arms, by natural and artificial barriers, by protection and by free competition, having to protect themselves by the excellence of their external and international organization.

Before studying the philosophy of the social boundaries of the future, and even that of the limitations of modern states, which are very complex structures, it is necessary to take up the philosophy of the natural limitation and equilibration of things and organisms in general; then those of primitive societies, peaceful and warlike. Finally it is necessary to investigate this same constant limitation in the economic field and in all the social functions and organs, including the juridical and political. Here again, as in my former observations, we shall see more and more the social contractual forms, including equally the political contractual forms, separating themselves from the more ancient and crude forms, and limiting the reciprocal relations of the social units and aggregates as well as the societies between them, from the most simple industrial association up to that large universal society of which the relations, intertwined more and more among the various parts, formerly separated by insuperable boundaries, prepare the way for a natural formation.

This constant equilibration which results between the internal structure in relation to the environment seems, in a way, most admirable in the statics of the organisms most developed of all, that is, those constituting the human species, and especially in the psychical organization of the latter. The limits of organic variations become more extended there, all remaining in close dependence upon the whole structure. After this, there will remain for us to observe how masses, both inorganic and organic, are distributed naturally in or on the earth, as masses, in order to be prepared to enter, in a methodical way, upon the study of sociological limits and boundaries which form a special and more complex case of those already given.

SECTION VI. ANTHROPOLOGICAL LIMITS.

The human species belongs to the class of superior vertebrates. The skeleton determines the general form of our bodies. It serves as a point of attachment for the muscles and determines the visceral cavities. We have explained how the struc

ture of the ensemble of organic bodies, including the human body, depends first of all upon their internal constitution and organization. The latter, from the point of view of accommodation to the environment, acquires an increasing importance. But whatever may be the stage of perfection of the internal organization and activity, the structure and function of the human species present constant and necessary relations of equilibration existing between the external and internal environment. Let us see how this equilibrium of movement is produced. When the muscles are contracted they move the bones to which they are attached. The muscles represent the organs of movement-the motor forces. The bones serve as levers. The point of support is furnished by the articulation.

The resistance

is the bone itself. The working of the bones in the ensemble of our structure serves to maintain the equilibrium, to overcome the great resistances, or to impart more or less extended movements, as, for example, the equilibrium given the head by the atlanto-occipitalis articulation. There is a center of gravity of the head. The weight of the latter acts in the sense of a vertical line drawn from the center of gravity. It is the resistance. The point of support is the articulation. The muscles of the neck represent the power. When there is action in order to overcome resistances, the resistance is between the power and the point of support; for example, when one places the total weight of the body on the tiptoes. When one executes movements more or less extended, the power is found between the point of support and the resistance. In all these cases there is no movement executed without a corresponding equilibrium. Photography, at least instantaneous, provides an excellent process for noting the different modes of locomotion, as walking, running, jumping, and flying. In all these movements there is always an equilibrium of the internal structure, that is to say, of all parts of the organism among themselves, and besides an equilibrium of the ensemble with the environment. The latter ought never to be lost from view. It is an essential element of the modifications of every equilibrium and its support. When one makes a false movement, the failure is accompanied at the

same time by a new internal equilibration and an application of the laws of general equilibrium as over against the environment. In fact, we maintain an upright position on the earth as a result of an equilibration with the atmospheric environment and the laws of gravity. The human species can be considered as unique because of common anatomical and psychical characters which exist among its numerous varieties, and because of fertile crossings between the most extreme races, and, as distinct from other organic beings, by special characters which differentiate it in a considerable manner. All the variations of structure of the human species are, in reality, narrowly limited. They are themselves the result of internal and external equilibrations, that is to say, of special adaptations of which certain ones are of social origin. 1. The weight of the human body. The variations of the weight of the body are determined by four special conditions: the physical environment, race, temperament, and food. Obesity is everywhere exceptional. In all races and in all environments it depends chiefly upon the hygienic conditions, upon inactivity, and upon excessive or gross and insufficient food. The yellow, white, and black races do not deviate from the average of the human species, except under particular influences. The Arab, gaunt in the desert, becomes corpulent in cities, especially among the idle and parasitic classes. The average weight of the human adult body seems to vary from sixty-six to forty-two kilograms, depending upon the populations.

TABLE OF VARIATIONS IN THE WEIGHT OF THE HUMAN BODY.

Quetelet has studied the weight of the human body at different ages from the point of view of his theory of averages. At the same age the male is heavier than the female, except about the age of twelve, when the weight is the same. Woman reaches the maximum of her weight later than man. The weight is greater among boys and girls who do not work in factories. Quetelet takes the average man as the type of both stature and weight. These results hold only in determined aggregates, or between analogous aggregates.

2. The human stature.-The human stature is limited in its variations by the environment and by hereditary influence. Heredity tends to maintain its forms or characters, if the conditions of the physical or social environment are not modified. Among the causes of variation, one may note residence in the town or the country, professions, food, climate, sickness. Galton has observed the stature and weight of children attending the public schools in England. Fifty were reared in London, 296 in the country. The stature of the latter exceeded that of the former by 3 centimeters, and the weight of the country children exceeded that of the city children by 3 kilograms.1

If weight and size in comparative anatomy have only a secondary value, if the largest animals approach the smallest in adjacent species, it is not entirely true from the point of view of the sociological characters of the human species. The weight and stature of man have the effect of indexes in the social realm. Man approaches the anthropoids in this respect. The chimpanzee is about 1.30 meter; the orangs, depending upon the species, range from 1 to 1.60 m.; the gorilla, from 1.40 to 1.75m. The human adult stature varies from 1 to 2 m. In France, the average adult stature is 1.65 m. From the table given by Topinard, it is shown that the highest averages belong to the TchuelConcerning the influence of food, DARWIN (The Descent of Man, p. 31) says: "When we compare the differences in stature between the Polynesian chiefs and the lower orders within the same islands, or between the inhabitants of the fertile volcanic and low barren coral islands of the same ocean, or again between the Fuegians on the eastern and western shores of their country, where the means of subsistence are very different, it is scarcely possible to avoid the conclusion that better food and greater comfort do influence stature."

2 Anthropology, pp. 253 ff.

ches of Patagonia and to the Polynesians, and the smallest to the Bushmen.

One ought to compare only individuals of the same sex, measuring only those who have reached the age of maturity, a period varying from the age of twenty-three to thirty-three, according to race. In general the most inferior races attain full growth later than the others, and show a smaller difference between the sexes.

300 Belgians, age 19, measured by Quetelet 1.66 m.

The variations of structure in the same group are smaller in proportion as the race is more homogeneous. Here again fusion with civilization reduces the variation. Africa shows the strongest divergence, especially among the Kaffirs and Bushmen.

The statistics on the influence of the environment furnish important information. In Belgium, for the militia and volunteers whose stature was taken for the ages of 19 to 20 in 1888, we have the following tables:

The following are the measurements of 9,067 men of the militia and volunteers over twenty years of age, taken in 1888: