Average height

“ The height of a patient must be compared with the mean height of his fellow-countrymen, or, to be more exact, of those inhabitants of his native province or district who are, needless to say, of the same age and social condition. The average height of a male Italian of twenty is 5 feet 4 inches (1.624 m.) ”

“ The average height of adult females is 4.71 inches less than the male average, and their average weight 32.2 lb. under that of the males. The average height of the adult males of the principal races or nationalities of the world may be given as under ”

“ The average height of Americans is found to be 5 feet 71⁄2 inches, of Canadians 5.5, 5.1, of Irish and Germans 5.5, 5.4, of Scandinavians and English 5.6, 0, and of French one-fifth of an inch lower than the last named. ”

“ At twenty-five he will have attained in stature 5 feet 6.3 inches, and weigh 10 stone 5 lbs. These statistics, of course, are only an average struck from the maximum and minimum of height, weight, and age of a large body of men. However, they are trustworthy, and will serve to indicate the importance of paying due attention to these particulars in the selection of our future heroes. It may also be observed, that a young man who has reached the average height at eighteen years of age, may still be expected to grow more than two inches before he is fully developed. ”

“ The stature of men may be said to vary usually between limits of 62 and 76 inches, the average height being about 69 inches. In the complete absence of heredity in stature we should find that fathers of any given height, say 62 or 63 or 76 inches would have sons of no particular height but of all heights with an average of 69 inches, the same as in the whole group. Or if stature were completely heritable from one generation to the next the total generations being the units compared, then 62 or 63 or 76 inch fathers would have respectively sons all 62, 63, and 76 inches tall. ”

“ For example, it is clear that by measuring a large number of adult human beings one can compute the average height or determine the height which will fit the greatest number. There will be some individuals below and some above it, but the greater the divergence from this standard height the fewer will be the individuals concerned.
Galton compared the heights of 204 normal English parents and their 928 adult offspring. In order to equalize the measurements of men and women he found he had to multiply each female height by 1.08. ”

“ According, then, to the figures given by me, we might say in this case that at the beginning of the century the average house was seven feet high—only high enough for tall men to stand up in; and that now houses have been so improved that the average height of a living-room is seventeen feet. ”

“ The man, on the other hand, has an average height of about five feet seven inches, or three inches higher than the girl. He should weigh about 142 pounds. For every inch of height more or less a man can add about eight pounds, if he has his clothes on. ”

“ I have often seen both men and women nearly 6 feet in height and have known several instances where men were taller. Their average height equals that of most civilized races. Their strength is often very great. I have seen a Mahlemut take a 100-pound sack of flour under each arm and another in his teeth and walk with them from the storehouse to the boat, a distance of some 20 rods, without inconvenience. ”

“ Some few races of men have an average height of an inch, or thereabouts, greater than that of the people of the British Islands, whilst some are shorter by as much as two or three inches. But, on the whole, it may be said that, putting aside the pygmy races, of which I am about to write, mankind generally does not show a very striking range of normal stature—the mass in any race or region of the globe varying from 5 ft. ”

“ Table showing the average height of a male child, at different ages:
The Rate of Growth of a Child.—A child grows most rapidly during its first year—six to seven inches; from fourth to sixteenth, about two inches annually; thence to twentieth, one inch. Commonly, a child at two and a half years has attained half of its ultimate adult stature. The diseases of youth always accelerate growth. ”

“ If only one half of the men who differed from the average height always married women who similarly differed and the other half married at random, there would be assortative mating for height, but it would not be perfect: the coefficient would only be half as great as in the first case, or .5. ”

“ Suppose a million of the men to stand in turns with their backs against a vertical board of sufficient height, and their heights to be dotted off upon it. The line of average height is that which divides the dots into two equal parts, and stands, in the case we have assumed, at the height of sixty-six inches. ”

“ Except for a few groups which numerically are rather insignificant, there is no human race that averages less than 5 feet in height. There is none at all that averages taller than 5 feet 10 inches. This means that practically the whole range of human variability in height, from the race standpoint, falls within less than a foot. The majority of averages of populations do not differ more than 2 inches from the general human average of 5 feet 5 inches.
Then, too, stature has been proved to be rather readily influenced by environment. ”

“ The average height is rather below four feet, although many full-grown adults may be found who are very much smaller than this. They are a fierce, morose, and intractable people, though capable of forming most devoted friendships when their confidence has once been gained.’ Mark that, Watson. ”

“ Modern travelers find, on measuring them, that they really often reach six feet four inches, their mean height being about five feet eleven inches—three or four inches taller than average Englishmen. The shortest of mankind are the Bushmen and related tribes in South Africa, with an average height not far exceeding four feet six inches. A fair contrast between the tallest and shortest races of mankind may be seen in Fig. ”

“ Where, however, the stature was given in feet and inches, we have adopted as the standard of medium height five feet seven inches. This is manifestly too low for America, and is likewise too low for England, since, as we are told by H. H. Donaldson in "The Growth of the Brain," five hundred and seventeen observations among all classes gave 67.7 inches as the average stature for men in England. For the civilized world, however, the average would probably be so far lower than that of England and America as to make the figures we have mentioned a fair standard. ”

“ The Feegeeans are above the average height of Europeans or white men: men of six feet are common among them, though few reach the height of six feet six. Corpulent persons are not common, though large and muscular men abound. ”

“ In height, although very much above the average—some, indeed, reaching the height of 6 feet 4 inches, and all being broad and muscular—they have been greatly exaggerated, for, being very long in the body, they seem to tower above the European while sitting on horseback. ”

“ The men will average in stature five feet four or five inches; the women less in proportion, although there are exceptions to this rule among them, some being over six feet in height, and others are decided dwarfs. ”

“ For example, if I inquire of a woman concerning the handsomeness of a man who has a general combination of desirable and undesirable characteristics, but who is a trifle below medium height, I very frequently obtain, in her first statement, a criticism of his stature, followed by a consideration of his other attributes; indicating that in her estimation size is of paramount importance. The determining factor is not, of course, mere height but height combined with lateral development not deviating markedly from the average proportion. ”

“ The statistics of the class as a whole showed that the average height was 5 feet 101⁄2 inches, the average weight 151 pounds and the average age 21 years 5 months, making the 1910 men the youngest set that has been graduated from Columbia in some time. ”

“ We've always thought progress meant bigness. The ideal man was six feet tall and all that. But it's bunk. Even when our standard of living was at record high, that ideal was still the exception. And since our time of trouble began, the average height has actually decreased by three inches. ”

“ I am below the average stature for a man, and unusually light for my volume, weighing only 110 pounds stripped from the age of nineteen to twenty-five, after I had attained my maximum height of five feet five inches. ”

“ The superiority of the girls in respect to weight is for a much shorter period than in respect to total height or sitting height. In weight also the girls seem to reach their maximum average at seventeen, while the boys continue to increase in average weight until a much later period in life. The movements of the curves of the index of sitting height indicate that the greater part of the growth in stature up to the twelfth year in girls and to the fifteenth year in boys is made in the lower limbs, while after these respective ages it is made in the trunk. ”

“ The distinct increase in height, in Germany as well as in many other European countries, of those obliged to offer themselves for military service speaks against deterioration in the average of physique. Against the suggestion that with the increase in height may be coupled a greater disposition to tuberculosis must be set the fact that amongst the tall is found a percentage of fit higher than the average. ”

“ One of these chief matters of interest is weight and height, and this is naturally affected by race, nutrition and environment. But while the standard in different countries somewhat differs, the British average for healthy children may here be followed. At birth the average weight of a baby is a little over 7 ℔ and the length about 20 in. ”