The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-13

/ TpAU
| paper year ago on 'The Ages of the American
Soldiers" He had here the results as the stature
| of 200, 900 men. Clerks had been sent to the
| Adutant-Generals of the different States, who
| had uAnscribed from the nuster-rolls The
results have shown how much more satisfactory
the statistics would be ii we had the stature OF
| the earlier troops, who must have been q stur-
dieT class OF men. The rules Of the army require
mat the height shall be given at the nearest
one'fourth inch. Yet the number whose height
was given in whole inches was four times what
1t should be- and the number whose
stature ended in a half inch was twice too
great showing the tendency OF the measurers
to take rounC numbers. Another striking fact
developed is that the time of reaching the maxi
mum height is very much later than is gene
rally supposed being 2S IN men born in America.
Again, IL is found that the height OF those at IS
is not so great as that of those at 70 and 30.
This he attributed to the consolidation of the
caTtilages of the backbone. II might be said
that the height decreases during the day, and
that by carrying heavy weights, etc, the height
was diminished for a few hours. He thought,
however, that the error OF this cause must have
been eliminated by the great number of mea-
suTements made at all hours of the day. The
attempts to indicate a rate of growth nave
not been found very satisfactory. The
age for maximum stature comes earliest
in States where the height is found to be the
greatest-an unexpected result Again, the
men of foreign birth were considerably shorter
than those OF American nativity. But strange
10 say, the stature seems to depend more on the
place in which they were reared than on that IN
winch they were born, A Massachusetts man
reared in Iowa is an inch taller. The average
height OF the first $4,000 Of New York troops
was GA inches: of the second so 000 CTS: of
the third, Co.'S He had thought that this third
result must be wrong. and had made an una.
valllng effort to correct it. He finally found
mat two-thlrds OF the men composing this espe-
Clal count we're enllstments in the Navy: so that
1t seemed at least as II the shorter men pre-
terred that manner OF life. A similar eX-
animation OF the books OF the Navy
Depar ment confirmed this result show
ing that the sailors are two inches shorter than
the soldiers while the landsmen enlisted in the
Navy were found to be about the same height as
the soldiers. The only explanation of thus fact
That Is at all satisfactory Is, that the early life
on shipboarG hlnders growth. Tie highest
stature found was ieet 10 inches. The men
who measured over 6 feet 4, numbered several
hundred. He bad convinced himself that these
tall men did not wear as well as the shorter. by
great deal He called attention to the differ
ence in height of the men enlisted Tor different
States. He had computed the average height
for each year OF age. The years showing the
greatest average height we're different in the
various States, but those greatest averages were
as follows, in nChes:-
Maine, CSC; Vermont, 6S 1; New Hampshire
67'g: Massachusetts three CLASSES 67.I 67.3
67'3; Rhode Island, G7'5 Connecticut, G7'5; New
Iolk, five classes, 67'8 67'S Co.'S (salOIs). G7'2,
67C; New Jersey, 66'7; Pennsylvania. three
classes 67'S G7'5. 676; Ohio, three classes 6S'S,
6S'5, GS'l: Indiana, 6S'7, $50; Mchlgan, CTS;
Wisconsin, GIT; Iowa, 60; Louisiana, G7'3;
Minnesota, 6S'3 Missouri, 66'5-seamen, 66'8:
average of all, 6S, which dlsposps OF many
things said IN disparagement OF American SOL
diers.
The Adiutant.General of Iowa was very reluc-
tant to have the records in his Office examined
because he did not wish to have the soldiers
from his State appear at a Disadvantage, and no
muster rolls of the fist and taest troops had
been kept. Those were men worth looking at"
he SAID.
Professor Agassiz thought that smaller men
OH 4hn IL - a.. -, ..,,l-
lime to produce large frames, ana the West was
a limestone region. DR.. Gould said That the
limestone theory coulO not account for the
difference in height between the New England
States This most interesting and valuable
paper called out many questions and cOnsdera-
bic discussion. Theresults Of these and other
Investigations as 20 the VI al statistics OF the
Union army, which have been carried on by the
Sanitary Commission, are soon to be published
Dr. Howe, OF Boston, was invited to sit with
the Academy.
Next came Professor Guyot with a paper "On
the influence of the hour OF the day upon the
heights obtained by barometrical measure
ment" He said thar the barometrc method of
measuring mountains had been found altogether
the best, but went on to show the drawbacks
and uncertainties to which 1t was exposed, and
especially to set forth one source of error and
necessity OF correction depending on the hour
OF the day at whicE observation was made,
and varying WITH the season and month. The
amount and theory of this correction were
given by him at considerable length. He
sgid that he was engaged in the preparation
of tables which should greatly facilitate
the use Of the barometer Tor measuring
heights, by tightening the labor OF calcu-
lating the observations when made, making it
a less than five minutes lob for each observa-
ton. This he did because he had such faith in
the usefulness of barometric observations, and
wished to have them nde dnitcly multiplied and
spread all over the country. He had himself
measured 1900 heights between the White
Mountains and Georgia. IL was necessary to
exercise cautious judgment in choosing the
time and circumstances OF an observation;
if that were properly done, its result could be
Ieled upon with great deal OF confidence.
Professor Henry explained the prominent
part which Professor GuyOt had already years
ago, taken in aiding such observations, by
tables which the Smithsonian Institution had
published and distributed, and which were now
called for and used all over the world; he hoped
that the news and improved tables would be
made public in the same way.
At l o'clock the Academy adjourned