Examines the height of Georgian convicts and concludes that their height declined beginning with the birth cohorts of 1835. The economic transition brought about a decline in their nutritional status.

Reviews the evidence on early-industrial height cycles and shows why the economic transition put downward pressure on the nutritional status of the European and American populations.

Based on the height data of 18th-century American soldiers the inference is warranted that Americans were taller than Europeans, and the wedge widened during the course of the century.