Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 19.djvu/304

290 Bushman, whose head only reaches to his breast. Thus, the tallest race of man is less than one fourth higher than the shortest, a fact which seems surprising to those not used to measurements. In general, the stature of the women of any race may be taken as about one sixteenth less than that of the men. Thus, in England a man of five feet eight inches and a woman of five feet four inches look an ordinary well-matched couple.

Not only the stature, but the proportions of the body, differ in men of various races. Care must be taken not to confuse real



with the alterations made by the individual's early training or habit of life. A man's measure round the chest depends a good deal on his way of life, as do also the lengths of arm and leg, which are not even the same in soldiers and sailors. But there are certain distinctions which are inherited, and mark different races. Thus, there are long-limbed and short-limbed tribes of mankind. The African negro is remarkable for length of arm and leg, the Aymara Indian of Peru for shortness. Negro soldiers standing at drill bring the middle finger-tip an inch or two nearer the knee than white men can do, and some have been even known to touch the knee-pan. Such differences, however, are less remarkable than the general correspondence in bodily proportions of a model of strength and beauty, to whatever race he may belong. Even good judges have been led to forget the niceties of race-type and to treat the form of the athlete as everywhere one and the same. Thus, Benjamin West, the American painter, when he