Nevertheless, broad distinctions are actually present and come to light wherever extensive observations have been made. It is jauntily declared by a great protagonist of the Black man that "physically, he is the equal of the white man; he is as tall and as strong," and such is perhaps the general opinion. There is a fine irony, however, in the fact that precisely these moments in which his equality is so incautiously affirmed are the ones in which he is distinctly inferior. He is in truth neither so tall nor so strong, though vertical inch for inch he is somewhat heavier. It seems needless to copy down table after table to prove these statements. We quote the words of Hoffman, summing up extensive comparisons: "The average stature of the negro is less than that of the white, and the difference, though slight, prevails at all ages." From Gould's "Military Statistics," pp. 461-465, we learn as distinctly as we can learn any such facts, that the Negro is not so strong as the Caucasian; that the mean lifting strength of the Black is very markedly below that of the White at all ages above seventeen, with the exceptions of thirty-one to thirty-four, where the Black excess is nearly five pounds, and of forty-five to forty-nine, where the Black average is 328.7, the White only 325.7--a Black excess of three pounds. Under seventeen the White average is only 250.4, the Black 258.9--another Black excess of 8.5, very considerable and noteworthy, and for seventeen the Black excess is 295-292.8 = 3.2. For all other ages, the White excesses are as follows: 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 26.8 23.6 15 10 13.7 23.6 8.6 15.6 24.1 27 28 29 30 35-39 40-44 50- 6.9 13.5 9 1.4 26.8 10.4 24.2 Hence, it appears that up to seventeen the Negro is on the average stronger than the White; he is also stronger in the cases measured from thirty-one to thirty-four and from forty-five to forty-nine, though his advantage is not great; but everywhere else he is markedly not so strong. Of course, it is easy to except to such statistics--to say that the averages are untrustworthy; but it would be very strange if so many distinct and independent indications were all wrong. As the lowest age for soldiers is hardly below sixteen, we see that the Black excels, and only slightly, in only twelve years, the White in twenty-three years up to fifty and in all above, and on the whole very considerably, his excess rising twice to 26.8. The indication, then, is of a more tropical nature in the Black; he attains his maximum sooner, but he maintains it not so long nor so high; and this might certainly have been expected.