Everyone knows that young people who are growing rapidly are, as a rule, more easily fatigued and can stand less bodily and mental strain than others. If regular measurements were taken and showed that a rapid increase in height was taking place, unaccompanied by a corresponding increase in weight, it would be a sufficient warning of the necessity of care and avoidance of undue exertion both bodily and mental. A boy or girl who exhibits rapid bodily growth, cannot be expected to exhibit the same mental activity as one whose energies are not so much diverted in one direction. Allowance ought, therefore, to be made in the former case for less progress in education and less inclination for school work. In such a case parents and guardians ought to refrain from endeavouring unduly to push school work, and ought rather to encourage open-air amusements and exercise. The reverse condition of unusual lleverness and devotion to books and school work, accompanied by diminished growth in height and weight, would be equally taken note of as undesirable, and instead of the mental appli cation being applauded and encouraged it would be restrained until the verdict of the :ne..suring rod and the scales was more favourable.
It has been very strongly urged by those who have devoted special attention to the functions of the brain and nervous diseases that such methods of regular measurement ought to be systematically employed by schoolmasters and all who have to do with the regulation of the education of children, and that physical growth rather than age ought to be the indication of the stage of progress in education. Such obser vations would show that mental dulness was often healthy, and would aid in distinguishing between pupils who were backward because of bodily conditions and those who were backward because of idleness and carelessness. They would also show that brilliance at school was often unhealthy and undesirable, and in need of careful restraint rather than encouragement.
In order to obtain any benefit from the weighing and measuring of children, one must know what ought to be the height and weight of the child at particular ages, so that the ascer tained height and weight may be compared with that which is taken as the standard in health. This standard has within recent years been supplied by very numerous observations made upon children and grown-up persons at various ages. Tables constructed on the basis of these observations will be given. The tables given are derived from Dr. Roberts' Manual of An thropometry. At the top of each column of the table is noted the year of life, and below are given the mean height, the mean growth oc curring from one year to the next, the mean weight and its mean growth from year to year. It is necessary to explain that mean height, mean weight, &c., imply the height, weight, &c., which were found to be the most common among the multitudes examined.
Table H. is derived from Dr. H. P. Bowditch, ' and the girls were partly of American, Irish, and mixed English, Irish, and American paren tage.
It is necessary to notice the difference between the physical conditions of the boys and men of Table I. and the girls of Table II., else erroneous conclusions would be drawn. The boys of Table I. belong to the artisan class, living in large English towns. They are, therefore, not in circumstances best fitted for natural and un impeded growth. They are statistics of boys subject to the more or less constant influence of at least not quite healthy surroundings, bad air, not too abundant nourishment, and labour begun in early youth, just at the period when growth ought to be most rapid. The girls of Table II., on the other hand, belong to a more favoured class, at least including many of the more favoured classes, likely, therefore, to show statistics of better stature and weight.
In order to show the differences in growth due to more favourable physical conditions of life, Table III. is given, dealing with boys and men of the most favoured classes, as found in English public schools, in the army, navy, uni versities, and medical schools. Thus Tables I. and III. will afford standards for boys and men, whether belonging to the artisan or more favoured classes, and Table II. will afford a standard for girls. Tables II. and III. will also permit a more reliable comparison to be drawn between the growth of girls and that of boys.
Comparison between Growth of Boys and Girls, and between Growth of Boys of Different Classes. Comparing first of all Table I. with Table III., it is evident that the boys and men represented in the latter are in a better physical condition than those of the artisan class. At the age of 21 the most favoured class has a mean height of 21 inches greater than the artisan class. The tables afford no means of comparison below the age of 10 years, but at that age the most favoured class has still the advantage of 2i inches. At the age of 16 the difference in height between the two classes is as much as 3 inches, due to the very rapid rate of growth about that age among the favoured classes, among whom it is greatly reduced in the 18th year, while in the artisan class the greater rapidity of growth does not begin so soon, does not go on so quickly, but lasts a year longer, so that the great difference in height at the age of 18 becomes reduced during the succeeding year. These differences are un doubtedly due to the less fortunate circum stances of the artisan class, which not only diminish the rate of growth but actually lessen its total amount. Similar differences are ex hibited in respect of weight and chest-girth. At 21 years of age the artisan is a mean of 16 pounds lighter than his more favoured neigh bour. At 10 years of age the difference is only 1 pound, but it is gradually and steadily in creased, and the most favoured class have a permanent advantage of some 14 pounds in weight. In chest-girth at 21 the artisan is nearly 4 inches less than the youth of the non labouring class.