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ABSTRACT DR. ARTHUR MACDONALD, of Washington, D.C., and formerly fellow of Johns Hopkins University, is well known for his advocacy of the claims of ‘legislative anthropology’, that is,

study of the legislative, political, psychological, sociological and physical status of members of a legislature or parliament. He holds that as chosen servants of the people, members of the

United States Legislature, for example, coming from all sections, are truly representative, and afford a good opportunity of establishing the anthropological status of the country. He goes

further and argues that a similar study in other countries would afford a basis for comparison as between nations. At present, his opportunities are confined to material from the United

States. He has made a study of certain physical characters of eighty-nine members of Congress, of which the results were published in the Congressional Record of the Seventy-second Congress,

First Session, under date May 11, 1932. The figures then given established some interesting correlations, especially when studied in their geographical distribution according to States. Dr.

Macdonald, has now instituted some interesting comparisons between these members of Congress and a number of the insane, although he admits that the latter have no distinctive physical

character. The number of individuals measured in this category was 360. They were chosen for their intelligence and included ex-army and naval officers and professional men. The majority,

however, had no more than common school education, and for the most part had practised trades. The following are some of the measurements: Congress length of head, 196 mm.; breadth of head,

156 mm.; height of head, 139 mm. Insane length of head, 190 mm.; breadth of head, 151 mm.; height of head, 139 mm. It is to be noted, however, that while stature and weight in members of

Congress are respectively 177 cm. and 183 lb., in the insane they are 170 cm. and 150 lb. Obviously the figures need further analysis before any significant conclusion can emerge. Access

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RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Legislative Anthropology. _Nature_ 136, 507 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136507c0 Download citation *

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