On the respective size of people. A recent study has shown that whereas 200 years ago Americans (Euorpean ones) were on average 2 inches taller than Europeans, the situation is now reversed and Europeans are, on average, 2 inches taller than Americans. Apparently it is all down to diet and the availability of medical health systems. 200 years ago Americans were getting all the excerce and good food they needed unlike in Europe. Nowadays many are eating the wrong things and European free access to health and "better" foods has reversed the situation. Furthermore, the Dutch are now the tallest in Europe, averaging 4-5 inches more than Americans, the study went on to state that his was in large part down to Holland having the best pre and post natal treatment available.

Also, on the size of the trees being down to their being "virgin", this is very suspect. I remember seeing a programme on the BBC which challenged this. Basically, it had always been assumed that until fairly reently, certainly at the time of the Roman invasions, Britain was largely covered in primordial forests. The programme went on to show that this had been largely untrue for up to a thousand years before. Humans had been interacting and having a much more significant impact on the environment than had been assumed clearing forests, copicing, etc...