Harvard Men Today Are Taller and Heavier Than Forefathers Survey Shows-Have Grown an Inch For Every Thirty Years

That Harvard men of today of old American stock are both taller and heavier than their fathers and grandfathers, that they are still gaining in height, and that they are now one of the tallest groups in the world, are among the conclusions reached by G. T. Bowles, research student in Anthropology, in "New Types of Old Americans at Harvard," a study which is being issued today by the Harvard University Press. In a comparison of brothers in the Harvard study, Mr. Bowles shows that, contrary to general belief, the first born is smaller and lighter than his younger brothers.

The study is based largely upon measurements of Harvard fathers and sons of old American stock, principally of English, Scotch, Irish, and German ancestry, and includes records of 1600 pairs of fathers and sons, as well as in comparison of 541 brothers at Harvard. The scope of the study is of great magnitude, involving over 18,000 measurements, and including in its correlations the measurements of Revolutionary soldiers and sailors, the stature of Swiss, Swedish, Danish, Italian and Japanese military men.

Perhaps the most interesting of the conclusions of this and similar surveys is the phenomenon of world increase in stature. Nowhere in the world has this been more striking than at Harvard in the past eighty years. The present college generation of Harvard men of old American stock is one of the tallest groups in the world. The Sara, a tribe in central Africa, averages 5 feet, 11 1-2 inches per adult male, and this is the only listed group that surpasses the Harvard average of 5 feet, 10 1-10 inches. Harvard sons are 1 1-3 inches taller than their fathers, who averaged 5 feet, 8 6-10 inches, and are correspondingly heavier. The sons average 149 1-2 pounds, whereas their fathers of the same age weighed but 141 1-3 pounds. Harvard men have been growing taller at the rate of one inch every 30 years, heavier at the rate of 6 1-2 pounds per 30 years. If the present rate of increase in growth continues, the Harvard Class of 1982 should average over six feet in height and over 160 pounds in weight. From those figures, it maybe deduced that, although men of Harvard of today are heavier than their fathers, their increase in weight has not been commensurate with their increase in height. In other words, Harvard men are growing taller and more slender