E. M. Elderton 
299 
In a Drapers' Company Research Memoir * recently published tables are given 
showing the height and weight of boys and girls of 12 to 13 years who were 
members of the Worcestershire public elementary schools. These tables are 
XLIV and LIX and will be found on pp. 100 and 107 of the work cited ; we 
have calculated the mean heights and weights and the regression coefficient of 
weight on height as we have done for Glasgow and Staffordshire. The mean age 
of the group of children of 12 to 13 years is 12'.5 years, so allowance must be 
made for the six months age difference in comparing with the Glasgow data. We 
have already given the mean heights and weights of Glasgow and Staffordshire 
boys and girls of age 13 so we will calculate what the height and weight of 
Worcestershire children at age 13 would be. An additional year makes a difference 
of roughly 1'9 inches and 4'9 lbs. in the height and weight of a girl and of 
1'8 inches and 4'6 lbs. in the height and weight of a boy. 
Girls 
Boys 
Mean 
Height 
Mean 
Weight 
Eegression 
of Weight 
on Height 
Mean 
Height 
Mean 
Weight 
Regression 
of Weight 
on Height 
15 "^1 Worcestershire 
13 Staffordshire ... 
13 Glasgow 
55- 2 
56- 1 
56-7 
55-2 
72-9 
75 -.3 
78-Ot 
74-8 
2-829 
54- 6 
55- 5 
55-8 
54-6 
72- 1 
74- 4 
75- 3 
73- 6 
2-800 
Worcestershire children are taller than Glasgow children but slightly shorter 
than Staffordshire children. They are also rather heavier than Glasgow children 
but not relatively to their height. The height of Worcestershire chihlren of 
12-5 years is the same as the height of Glasgow children of 13 years, but the 
weight of girls is 2 lbs. less and of boys is H lbs. less. Worcestershire children 
are lighter than Staffordshire children, but when allowance is made for the 
difference in height the Worcestershire children are not much at a disadvantage ; 
girls are a pound lighter and the weight of boys is practically the same. 
The differences we have found between the Worcestershire, Staffordshire and 
Glasgow children may well be due to differences of local race, and not be the 
results of differential environment or nurture. We should have little hesitation in 
applying the returns for Glasgow children as an approximate standard — say to the 
lb. and inch — for all British children of the artizan classes. 
* " A Statistical Study of Oral Temperatures in School Children with special reference to Parental 
Environment and Class Differences," by M. H. Williams, Julia Bell and Karl Pearson. Studies in 
National Deterioration, IX. 1914. Dulau and Co., Ltd., 37, Soho Square, W. 
t This weight appears somewhat exaggerated. It may in part be due to local differences in the 
average ages of ' leavers.' 
