Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-14
CONCERNING HUMAN STATURE.
The Possible Effect of Geographical
Influence.

If here is any question which has
been asked for ages and which still
remains a subject of controversy, it is
that of the influence exerted by geo.
graphical location upon the develop
ment of human stature. Biologists
have always claimed that an fmpor.
tant role in the growth of the human
skeleton is placed by the nature of the
soil, the altitude and the geological
formation
Not to go back too far, it was in
1868 that Durand de eros, while prose
cutting meteorological investigations
in the department of Aveyron, observ.
ed that in calcareous regions mans
osSeous system is remarkably we'll de.
veloped and men are tall, While in a
granite district. on the contrary. mer
have poor teeth. slender form anC
are 81 low stature. particularly il
some of the townships which he ex-
amined. Similar phenomena occur
among animals.
Durand de eros attributed these re-
suits to the difference between the re.
gions. This opinion, while accepted bN
many people, was contested by others
and since that time. although great
number of works have been published
upon the subject the question has re.
manned an open one.
1t is generally admitted that great
development of human stature is {
mark of organic progress. Such bodi
ly growth IS attributed to improved
economic conditions-that is to say, Il
diniinution of poverty. But the as.
sertion is far from being proved
one might even better interpret il
in an entirely different fashion. and il
IS such a conclusion. in variance witt
accepted opinion, that DR.. Eugene Pit.
tard has reached in communication
he has made To the Paris academic
DIES sciences
In order to make the question clear
he chose a region which seemed e
offer the best conditions for a study Of
this kind. He selected the Swiss can.
ton of Valais, where the three princi,
pal geological strata. altitud,
and erientatien of the mountain slope:
present distinctive features. ant
whose inhabitants, on the other hand
nave been carefully studied.
Without being greatly versed in ge,
ology it suffices to take a ouicl
glimpse of the principal parts of tn,
canton of Valais to recognize that it.
geology is complex, especially in tn,
secluded region on the left bank of tn,
Rhone. The land on the right banl
being much more thickly populated
II was on this side that DR.. PittarC
made his observations. In a genera
way 1t may be said that the soil. apar
from certain districts. is from Mt
t'urca to the River I.ouza composed O
mica schist and sneiss, while all tina
portion which extends to the bend O
the Rhone belongs to the Jurassic sys
| tenn.
He found that among the inha hi
tants of granite districts the averag
height was one meter 633 millimeters
| While among dwellers upon chalk,
sites the average height was only on
meter Cpl millimeters
Does the factor of altitude exert an
influence in this respect? While tn
majority of authorities decline to ad
| NIT this, it must not be forgotten tina
Signor Livi in Italy and NJ Collignol
| IN France found that the stature q
human beings although showing di
nunutlon at levels just above the 700
! meter line. Increases again at create
| attitudes
As the canton of Valais includes 10
| callties which present gradual ris
between the 3S0-meter and the 1896
| meter levels, DR.. Pittard divided tn
| country into five zones of 300 meter
| each. lie found that there is no di
| minution of stature among people liv
| ing under the 1000 meter line; and tina
| IN the zone between 1000 meters an
| 1900 meters the stature of the inhabi
| tants diminishes On an average by on
| centimeter
| He further observed that on risin
TO the t600-meter level an increase O
| stature, amounting to three centime
tiers, IS perceptible. From this exami
| nation Dr. Pittard concluded that. con
trary to general opinion, high altitude
are far from exerting an unfavorabl
influence upon human height.
| On descending the valley of tn
Rhone from the Brig to the outskirt
or the Naud canton one notes that tn
| valley is dominated by two hug
mountain siopes--on the right tn
southern and very sunny slopes of tn
Bernese Alps; on the left the norther
slope of the Ealaisian Alps, not so we
situated from the point of view O
sunshine.
1t is, however, just on the side les
| exposed to sunlight that the statur
| of the inhabitants is greater-namely
one meter 63S millimeters, as com
pared with one meter CPS millimeter
on the sunny side The fact is a Gu
rious one, but it is partly repeated il
each of the different zones except tn
fourth, that between the 1000 mete
and 130o-meter levels, where, as stat
| ed above, the stature decreases.
| In summing mp the observations Civ
en- above it may be stated that whel
human stature is not unfavorably in
| fiuenced by geological conditions, sucl
l a va 10 l.;