ABSTRACT
In the middle of the nineteenth century the normal work day in factories was 12-13 hours. The long working day and the low level of mechanization indicate that a 12 hour working day requiring hard labor can be taken as the norm. Anthropological research has already pointed to the upward trend in height in Europe and America since the mid-nineteenth century. Rural diet deteriorated during the latter half of the century, but the 1890s marked a turning point in peasant consumption, inasmuch as thereafter diets improved steadily. Improvements in diet during the years 1890-1914 is related to the decline in mortality and the increase in the longevity of Russians during this period. The improvement noted in the rural diet at the end of the nineteenth century accounts for better health and a decrease in the number of recruits with physical deformity in the early twentieth century.
