294 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. V., No. 114. 



The experiments which we have been con- 

 sidering compare favorably as to methods and 

 care with previous experiments of the same 

 sort ; and it does not seem unwarranted to 

 conclude that those, also, are subject to errors 

 of somewhat the same magnitude. It appears 

 plain that we can, with proper care, determine 

 the digestibility of the total ration fed with a 

 veiy satisfactory degree of accuracy^ ; but it 

 seems equally plain that we cannot compute 

 from that result the digestibility- of any single 

 fodder composing the ration with the hope of 

 obtaining any thing more than approximately 

 correct figures. The data which Ave have for the 

 digestibility of the concentrated fodders are of 

 more or less value for practical purposes, since 

 they are usually the average of several deter- 

 minations ; but for scientific purposes such 

 determinations are of very doubtful value. 



H. P. Arm&by. 



AN ANTHROPOMETRIC LABORATORY. 



In" the February number of the Journal of the 

 Anthropological institute of Great Britain and Ire- 

 land, Mr. Francis Galtou describes the laboratory 

 which he established at the International health ex- 

 hibition to familiarize the public with simple meth- 

 ods of measuring and recording many of the physical 

 characteristics of man. The instruments in action 

 dealt with keenness of sight, color-sense, judgment 

 of eye, hearing, highest audible note, breathing- 

 power, strength of pull and squeeze, swiftness of 

 blow, span of arms, height standing and sitting, and 

 weight. Some other apparatus not in actual use, 

 such as a balance to determine delicacy of touch, was 

 exhibited. 



All these instruments were so contrived as to econ- 

 omize the time of the attendant; so that, although 

 each person measured was in the laboratory about 

 twenty minutes, he consumed but seven minutes of 

 the attendant's time. Thus it was possible to meas- 

 ure ninety persons daily, and cover the running ex- 

 penses of the laboratory with a tax of threepence 

 each. Of course, the reduction of expense to a mini- 

 mum gives a much broader field for work, especially 

 in introducing periodic systematic measurements into 

 schools, which is one of the ultimate objects of this 

 demonstration. 



Keenness of sight, or power of accommodation of 

 the eye, was measured by means of an original in- 

 strument of a flat, sickle-shape, upon which were set 

 upright, at regular intervals, small blocks of wood, 

 covered below with printing in diamond type, and 

 having printed at the top in large type the distance 

 in inches from the eye-piece. The number of inches 

 at which the diamond-type is legible is an expression 

 of the accommodating power. This test showed, 

 that, of 850 persons, forty per cent had both eyes 

 equally effective, while sixty per cent had a notable 



difference in the power of the two eyes. The average 

 difference between the two eyes was two inches; but 

 the average strength of the right and left eye was 

 almost exactly the same. The color-test was Holm- 

 gren's light-green test, nicely arranged to economize 

 time. Judgment of the eye in dividing a line into 

 halves, and in setting a movable arm square upon a 

 board, were tested in ingenious ways, which doubt- 

 less among children would express the native quali- 

 ty, but oftentimes among adults would be only a 

 measure of facility acquired by occupation. The 

 highest audible note was measured by five whistles, 

 set to emit 10,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, and 50,000 

 vibrations per second respectively. Of 317 males 

 between forty and fifty years of age, a hundred per- 

 cent heard the first whistle, to four per cent who 

 heard the last. In this, as in every other particular, 

 the males excel the females. 



The spirometer used consists of a counterpoised 

 vessel suspended in water, which rises as air is 

 breathed into it, and shows the number of cubic 

 inches of displacement by a scale at its side. The 

 breathing-capacity increases rapidly in early youth, 

 becomes stationary between twenty and thirty, or a 

 little later, and thenceforward steadily declines. Up 

 to the age of twenty, the breathing-capacity has been 

 the same for both sexes ; but at that age that of the 

 males becomes half as great again, — a ratio which 

 is maintained throughout after-life. Unexpectedly, 

 it appears that there is no close relation between the 

 breathing-capacity and the strength of pull or of 

 squeeze. The latter, which were estimated by means 

 of Salter's instruments for the purpose, show that 

 the left hand is about six per cent weaker than the 

 right, and that women are weaker than men. Of 

 the 1,657 adult women measured at the laboratory, 

 the strongest could exert a strength of squeeze of 

 but eighty-six pounds, or about that of an average 

 man. 



For the first time, swiftness of blow was measured, 

 either of a blow delivered with the fist straight at a 

 pad upon one end of a flat bar running freely between 

 guides, or of a pull, by holding a stirrup attached by 

 a string to a similar bar, and striking out into space. 

 The swiftness is registered by means of a spring with 

 pencil attached, which is set free, and vibrates trans- 

 versely as soon as the bar begins to move. The re- 

 sults of this measurement are not discussed. 



A curious fact, which came to light on comparing 

 the height sitting with the height standing, is, that 

 in women an increase in stature is accompanied by 

 a disproportionate increase in the length of the legs, 

 while in men, for all statures up to six feet, the ratio 

 between height sitting and height standing is the 

 same, 54: 100. 



During the continuance of the laboratory, 9,337 

 persons were measured, of whom 4,726 were adult 

 males, and 1,657 were adult females. The results of 

 all these measurements are not fully discussed, nor 

 has Mr. Galton perfected his ideal of a laboratory. 

 Among other measurements which will be added to 

 the list, are those of the head, its maximum length 

 and breadth with graduated calipers, and its maxi- 



