Chap. IV. 
MANNER OP DEVELOPMENT. 
115 
forts of life. This latter conclusion is directly opposed 
to that arrived at by Villerme from the statistics of the 
height of the conscripts in different parts of France. 
When we compare the differences in stature between the 
Polynesian chiefs and the lower orders within the same 
islands, or between the inhabitants of the fertile volcanic 
and low barren coral islands of the same ocean , 17 or 
again between the Fuegians on the eastern and western 
shores of their country, where the means of subsistence 
are very different, it is scarcely possible to avoid the 
conclusion that better food and greater comfort do in- 
fluence stature. But the preceding statements shew 
how difficult it is to arrive at any precise result. Dr. 
Beddoe has lately proved that, with the inhabitants of 
Britain, residence in towns and certain occupations have 
a deteriorating influence on height ; and he infers that 
the result is to a certain extent inherited, as is likewise 
the case in the United States. Dr. Beddoe further 
believes that wherever a “ race attains its maximum of 
“ physical development, it rises highest in energy and 
“ moral vigour .” 18 
Whether external conditions produce any other 
direct effect on man is not known. It might have been 
expected that differences of climate would have had a 
marked influence, as the lungs and kidneys are brought 
into fuller activity under a low temperature, and the 
liver and skin under a high one . 19 It was formerly 
thought that the colour of the skin and the character 
17 For the Polynesians, see Prichard’s 4 Physical Hist, of Mankind,’ 
vol. y. 1847, p. 145, 283. Also Godron, ‘ He l’Espece,’ tom. ii. p. 289. 
There is also a remarkable difference in appearance between the closely- 
allied Hindoos inhabiting the Upper Ganges and Bengal ; see Elphin- 
stone’s ‘ History of India,’ vol. i. p. 324. 
18 4 Memoirs, Anthropolog. Soc.’ vol. iii. 1867-69, p. 561, 565, 567. 
19 Hr. Brakenridge, 4 Theory of Biathesis/ ‘ Medical Times,’ June 19 
and July 17, 1869. 
