Report of the Anthropometric Committee : [1879].

Date:
[1879]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Anthropometric Committee : [1879]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/40 (page 35)
    to the amount of general knowledge on the physical and intellectual powers of man.1 Professor Bowditch, of Harvard, Mass., has published a supplementary investigation of the growth of children, with suggestions in regard to methods of research, in the 10th Annual Beport of the State Board of Health (Boston, 1879). His object was to ascertain whether differences of race or differences in the mode of life affect the rate of growth the more profoundly. The general conclusion he arrives at is that mode of life, as indicated by the occupation of the parents, is equally important with race in determining the rate of growth of children. In his remarks on An- thropometrical methods, Dr. Bowditch reprints, with approval, the forms and instructions which have been issued by this Committee, and recom¬ mends the manual and chart prepared by Mr. Roberts. He also advises the use of the card system, extensively adopted in Germany, in which the facts relating to every single person are collected upon a card, which can be combined with other cards in any number of ways, according to the nature of the facts desired to be grouped together. This plan the Com¬ mittee have resolved to adopt wherever it can conveniently be applied, and a form of card has been drawn up for use by the head-masters of public schools. A special inquiry has recently been instituted in almost every primary school throughout Switzerland, at the instance of a Committee of the Societe des Sciences Naturelles, for the purpose of ascertaining the dis¬ tribution of the different colours of the iris, hair, and skin, as connected with the settlement of the aboriginal races in that country. The coincidence of these several inquiries with that undertaken by this Committee is exceedingly interesting, and leads to the hope that, from all these various sources, information of great value may in due course be elicited. The Committee have made progress during the year in the collection of typical photographs of the inhabitants of the British Islands, and have compiled an album which is exhibited to this Section. A sub* Committee has been appointed for Bradford, but has not yet furnished a report. Mr. Sorby, LL.D., F.R.S., has kindly undertaken to assist the Committee in Sheffield with the results of his experience and observation. The Committee hope to continue this branch of their operations during the coming year. In addition to the collections referred to in the last Report, the Com¬ mittee have been favoured with several other gifts and loans, and in par¬ ticular with the loan of a fine collection, comprising 102 Maori and 4 Fijian photographs belonging to Mr. Alfred Eccles, of Torquay, with per¬ mission to select from them such as may be suitable for reproduction in a collection of photographic types of the races of the Empire. The Committee owe thanks to the numerous employers of labour, head-masters of public schools, medical officers of volunteer regiments, public officers, and other persons who have furnished them with statistics, as well as to those who are now engaged in the collection of observations for their use next year. 1 Communicated by Professor Leone Levi. Spottisuioode <£• Co., Printers, New-street Square, London.