The daily gazette., 1877-05-30
From the N. Y. Sun.
Our Boys and Girls

DR.. H. P. Bowditch has made report
of the State Board of Health Of Massachu-
sets which has a curious interest. 1t
contains the result of many years investi-
CATION as to the growth Of children. The
Doctor during the last twenty-five years,
has made annual measurements Of thir-
teen individuals of the female, and twelve
of the male sex. They were nearly all
related. and represented, we may safely
conclude, fair average of the generation
in America. His investigations showed,
first, that growth is most rapid during
the first twelve years of life; secondly,
that during the first twelve years boys are
from one to two inches taller than girls of
the same age; thirdly, that at about twelve
and half years girls begin to grow faster
than boys, and during the fourteenth year
are about one inch taller than boys Of the
same age; fourthly, that at fourteen and
half boys again become taller, girls at
this period having nearly completed their
growth. while boys continue to grow
rapidly until nineteen years of age.
In order to extend the range of the in
vestigation, a systematic measurement of
the pupils in the Boston public schools
was undertaken. Or. Bowditch's idea
was to determine the rate of growth of
the human race under the conditions
which Boston presents, and he thinks the
same measurements might profitably be
made throughout the country with aview
to discovering what effect our climate has
on the different races of which our society
is made up.
There has been talk in Europe of de-
cline of the human kind in the United
States. 1t has annoyed some patriots
here, but the observed facts are all against
any such deterioration. If the accurate
measurements made by DR.. Bowditch in
Boston were undertaken in other cities,
we doubt not that we should get abun-
dant data to utterly overthrow the as
sumption. Mr.. Grant Whites recent OBJ
servations in England went to show that
we are not behind our English ancestors
in height and bodily development gem
orally, and that, so far as the beauty of
the race goes, we are ahead. The meas
urements taken of the American volun-
teers during the civil war proved that our
soldiers were remarkable for their stature
and we know that never were armies
gathered which displayed more endurance
during those four bitter years.
AS the result of DIR. Bowditch's extend
ed observations in Boston, it was found
that boys and girls of America parentage
are almost without exception, both taller
and heavier than children of the same
age and sex whose parents are of other
nations. This is explained in part by the
circumstances that the American born
children are usually the offspring of par
eDts living in better average than the
foreign fathers and mothers have done. 1t
is striking fact that of the sol ,06S SOL
| diers whose examinations are preserved
in the Provost Marshal-General's bureau
the natives of the United States are taller
than those of any other country. A fur
ther remarkable fact is shown by the
study of these statistics. Natives of foreign
countries enlisting in the United States
have greater average height than ma
| tives of the same countries enlisting at
| home.
DR.. Bowditch is inclined to the opinion
that the superior comfort of the inhabi-
tants of this country is what gives to ma
tives, and TO persons of foreign birth
growing up here, their superior height -
|
and abroad seem to show that in given
community the children of the Weather
classes are, as rule, larger than those
of the poorer classes. Observations made
in England lead to the conclusion that
children of the laboring classes, inhabit-
ing towns, are al all ages decidedly short
er than the children of the non-laborine
classes attending public schools and uni
versities, the difference attaining maxi
mum of over four inches at thirteen wears
of age. In the matter of weight, too, the
well-to-do children are decidedly ahead
Comparing the Boston public school
boys with the English students at the
schools and universities, it is discovered
that the boys Of American parentage are
about the same in height, and that in
weight they are lighter up to twelve
years OF age, from twelve to seventeen
years heavier. and then again lighter thai
the English boys. The American boy.
measured, however, belonged to the or
binary run of public school children, very
many of whom were the offspring of la
boring parents, while those in England
with whom they are compared were al
the sons of the non-laboring classes. 4
fairer basis of comparison was obtained
by taking the pupils of the Boston Latil
School, the Massachusetts Institute Of
Technology, and private Latin schoo
of Boston. The American boys so select
ed were superior to their English contem
poraries both in height and weight.
Nowhere in the world does the hu
: man race thrive better than on the Mort
. American continent