On the stature and bulk of man in the British isles / by John Beddoe.

  • Beddoe, John, 1826-1911.
Date:
1870
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the stature and bulk of man in the British isles / by John Beddoe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by University of Bristol Library. The original may be consulted at University of Bristol Library.

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    class. The Devonshire men are (except towards the border of Cornwall) of short stature, apparently averaging about 5 feet 6 inches; but, like the Welsh, they are comparatively of good weight. Finally, the Cornish evidently merit the reputation, which they have enjoyed for centuries, of being a tall and stal- wart race. I regret that I have no opportunity of testing the private reports by one from the county asylum ; but from the former I should deduce a probable average stature of 5 feet 7^ inches, and a weight of 150 lbs. (1-709 metre and 68 kilos.); and even this standard is clearly exceeded with respect to height by the people of Scilly, whose proportions certainly give the lie to the current notion that men and quadrupeds must degenerate in small islands.* What may be the average stature of adult Englishmen is a matter of speculation and curiosity, on which one cannot give any but a cautious and guarded opinion. Without doubt it lies somewhere between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 7 inches (]'676 and 1*702 metres). The mean of my private returns (excluding those which consist mainly or wholly of picked men) would occur somewhere about 5 feet 6| inches (1*693 metre); but the number of those reports whose average greatly exceeds this mean is greater than that of those whose average falls greatly below it. The mean of the English lunatic reports would be somewhere about 5 feet 5| inches; and comparison of these with the private reports leads me to think the average of able-bodied lunatics to be nearly an inch below that of the sane. The criminal statistics point to nearly the same conclu- sion.f Recruits over 23 years, including rejected men, ave- rage, as has been shewn, about 5 feet 7 inches; but the cul- minating point of the curve yielded by the numbers of men at each grade of stature falls short of 6 feet 6j inches. On the other hand, the classes from which most of these recruits are obtained, are certainly inferior to the rest of the population in * The natives of the Isle of Ushant are taller than other Bretons; and the O'Driscols, who inhabit the Island of Cape Clear, are also said to be remarkable for high stature. t Qiietelet found the convicts in Vilvorde prison to average nearly -8 inch (2 centimetres) below the free inhabitants of Brussels. M