THE TALLEST MEN.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 7601, 21 February 1896, Page 2

THE TALLEST MEN.

A Mr Gordon has been writing in an English periodical upon the heights of various races. "He does not appear to have considered the Maori worth bothering with, for otherwise he would have told his readers that it was doubtful whether the Maori average of merely physical excellence was not higher than the average of any other race. Leaving that omission on one side, the writer's samniing-up is interesting. He tells us that English professional men are the tallest men in the world, and are getting taller. He says :—The average Scotsman stands oft Bfin, the average Irishman sft 7|in, the average Englishman sft 7-jin, the average Welshman sft Gfj-in ; the average of the four being sft 7-|in, the same as that given for the Leeds men, whereas the British professional class, according to the bulk of the statistics, average sft 9in, and are the tallest men in the world, except some of the South Sea Islanders. And the height of this class is increasing, some authorities giving it at present as hair an inch more ; the reason for such superiority of stature being probably that "they are better taken care of in their early days, the food and treatment of children under a year old having a marked influence on condition, weight, and height. They get more sleep, too, in their later youth, and more regular and systematic exercise. The Briton is evidently getting longer and heavier, and seems to be approaching the time when he will average sft Sin and weigh lOst 101b. His recruiting standard, low as it is, is even now three inches higher than that of any other European army, and two inches higher than it was eighty-five years ago.