THE SELECTIVE INFLUENCE OF WAR 213 
average height of the annual conscription contingents born 
during the Napoleonic Wars was about 1625 mm.; of those born 
after the wars it was about 1655 mm.” Exemptions for infirmi- 
ties ran nearly parallel with exemptions for undersize. 
The researches of Lapouge on the height, color and head form 
of recruits born in the cantons of Hérault just before, during and 
after the Franco-Prussian War offer interesting results. The 
classes of recruits born in 1871 (during the war) were, with the 
exception of those in a few urban cantons, shorter than those born 
in 1867. Those born in 1871 were of lighter complexion than the 
recruits of preceding and succeeding years. It was found that 
in Hérault the blonds furnished an undue proportion of those 
who were rejected for military service. The recruits born in 
1871 were characterized by an unusual degree of brachycephaly 
while those born in 1872 had a dolichocephaly no less exaggerated, 
the one class being with heads broader than the average, the other 
with heads narrower than the average. It has been objected by 
Steinmetz and Whetham that the smaller size of the recruits born 
in 1871 is due, not to selection, but to the stunting effects of the 
hardships entailed during the war. Granting that this might 
account for their lower stature, it could not explain the relatively 
large number of blond and brachycephalic types. The latter 
seem to have preponderated among the classes of rejected 
recruits. 
In any evaluation of the biological effects of war we must 
consider not only the characteristics of the individuals who are 
destroyed in each country, but the effects of the victory of one 
group of contestants over another group. Clans, tribes and 
nations function as units in the struggle for existence. Other 
things equal, the group with the greatest military efficiency will 
be victorious. Even though the selective elimination within each 
group should be dysgenic, the survival of a superior people may 
lead to a racial advance. There can be little doubt that what 
may be called group selection has proven of great importance in 
the evolution of the human species. It has placed a premium 
upon the virtues of fealty, reliability, sympathy and all those 
