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means a lowering of the moral standard of recruits⁽¹⁾. With a low standard of
physical development we are apt to get recruits not only small, but unsteady,
wanting in mental ballast as well as in physical strength.

       (b) The Height.—The average height of the adult male European accord-
ing to Quetelet's tables is 5'-5" to 5'-6".

       From observations on the height of the same Bengali students quoted under
body-weight we find the average works out to be practically identical with
Quetelet's, viz., 5'-5½". Buchanan, from the analysis of his collection of
28,863 heights of prisoners, would place the average height slightly under the
above figures, viz., about 5'-4".

       The student series we examined and quote were for the great part entering
Government service and were perhaps slightly above the average in height and
weight.

       (c) The circumference of the chest.—The chest measurement furnishes a
very good idea of the state of development and is made use of in every country
in the physical examination of recruits. A certain minimum girth of chest is
insisted on; for the ordinary line regiments of the British army this minimum is
33", but is much above this figure for special regiments or brigades.

       The average chest measurement of our series of Bengali students works out
to be just below the minimum—33"—for admission to the army. In this
comparison it must be remembered that with the height of 5'-5½" a chest girth
well above the mere minimum would he looked for in a desirable recruit.

       By a comparison of the records of the weight, height and chest girth a good
knowledge of the general physical development is obtained.

       The facts, as we have found them, are—

           (a) The height, averaging 5'-5" to 5'-6", is well up to the standard of
                  Europeans.

           (b) The weight, averaging from 50 to 52 kilos., is, in round figures,
                  25 per cent. below the European standard.

           (c) The chest girth, averaging wider 33", is well below the average
                   European standard.

       Sir W. Aitken was the first to point out the importance of the correlation
of height, weight and chest measurement in estimating physique, good weight
for height being of first importance. Several rules have been laid down for
guidance in the examination of physical fitness. One formula, which seems to
us to demand much too high an average weight, is that up to 5'-7" thrice the
height in inches ought to be about the weight in pounds; this would mean that
the average European 5½' in height should weigh 198 pounds and the average.
Bengali only a few pounds less.

⁽¹⁾ Cf. Notter and Firth.—Theory and Practice of Hygiene.