A manual of anthropometry, or, A guide to the physical examination and measurement of the human body : containing a systematic table of measurements, an anthropometrical chart or register, and instructions for making measurement on a uniform plan / by Charles Roberts.

Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of anthropometry, or, A guide to the physical examination and measurement of the human body : containing a systematic table of measurements, an anthropometrical chart or register, and instructions for making measurement on a uniform plan / by Charles Roberts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    33/188 (page 3)
    INTRODUCTION. a laro-e number of observers in different parts of tlie world ; such as the effect of climate on the develop- ment of a race—our own, for instance, in England, America, Australia, India, &c.—the effects of the season of the year, of peculiar hygienic conditions, and of diseases of hereditary or accidental character; and it is absolutely necessary that all such observa- tions should be made and recorded in an easily recognised and systematic manner. From a wider and national pomt of view it is desirable that we should know the rate of growth of children from year to year, the proportions which exist at different ages, the period at which the body attains maturity, and recognise the nature and pecu- liar effects of various influences at work in modifying the physical development of our labouring popula- tion; to enable us to regulate the employment of children in factories and workshops, to guide us in the selection of recruits for the military and naval services of the country, and to determine, if possible, the much-debated question of the physical degeneracy of a people. Naturalists have arrived at the conclusion that measurement of the different dimensions of the body constitutes the best means of classifying the various races and varieties of mankind. ' Detailed research more and more justifies Blumenbach's words, that 4>