Comparative estimate respecting the dimensions of the head of the
inhabitants in several counties of England.
The male head in England, at maturity, averages from 6-1/2 to 7-5/8 in
diameter; the medium and most general size being 7 inches. The female
head is smaller, varying from 6-3/8 to 7, or 7-1/2, the medium male
size. Fixing the medium of the English head at 7 inches, there can be
no difficulty in distinguishing the portions of society above from
those below that measurement.
_London_.--The majority of the higher classes are above the medium,
while amongst the lower it is very rare to find a large head.
_Spitalfields Weavers_ have extremely small heads, 6-1/2, 6-5/8, 6-3/4,
being the prevailing admeasurement.
_Coventry_.--Almost exclusively peopled by weavers, the same facts are
peculiarly observed.
_Hertfordshire, Essex, Suffolk_, and _Norfolk_, contain a larger
proportion of small heads than any part of the empire; Essex and
Hertfordshire, particularly. Seven inches in diameter is here, as in
Spitalfields and Coventry, quite unusual--6-5/8 and 6-1/2 are more
general; and 6-3/8, the usual size for a boy of six years of age, is
frequently to be met with here in the full maturity of manhood.
_Kent, Surrey_, and _Sussex_.--An increase of size of the usual average
is observed; and the inland counties, in general, are nearly upon the
same scale.
_Devonshire_ and _Cornwall_.--The heads of full sizes.
_Herefordshire_.--Superior to the London average.
_Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cumberland_, and _Northumberland_, have more
large heads, in proportion, than any part of the country.
_Scotland_.--The full-sized head is known to be possessed by the
inhabitants; their measurement ranging between 7-3/4 and 7-7/8 even to
8 inches; this extreme size, however, is rare.--_Literary Gazette_.
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