Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-02-11
' THE DIFFERENCE OF HEIGHT.
lnhabitants Of Limestone Regions Taller
Than Those of Granite Districts.

Than Those Of Granite Districts.
When we see races Of tall and well
developed negroes living close by the re-
gions occupied by such dwaIfel races rs
the Akkas and Obongos we perceive chat
.fhe difference Of height must 10 'lur to
difference Cf race. not to peculiarltles in
the plaGe OF abode. But there are cases
where a narked difference Of height is
certainly due to difference in tie condi-
tons of life. fer it shows itself in one
and the same race. DIR. Pritrhard, for
example, long time since remarked on
tbe change which the race of short,
plump, round faced farmers Of England
underwent when they settled in Virginia
and Carolina, the race becoming tall,
hnk, gaunt and otherwise remarkable.
Still more striking is the evidence af-
forded within the comparatively narrow
limits of Switzerland and the Tyrol,
where it has been found that inhabitants
of limestone regions are measurably taller
than those living in granite or schistoSe
districts. NJ. Durand confirms the state
ment Of DR.. Albespy that lay Inning the
lands in the non-calcareous portions Of
the Aveyron the average height Of the
inhabitants has been raised in some parts
by three-fourIhs OF an inch, in Others by
one and o~ne-eighth inches. and in others
by more than an inch and a half.
In the limestone regions Of Ireland, as
Pritchard long since noted, men of re-
markable stature are often seen, though
all the British isles derived their stock #
inhabitants from the same sources. de-
spite the ideas commonly entertained in
the Emerald Island respecting the racial
difference between themselves and the
base. bloody and brutal SaXon." But
the evidence given by Kentucky in this
respect is perhaps more striking than any
other. For there, over the whole lime
stone region, the average hei Int Of men
has increased until the size,f Kcntuck-
ians has become ~Iroverbill, and las
given rise TO innumerable joEes-sufi.
Gent evidence. despite thn a~hsurdity Of
some of them. Of the superior height Of
the average kentuckian. Il wills n Ken
tuckian who was afraid to walk abroad
at night in England lest ne should fall of
the little island; the X ntuCliam invari-
ably requires at least five chairs 10 sit
upon, and X forth. low. that the lime
has something TO dowrlh this exceptional
height flor these standing jokes are not
wholly living oncs) j. proved 10y the cir
cumstarce that cattle also partake in tho
unusual development. What had been
noticed on n small scale in the well
known experiment Of Ia CamarguC. in
which case a breed Of hoses was inn
measurably increased in height through
careful feeding, is seen throughout Ken
tucky and in NIL kinds Of cattle.
| think we may fairly conclude from
the evidence, imperfect though il is, that
stature may he increased by jpdiciously
selected food, ard probably that Limo
should in one form or another he given
in increased quantity in the food where
growth is To lie encouraged. Yet such
measures ought 10 he carefully guided by
medical experience; sr the same evidence
which shows that special conditions may
encourage abnormal growth shows also
that they may cause abnormal growths-
which is a very different thing. For
instance, it has been shown that goitrc is
chiefly prevalent in regions where lime
prevails largely as ageologtcal formation.
This Is not only noticed in Switzerland.
which might almost be called the native
home of goitre, but in England, where
goitre occurs spasmodically in Derbyshire
only, the most calcareous point Of the
island. Professor Richard A. Proctor.