Abstract
WHEN the hatter's note was brought before the Council of the Anthropological Institute, I supported its reception and publication; my own observations have led me to the same conclusions. Setting aside for the moment the consideration of the authenticity of the statement—and I am not surprised that Prof. Flower should ask for more evidence—I would beg to call attention to the statistical results affecting infantine mortality, which are so well known to us in the statistical world. As we all know, it is a matter of congratulation that the rate of mortality in the periods from birth to two years, and from that to seven years, has much diminished in this country. This being so, the result is inevitable that many of the weaker infants that in a bygone day did not survive have now been saved; and their survival means the survival of so many weaklings. It appears to me that this is going on in the United States and in many neighbouring parts of Europe. The question of degeneracy under sanitary influence is well worthy of attention and investigation. While on the one hand we see in the streets fewer cases of deformity and of squinting owing to orthopædic advances, there are many stunted individuals. The ears appear to me to be below the old standard in men and women. A well-formed ear was much more common in England than now. It also seems to me that the period of maturity in men (not puberty) is often later. The remark has been made that frigidity is more prevalent in women. It has come under my notice that the children of fine parents are often stunted, not belonging to the short races in the country, but being really stunted. We must always allow for a portion of the offspring belonging to the tall races, and a portion to the short races in the same family in England. My own belief is that the women are better than the men, and that when the I effects of sanitary and medical improvement have become constant, that even the inferior women will exhibit a greater tendency to normal production. It is possible that the evil may be to some extent corrected by barrenness and frigidity. Looking back, I can find no effective cause in tight-lacing, as bad formerly as now, thicker or thinner hair since wigs, nor in wearing the hat.
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CLARKE, H. An Alleged Diminution in the Size of Men's Heads. Nature 25, 32 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/025032b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025032b0
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