102 
The Height and Span of the Japanese . [February, 
fairly the conditions under which they live, and in Japan we 
find the system of dress to consist essentially of many layers 
of similarly made garments, the characteristics of which are 
that, being loose and having one tie each, they can be readily 
taken on and off; and the abdomen is protected by a long 
and thick sash. In all variable climates, as m Spam, great 
advantage has been found to result from keeping the middle 
of the body well protected. The Japanese of the upper 
classes usually peel themselves of layers of their loose 
clothing towards the middle of the day, resuming the gar- 
ments as evening closes in ; whilst the coolie, whose ward- 
robe is less extensive, casts towards noon his cotton diess m 
favour of his tattooed skin, and is to be seen in the evening 
only comfortable in a wadded coat. 
The use of charcoal braziers is probably an unhealthy 
custom ; for although Japanese rooms are habitually open to 
the air in the daytime, still the custom of sitting for many 
hours with the mouth almost direCtly over the brazier can- 
not but lead to a considerable amount of the poisonous 
oxides of carbon being inhaled. 
The physique of the Japanese does not tend to inspire 
confidence in a vegetarian regime, upon which, with fish, this 
people may be said to live. However, they also eat their 
vegetables highly salted ; and we know that sailors, who, 
under otherwise healthy conditions, yet eat much salted food 
and live in an atmosphere impregnated with salt, are usually 
of a short square build. Thus it may possibly be the salted 
nature of the food, rather than the absence of meat, that is 
deleterious to growth. Again, with regard to diet, the growth 
of the children appears to bear a favourable comparison with 
European children in infancy, when they are nursed even up 
to three years old, but to become unsatisfactory during the 
later period of childhood, seeming to indicate that the food 
supply — although equal to the demand for simple existence 
is insufficient during the period of the body’s most active 
growth. It seems probable that the direction m which the 
food is insufficient is in fatty matters, for, as regards the 
nitrogenous element, beans, which contain much vegetable 
albumen, are largely consumed by the Japanese. Of course, 
however, many of the additional causes of the smallness ot 
the Japanese may be so remote as to cease to affeCt the 
nation except by hereditary influence. It appears that 
authors are agreed that the Japanese are a mixed race. 
Hilgendorf states that at least one-third, of the Japanese 
skulls are provided originally with a double jugal bone, which 
remains more or less at a later period, and which might 
