The physique of European armies / Walter Montagu Gattie.

Gattie, Walter Montagu.

Date:: [1890]

Credit: The physique of European armies / Walter Montagu Gattie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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It will be seen that tbe clerks and shopmen, who belong to the lower middle class, are above the average height, but their weight is less than for any of the trades specified, except the tailors and the shoemakers. These last are both undersized and light, as the cramping nature of their employment would lead us to expect. Short men are, no doubt, preferred for the stable; but, their occu- pation being fairly healthy, the grooms show a fair weight in pro- portion to their height. The masons and ironworkers are both taller and heavier than the miners, while the bakers, although short, are much above the average of weight. But, as Dr. Beddoe points out, these differences would have been very much more marked if there had been no minimum standard of height for the army, since it is obvious that, the lower the average stature in any trade, the greater will be the proportion of its members shut out from the comparison. Thus, it appears from the private returns obtained by Dr. Beddoe at Bristol that the shoemakers there average 5 feet 5-25 inches in height, and 128*9 pounds in weight, and the tailors 5 feet 5'23 inches in height, and only 122’6 pounds in weight, although these results all include shoes and clothes. An interesting table of the same kind is given by Drs. Chassagne and Dally, in their Influence Precise de la Gymnastique, the subjects of examination being 401 pupils at the Military School of Gymnastics near Joinville, and their average age twenty-three years. They are divided into five classes: the first consisting of men who had fol- lowed rural occupations ; the second of masons, builders, sawyers, and wheelwrights ; the third of smiths, farriers, mechanics, bakers, and carpenters ; the fourth of shoemakers, tailors, and watchmakers ; and the fifth of students, architects, and clerks. A glance at the table suffices to show the physical superiority of the countryman at all points. Looking more closely, we find that, although the townsmen who had followed outdoor pursuits were shorter and lighter than the rest, they were able to lift and carry much greater weights. The men of the study and counting-house, although less developed and much weaker than any other class, ex- cepting the sedentary operatives, were disproportionately heavy, which was probably due to an excess of fat from lack of sufficient exercise. The arms of the blacksmiths and bakers were bigger and stronger even than those of the outdoor labourers, but their lower limbs, which are little exercised in their respective trades, were not nearly so good. Finally, the shoemakers and tailors, and other men whose trade necessitated a constrained or stooping posture, were found to be in all respects weak and ill-developed. As it is important to my present purpose to show the extent of this remarkable relation between employment and physique, I ven- ture to take one more example—this time from the recruiting statistics of Switzerland. The examination, which included all the R R 2

The physique of European armies / Walter Montagu Gattie.

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