Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-10-21
THE STATURE OF MEN
AMERICANS AVERAGE TALLER THAN
ANY OTHER RACE.
Our Indian Comes First, and the White
Citizen of the United States Is Next.
Opinions of Men Who Have Studied the
Subject of Changes In Stature.

4
| Professor Donath, naturalist of Buda
pest, makes the startling announcement
TO the scientific world that the stan6ar.
OF man S stature is rapidly deterioratinc
After examining the recruiting statistic
of those European countries in which en-
listmont in the army is compulsory to ev
| cry male citizen he has found that durins
the past decade there has been surpris
ing increase i'll the proportion of men un
| qualified for active service on account o
shortness OF stature. The number of thos
| rejected last year from the Austro- Hun
| garian army was found to be 16 per cen
more in proportion than those refused en-
| trance ten years ago. Within the last tel
| years the proportion of those unqualified
| III Italy has risen from to % per cent
In Germany, during the same space, nj
though the required standard has lately
| been lowered, the rejected class has gone
up from to 10 per cent, and within II
| years the proportion of those refused serv-
ice in the French army on tho same
| grounds has been raised from to 10 per
| cent. Statistics from Russia have not as
| yet been received, but of all tho other
| countries included in Professor Dunath's
| list Switzerland alone was found To be free
| from this deterioration in the height of
| her average man.
| DR.. Theodore Gill, when asked at the
| Smithsonian whether he was startled by
| Professor Donath S examination, expressed
| his opinion that man is now 1t the maxi
| mum in the scale of health and stature
| Various theories, he says, have been pro-
| mulgated by anthropolo2ists trying to
prove that mans prehistoric ancestors
were races of giants, and that tho human
race has been on the gradual decrease ever
since but he has no respect for such doc
/ trines. As proof of this, he says, most of
the ancient armor worn by the best physi-
cal types of men many centuries ago is too
small and too short for the average man
of today.
Professor w. J. McGee, tho ethnologist,
says that Americans need have no fear
that any such condition may result from
their mental vigor. When Herbert Spen-
Ger visited this country, he prophcsied that
our nation would soon develop into "a
stuntcd, unhealthy race, because in their
struggle for intellectual and commercial
superiority our citizens were burning the
candle at both ends, but since this proph-
ecy was made the census statistics have
,SHttAitSu SNhA ny yt''i W pio'C tuhb W.
are the tallest and healthiest nation on
the globe. A decrease i'll mans stature,
tho professor continued, would be brought
about by improper nutrition or neglect of
exercise. AS an example of thhe effects
Of insufficient food, the Indian tribes
which have existed for centuries in our
arid regions are much thinner and shorter
in stature than those whose fathers en-
lnNn tln h,,,, ,Jn,,t g H., IL
DR.. Fletcher, the anatomist of the Unit
ed States Army Medical museum, to whom
the writer is also indebted, when asked TO
give his opinion as to the stature of the
American people, referred to the anthro-
pomctric statistics of the provost marshal
general S office, issued in 1875. These
statistics were compiled with DR.. Flctch-
er's aid from the measurements of our sol
diers during the late war. They comprise
the latest census of the kind which has
been taken in the country. In the COM
parativo table of STATURE arranged ac-
cording to nationalitics, the United States
Indian was found to stand higher than
any of the other races of the world. His
average height was given as 7.93 inches.
The white citizen of tho United States
comes next, with an average stature of
67G7 inches. The United States negro
ranks fourteenth in the scale, and of all
the countries of the world considered the
Portuguese were found to be the shortest,
averaging only IS. 43 inches. Tho total
mean height of man was 81. 3 inches.
In the table giving the relative heights
OF United States soldiers those from Ken.
lucky ranked first, with an average height
of 6S. 81 inches, Kansas came second, and
Connecticut was last, with an average of
&C. 80 inches As compared with tables
completed ten years before tho close of the
war these statistics showed an increase of
average height in each one of tho states,
without exception.
1t has always beon proverbial among
ANTAGONISTS that blond nations are greater
in stature than their darker ncighbors
This is not due to tho difference in the
pigment Of tho complexion or the hair
but to the geological position of the blond
races. They arc characteristic of the north
and on account of the lower degree of
temperature arc induced to take more ex-
ercise, which throws them more in the
open air. at the top of tho list of the
countries arranged in order of stature,
the first seven, after the United States
white men, are Norway, Scotland, British
America, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark and
Holland, oil northern nations.
The American negro further illustrates
that the poorer races are shorter in stature |
than the richer occupying the same terri |
tory. The Impoverished races generally |
complete their growth more rapidly than |
the more luxurious, who continue to in |
crease gradually in bone and muscle until |
a much later period in life. Most men arc |
still growing in height until they are over |
20 years old, and the thorax, or framework |
about the chest usually continues to OK
pand until the thirtieth year
The western man of the United States
is generally superior to the eastern man
in height. This is attributed to the for
mer's enjoyment of freer air and q greater
abundance of food at the time the west
was first opened. 1t has also been sup.
gested that this is due to the fact that
only the best physical specimens dared to
penetrate the wild plains in the days OF
the pioneers. Washington Cor. Boston
Transcript.
A Delicious Sandwich.
Mrs. Christine Terhune Herrick, the
authority on all flnlicate faasfipo ctapda |