GENIUS AND STATURE ‘5I9 
GENIUS AND STATURE 
By CHARLES KASSEL 
FORT WORTH, TEXAS 
il aoe greatness and loftiness of stature are rarely found together is 
one of the leading statements of Lombroso’s “ Man of Genius,” 
and the eminent Italian, in support of his assertion, arrays a respectable 
list of names. Nor does Lombroso stand alone in this opinion. The 
notion is a common one—even a proverbial one—and now and again 
some voice rises from press or periodical with this boding message to 
the stalwart sons of men. 
If the biographies, however, in the average American library afford 
a just test of its truth, this belief must be gathered to the limbo of 
popular errors and delusions. So far, indeed, from supporting the 
statement of the great criminologist, the testimony of biography fixes 
the average stature of men of eminence at a point above the middle 
height. 
In default of statistical data ready to hand—the dearth of reliable 
material upon this question being quite marked—the writer has turned 
through the biographical section of a general public library situated in 
the city of his residence. Of the lives of two hundred and thirty dis- 
tinguished men thus examined, those of one hundred and three sup- 
plied the information sought either in exact figures or by way of general 
statement; and of these personages it appears that sixteen were of 
middle height, fifty-eight above and twenty-nine below. In many in- 
stances the stature was merely described as “ medium,” or above or 
below, and in tabulating the result we have assumed the correctness of 
this classification, although it is far from certain that in reality the 
terms bore the same meaning to all writers. Where, however, the 
stature was given in feet and inches, we have adopted as the standard 
of medium height five feet seven inches. ‘This is manifestly too low for 
America, and is likewise too low for England, since, as we are told by 
H. H. Donaldson in “The Growth of the Brain,” five hundred and 
seventeen observations among all classes gave 67.7 inches as the average 
stature for men in England. For the civilized world, however, the 
average would probably be so far lower than that of England and 
America as to make the figures we have mentioned a fair standard. 
Even, however, were 5 feet 8 inches to be used for middle height, the 
result, so far as the present paper is concerned, would not be disturbed, 
since none of the statures given fall within this disputed margin. It 
