E. M. Eldbrton 
291 
Committee's artizan class. In weight they appear to be somewhat less, but here 
Dr Leslie Mackenzie and Captain Foster have overlooked the fact that the Glasgow 
children were weighed ■without boots, but the British Association Committee weighed 
in ordinary indoor clothing, i.e. with boots or shoes on. Now girls' boots weigh 
as much as 1| to 2^ lbs. and boys' boots If to 31 lbs.* Hence in comparing 
children in Glasgow with those six months older, Dr Leslie Mackenzie and Captain 
Foster have dropped 2| lbs. in weight, while in comparing children without boots with 
those with boots they have dropped another lbs. to possibly 3^ lbs. We should 
anticipate therefore that their readings would be 3| to nearly G lbs. too small f. 
There is in our mind very little doubt that the weight of the Glasgow children is 
at every age equal or superior to the weight of the artizan children measured 
by the British Association Anthropometric Committee and the statement of 
Dr Leslie Mackenzie and Captain Foster that " at each age from 5 to 18 the average 
weight of the [Glasgow] children is uniformly below the standard of the Anthro- 
pometrical Committee j" arises from their having entirely overlooked the con- 
ditions as to class, age and manner of weighing which were adopted by that 
Committee, a knowledge of which was essential to any comparison with the Com- 
mittee's data. In the diagrams on pp. 292-3 we have given the Glasgow measure- 
ments set against those of the artizan class of the Anthropometric Committee, 
and the reader will see clearly how all the arguments based on differences between 
the Glasgow and the " Anthropometric standard " fall at once to the ground. 
There is nothing exceptional in the Glasgow data, they differ of course from data 
for the children of the professional classes, but this difference is not confined to 
Glasgow. Apart from this point it is essential that the ages of the two groups of 
children should be the same and not differ by six months. 
In the data used for this paper, children of 5 were omitted; they are few in 
number and are not therefore likely to give such reliable results when each age 
group is used separatel}^ The mean weight for each height in inches was then 
found and the regression equation calculated. These equations are given in 
Table I. It will be observed from these equations that, though some irregularities 
occur, generally speaking weight increases more rapidly for a given height in the 
better school groups, at the later ages, and for girls more than boys except at 
ages 6 and 7. 
We can see from these equations that the multiple regression surface for 
weight on height and age is not absolutely planar. It can be shown that it is 
* New "tacket" boots for girls of five in Glasgow weight 1 lb. 5 oz. falling to about 1 lb. 3 oz. 
when the tackets are worn down ; for girls of fourteen 2 lbs. 6 oz. falling to about 2 lbs. 2 oz. For boys 
of five years new tacket boots weigh 1 lb. 14 oz. falling to about 1 lb. 11 oz. when worn down ; for boys 
of fourteen the former weigh 3 lbs. 9 oz. and the latter about 3 lbs. 3 oz. We have to thank Dr Chalmers, 
M.O.H. for Glasgow, for this information. 
t Many public elementary school children have great masses of metal on their boots. Undoubtedly 
the older children have heavier boots, and we can see from the diagrams that the divergence of the 
Glasgow children from the Anthropometric Committee's artizan children increases with age. 
X Report, Scottish Education Department, 1907, p. iv. 
