The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-07-06
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC J. HAsEIN. Director.
Washington. d. o.
QUEST FOR TYPICAL AMERICAN
washington. D. Q.

typical in physiognomy, stature,
figure, complexion, and the like?
Scientists of the Smithsonian iDstitu-
ton say there is not, and they ought
to know, for they have been making
an exhaustive study of the question
for a period of eight years There is
a tendency toward the development
of an American type of man or
woman. but'that is all.
In the extensive investigation of the
physical and physiological features of
the oldest and most American element
in the population of the United States
some 100 individuals were examined.
Only healthy men and women rang
ing in age from "a to IS years and
with at least three generat ons Ameri-
can born on each parental side were
included in the study, and most OF
them were subjected to examination
with the best instruments as well as
care at the National museum.
Difficulty in finding specimens"
who would fill all the requirements
for the investigation. 1t was found
necessary to make trips to parts of
New England and into the south, and
in the end the individuals chosen may
be said to represent all walks of life
and all occupations An especially
the mountainous of Tennessee and
neighboring regions, where an I'M
usually large percentage of the peo-
pie are said to be of direct American
descent for many generations.
Not the least important feature of
the study was the determination of
the temperature, pulse and respira-
ton standards of these representa-
and anthropologistS will find the re-
suit of this phase of the work very
valuable, as the figures arrived at may
be accepted as standards. The mean
temperature, taken at rest, the sub
Ject seated and with the thermometer
men and 9S.S for the women. The
r?ean pulse under similar conditions
was IL per minute for the men and
re for the women. The mean res
piration was III per minute for the
men and 1872 for the women.
Tall Stature Characteristic.
Tall stature is characteristic of these
men and women who may be said to
be representative of old Americans.
In fact, if few small groups are dis
regarded, they are the tallest of whites,
the average height for the men be-
ing five feet eight inches and for the
women, five feet four inches. This
superiority in stature is in part a dis
tinctly American acquisition. and is
one of the tendenRies noted toward the
development OF type.
DR.. Ales Hrdncks, curator of the Dr.
vision of Physical Anthropology in the
United States National museum, who
had charge of the study, made the
first announcement relative to it in a
paper read before the second Inter-
national Congress of Eugenics at the
American Museum of Natural History
in New York In discussing the char
acteristics of the men and women ex-
amined he said:
They are mostly relatively spare
in early adult life, with rather a ten
dency TO overweight later on. In this
connection there appears one serious
feature-many OF the younger women
are behind their due standard. Their
chests, their muscles, are not as well
developed as are those of the men.
The men, in the average, are in every
Iway fine lot. The nonworking
somewhat neglected. which calls for
an improvement. Naturally this does
not apply to the farm girl or the ath-
letic girl, or the one whose develop
ment has been supervised and as
sisted in high class college; but there
is a large proportion who do not fall
into these classes, and it is these who
show acknowledgements.
But the American woman shows a
superior head. The size of her head
is somewhat above what It usually is
in relation to the average head of the
male, and it is also perceptibly above
that indicated by her stature. As the
size OF the head means a correspond
a
iy favorable condition. The form of
the head in the old American stock
differs widely, according to percent
age.
"A much greater progress in Amer
1can1zatton' is shown by the face. This
has lost the prominence of the cheek
bones and that of the angles of the
lower jaw, and in the we'll nourished
approaches a characteristics Straight
sided, rather high oval The nose is
wi e.
(aquiline) in males, and concave-con-
vex in females. The hands, feet,
mouth. ears are not large, but also
not small"
Heredity Stin I'm Evidence.
In declaring that there is no Amer
ican type, of either man or woman as
yet, still there is an approach to such
a type in physiognomy, stature, build,
fermentation and in other directions,
Dr. Hrdlicka said that heredity is still
most in evidence, but is no longer abb
solute.
The old Americans are to an i'm
portant degree Still. the English,
Scotch or Dutch of their ancestry"
said the DOCTOR" but in part they are
already something new, common, ac-
quired in this land-they are Amer
leans Were it possible for this stock
to breed exclusively among themselves
for several more centuries they. &C
cording to all indications, would pro-
duce as distinct national type as
have the various older European ma
tons. But inter-marriage with more
recent elements of the population is
so common that no hope can be enter
tanned for any rapid progress in this
direction. Form of head, that was
supposed once to show rapid changes,
was found under the new environ
ment to be one of the most persistent
of characteristics.
Another prevalent notion that finds
no support in the results of these in
vestigations is that of any physical
difference between the old Americans
of the Northeast, the Yankees and
those of the South. THERE'S no differ