 



Whether external conditions produce any other direct effect 

 on man is not known. It might have been expected that dif- 

 ferences of climate would have had a marked influence, in as much 

 as the lungs and kidneys are brought into activity under a low 



" 'Investigations in Military and Anthrop. Statistics,' &c. 1869, by B. 

 A. Gould, p. 93, 107, 126, 131, 134. 



" For the Polynesians, see Prichard's 'Physical Hist, of Mankind,' 

 vol. V. 1847, p. 145, 283. Also Godron, 'De I'Bspece,' torn. ii. p. 289. There 

 is also a remarkable difference in appearance between the closely-allied 

 Hindoos inhabiting the Upper Ganges and Bengal; see Elphinstone's 

 'History of India,' vol. i. p. 324. 



» 'Memoirs, Anthropolog. Soc. vol. iii. 1S67-1S69. pp. 561, 565, 667. 



