The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-12-01

These figures are above the previous
standards, both rs to height and weight,
but, like.them, they are applicable to both
bows and girls. Above five feet, and about
twelve years, there Is an appreciable
difference between the sexes in these 70
spects, as girls cease growing sooner than
boys, Observations Of weight or OF height
are, Il will be rightly inferred, uselesi
Now, what Is the practical nse Of all
these figures? In the 6pt place, rate o.
growth should be regular, and the rate Of
any given child being asceItained, there ID
thus furnished tolerable basis for an eB'
innate az to its proper future siEe. The
healthy child that grows 3 inches q year
passes feet at 10 years, and will thus
probably be Of short stature, say 5 feet q
inches il a man, and feet inch II q
woman, The healthy child growing q
inChes A year Is 8 feet . inches at years,
and passes. 8 feet at Is TO II
years. Such child will DO medium.
sized adult, say 5 feet 8 inches II
a man, or 5 feet 8 inches II q woman. The
quick.growlng healthy child that increases
In height inches per year passes feet
III 10 or II, and will make q tall man Of 3
feet 10 inches, or tall woman Of feet 3
inches. These rates Of growth DR.. Eoul'
ION likens 10 three railroad trains travel
inc Al. say 10, 20 and 80 miles an hour.
Tbs iastebt train, OF course, covers the
most ground in 3 given time, subject
someWhat 10 the exact point when puber'
~ tlrst puts on the brake and iinRliy stops
progress altogether.
Its even more important 10 notice thai
the figures which thus furnish basis toI
prophecy furnish alGo uomean aid toward
making that prophecy good. From q
physical point oil view Il 10 during the
period OF growth that mischief Is both
most 10 be dreaded and can BIO best com
batsd, and when q standard OF health ID
known any variations from 1t should be
attended to as promptly and anZioulys %
an engineer obeyB danger signal.
When a Child'B RscertAined rate oil
growth varies more than quarter
Of an inch annually, or when bis
weight does not correspond TO his height
within mArslp Of safety, fixed by Dr.
Boulton at Z pounds, 8 rod Light, 80 to
speak, is hung out, which no careful pa
rent or competent physlcian should ven
tuTe TO neglect. Agrowth below the char
setter rate Is indic8tive-it there are nc
other pathological symptoms-ot arrested
development, aud 6 growth above that
rate points to tax on the system above The
powers OF most children. And arrest oil
growth, or loes Of weight, Is also 4 finger.
board pointing to specific disease; In con-
sumption, especiAllY loss Of weight always
precedes cough, Rlthough.the cough nearly
always Is the first symptom 10 attract at
tenti0n. The value OF these figures TO pre-
yentiye medicine must thus be plain, but
the point may well be emphasized by a
StnVss illustration. In 1876 the children
In q certain Institution did not grow 2
inches In that year. There Was no spec.
ial cause OF alarm and no obtrusive symp.
toms Of disease; ordinarily the fact would
not have been noticed, nor
would It have caused remark II
Il bad been. However, the authori.
ties we're not satisfied, tho Ohildren'B die
tary and sanitary conditions were more
carefully attended, and the next year the
Ayersye growth In height was over 9 In.
ches, and the increse In weight was OF
pounds. Thus, while Il still remains true
that man cannot By taking thought add
a cubIt TO his stature, II Is not too much to
say that his can, Il he will take the trouble,
materially Affect the development Of bis
child. Antbropometry has heretofore
concerned Itself with man In the
mass, and its figures have been re-
Varded rather as finalitieS, useful only for
purpOssS Of study, than as elements In q
problem which, githin limits, may be va
fIed at will. The anthropometry OF the
indivIdual-regArled as means Of nxing
an IDEAL end, which may and should be
reached, and OF indicating whether that
end Is being approached along the proper
road and according 10 Natures time table
lis a new idea, and Is neither less inter.
estipg nor lesG useful than the Anthro.
pometIy Of the various races OF men. For
schools especially these hints are worthy
OF attention.