802 General Notes. [July, 
those used by the Massachusetts Board of Health were distrib- 
uted to all the teachers, who heartily codperated in the work. 
The queries included sex, age, weight, height (upright and sit- 
ting), color of eyes, hair, and skin, nationality and occupation of 
parentage. Writers on anthropometry have commonly studied 
the influence of age, sex, race, occupation, and general surround- 
ings, without sufficient regard to the physiological laws through 
hich they act. The size of an organism and more definitely of 
any group of organisms is limited, and the influence which de- 
termines tke amount of food that can be assimilated under the 
conditions supposed is a power transmitted from parent to off- 
spring, and known as the law of heredity. The size of an organ- 
ism is the result of its inherited tendency as modified by the two 
varying factors of waste and repair. By far the greater portion of 
an individual’s surroundings are determined for him by the de- 
gree of density of population in the locality in which he lives. 
Some excellent remarks are made on Plato’s idea of archetypal 
forms, and the comparative value of means and averages, with a 
decided preference for the latter. In this the author has prob- 
ably sacrificed ease to accuracy, except in very homogeneous 
groups. The tables in the pamphlet, showing the comparative 
growth of the sexes from five to twenty years, are very interest- 
ing indeed, and the addition of nationality and other factors bring 
‘out results worthy of consideration. ok 
The reflections upon climate are quite startling. Indeed, it 1s 
deemed improbable that climate has any considerable modifying 
effect upon growth. This statement is subjected to a searching 
examination in the light of researches, such as those of Gould, 
Baxter, Walker and Beddoe. Walker's Atlas and Baxter's Re- 
port, studied together, give abundant proof of the non-depen- 
dence of stature on climate. 
The density of population acts in two ways upon growth: It 
modifies, first, the hygienic conditions of the whole popula 
controlling the influence of occupation ; second, the intensity an 
character of the struggle for existence. 
t would seem that the superiority of stature in males over 
females is due to two factors: first, the arrest of growth of lower 
Tas . . 1 
e 
THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN.—The second number of 
current year contains the following papers : 
The Hill Tribes of India. By Professor John Avery. 
Indian migration as evidenced by language, n, By Horatio Hale. 
Native races of Colombia, S. A., iv. By E. G. Barney. 
The Somme implements and some others. By S. F. Walker. 
Piet D EA ge ee EE O T E E 
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