ABSTRACT OF THE REPORT ON CHANGES IN BODILY FORM OF DESCENDANTS OF IMMIGRANTS. For the complete report on changes in bodily form of descendants of immigrants see Reports of the Immigration Commission, vol. 38. CONTENTS. General results of the investigation... Measurements of distinct types... Relations between time of immigration and change of type. Rate of physiological development of foreign-born and American-born. Probable causes of change in type... Problem of heredity. Phenomena of growth. Color of hair.... Effect of size of family. Page. 505 509 527 536 541 552 553 555 555 LIST OF TABLES. TABLE 1. Cephalic index, or width of head expressed in per cent of length of 2. Cephalic index of Hebrew and Sicilian boys; foreign-born, those 3. Measurements of foreign-born and American-born Bohemians, 4. Measurements of foreign-born and American-born Hebrews. 506 508 510, 511 512, 513 514, 515 6. Measurements of foreign-born and American-born Neapolitans.. 516, 517 526 8. Differences in head form of Hebrew males, between foreign-born, 10. Differences in stature and weight of Hebrew males, between foreign- 11. Stages of pubescence of Hebrew boys.. 13. Width of face of foreign-born and American-born adult Bohemians 14. Excess of difference between parents and their American-born 19. Stature of children of families of different sizes: Toronto, Ontario, 555 LIST OF DIAGRAMS. FIG. 1. Comparison of head form of American-born and foreign-born Hebrew 2. Comparison of head form of Hebrews and Sicilians, arranged according 3. Sketches of head forms... 4. Excess of stature of American-born over foreign-born . . 12. Cephalic index of foreign-born and American-born (reduced to adult 13. Comparison of stature and weight of foreign-born and American-born 14. Relation between stature and maturity. 15. Relation between weight and maturity.. 16. Relation between length of head and maturity. 17. Relation between width of head and maturity. 18. Relation between width of face and maturity. 19. Cephalic index of foreign-born and American-born for each year of 20. Width of face of foreign-born and American-born adult Bohemians 21. Width of face of foreign-born and American-born adult Bohemians 23. Comparison of the stature of children in families of different sizes.. Fage. 507 508 509 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 531 533 535 537 538 539 540 541 543 544 548 554 555 CHANGES IN BODILY FORM OF DESCENDANTS OF IMMIGRANTS. The Immigration Commission's anthropological investigation had for its object an inquiry into the assimilation of the immigrants with the American people as far as the form of the body is concerned. On account of the magnitude of such an undertaking, it was deemed advisable to select certain important problems with a view to clearing up a few fundamental points, rather than to attack the whole problem with the prospect of not being able to give a definite answer to any of the questions involved. An attempt was made to solve the following questions: 1. Is there a change in the type of development of the immigrant and his descendants, due to his transfer from his home surroundings to the congested parts of New York? 2. Is there a change in the type of the adult descendant of the immigrant born in this country as compared to the adult immigrant arriving on the shores of our continent? The investigation was confined strictly to an inquiry into the physical development of members of certain races in the congested districts of New York City, only immigrants and their direct descendants being included in the study. The important problem of the selection which takes place during the period of immigration, and which is indicated by the change of type of immigrants after the panics of 1893 and 1907; the effect of rural environment and that of the climatic conditions of different parts of our country; the questions relating to the mixture of European races and of the mixture of immigrants with Americans of various types-these have not been studied. The investigation has shown much more than was anticipated, and the results are briefly summarized in the following pages. GENERAL RESULTS OF THE INVESTIGATION. In most of the European types that have been investigated the head form, which has always been considered one of the most stable and permanent characteristics of human races, undergoes farreaching changes due to the transfer of the people from European to American soil. For instance, the east European Hebrew, who has a very round head, becomes more long-headed; the south Italian, who in Italy has an exceedingly long head, becomes more short-headed; so that in this country both approach a uniform type, as far as the roundness of the head is concerned. The head form may conveniently be expressed by a number indicating the transversal diameter (or width of the head) in per cents of the diameter measured from forehead to the back of the head (or the length of the head). When the head is elongated (that is, narrow 82401°-VOL 2—11—33 505 |