1884.] 
( 7 ) 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
*** Editor does not hold himself responsible for statements of fadts or 
opmions expressed in Correspondence, or in Articles bearing the signature 
of their respective authors. 
HEIGHT OF MEN. 
To the Editor of the journal of Science. 
Sir, — In the crypt of Hythe Church are the bones of about a 
thousand men said to have been killed in a battle between Saxons 
and Danes. The size and strength of the bones are wonderful. 
The skulls are large and well-shaped, and have no likeness to 
those of gorillas except in the deeply furrowed and projecting 
brows. From a dozen femurs I picked one that was rather the 
largest, and I found it a full inch longer than my own. Taking 
this as a fourth of the owner’s excess in height, he must have 
been 6 feet 7 inches. A skeleton, probably older than those at 
Hythe, is in Scarborough Museum, and, by rough measurement 
with arm-span outside its glass case, I found that the former 
owner was about 6 feet 4 or 5 inches. Did not giants precede 
the men whose small armour has led us to deem our fathers less 
than ourselves ? I believe that we, and especially our girls of 
the middle and upper classes, are growing taller. I wish some- 
one would compare the height of 200 or 300 girls, between 16 
and 26, with the height of their mothers. I think he would find 
a difference of quite half an inch, perhaps more. — I am, &c., 
Hugh Browne. 
STUPIDITY OR EXCITEMENT 
To the Editor of the Journal of Science. 
Sir, — As you appear to take much interest in anima psychology, 
perhaps the following instance of animal stupidity may be ac- 
ceptable : — The other day some sparrows flew past my house at 
