Study title

This study is a contribution to hitorical anthropometric research. Anthropometric historiy deals with the interaction of biological and economical processes. Body height and body weight are important indicators of the living standard, having strong effects on economic factors like work productivity and capital formation. Because of the close connection between nutritional status and body height, fertility rate and mortality rate, changes of body height serves a very valuable support for explaining demographic processes. Changes in body height are also indicators for changes in economic situation and for changing living standards of the population. The study is an anthropometric contribution to the nutrition, economics and agrarian history of a region, using body size data of Bavarian people liable for military service. Two topics are treated: 1) The economic circumstances of various goups of society should be described in a very differentiated way. 2) Medical care and living conditions of the population (infant mortality, emergence of deseases, causes of death, etc.) in different county districts should be described. For this purpose the birth cohorts 1813 to 1842 of the county districts Munich city, Munich on the left hand of the Isar, Munich on the right hand of the Isar, Miesbach, Reichenhall, Toelz and Wasserburg were analyzed. Variables (n = 19562): - District of the provincial court (Landgerichtsbezirk) - Birth year - Body height of inductees, in different measures - Legitimacy of Birth (born in wedlock, born out of wedlock) - Occupation of inductees - Occupation of the Father - Death of mother and the father respectively (or of both parents) - Results of the medical examination (reasons for the exemption from military service) - Results of physical categorization (fitness) Key aspects of the study: (1) structural investigation of the districts of the provincial court (2) demographic description of the research areas (districts) (3) determinants...