Arizona weekly enterprise., 1888-03-24
THE DIFFERENCE OF HEIGHT.
inhabitants of Limestone Regions Taller
 Than Those of Granite Districts.

inhabitants of Limestone Regions Taller
 Than Those of Granite Districts.
 When we see races of tall and well developed negroes living close by tho re- gions occupied by such dwarfed races as the Akkas and Obongos we perceive that the difference of height must be due to difference of race, not to peculiaritIeS in the place of abode But there arc cases where . marked difference of height is certainly due to difference in the condi- tions of life, for it shows itself in one and the same race. Dr. Pritchard, for example, long time since remarked on the change which the race of short, plump, round faced farmers of England underwent when they settled in Virginia and Carolina, the race becoming tall, lank, gaunt and otherwise remarkable. Still more striking is the evidence af- forded within the comparatively narrow limits of Switzerland and tho Tyrol, where 1t has been found that inhabitants of limestone regions are measurably taller than those living in granite or schistoso districts. M. Durand confirms the state nlent of Dr. Albespy that by Inning the lands in the non-calcareous portions of the Aveyron the average height of the inhabitants has been raised ill some parts by three fourths of an inch, in others by one and one-eighth inches, and in others by more than an inch and half.
 In the limestone regions of Ireland, as Pritchard long since noted, men of re- markable stature are often seen, though all tine British isles derived their stock Of inhabitants from the same sources, de- spite the ideas commonly entertained iu 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 height of men has increased until the size of Kentuck- ians has become proverbial, and has given rise to innumerable jokes-suffi. | cient evidence. despite the absurdity of some of them, of the superior height of | he average Kentuckian. It was Ken tuckian who was afraid to walk abroad 1t night in England lest he should fall off the little island; the Kentuckian invari- ably requires at least five chairs to sit upon, and so forth Now. that the lime has something to do with this exceptional height (for these standing jokes arc not wholly lying ones) is proved by the cir constance that cattle also partalle in the unusual development. What had been noticed on a small scale in the well known experiment of La Camargue, in which case breed of horses WAS i'm measurably increased in height through careful feeding, is seen throughout Ken lucky and in all kinds of cattle.
 think we may fairly conclude from .he evidence, imperfect though it is, that stature may be increased by judiciously selected food, and probably that limo should in one form or another be given Ill increased quantity i'll tho food where growth Is to be encouraged. Yet such
 measures ought to be carefully guided by medical experience; for the same evidence which shows that special conditions may encourage abnormal growth shows also hat they may cause abnormal growths- which is a very different thing. Fer instance, it has been shown that goitro is chiefly prevalent in regions where lime prevails largely as geological formation. This Is not only noticed in Switzerland, which might almost be called the native nome of goitre, but in England, where goitre occurs spasmodically in Derbysllire only, the most calcareous point of the island. Professor Richard A. Proctor.