Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-31
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

Men don't Just grow.
From drooling babyhood to middle
age they increase In various dimen-
sions, according to a we'll defined pat
tern, 1t Is shown by extensive measure
ments Of more than 1000 individuals
from to SO years of age just COM
pleted by surgeons Of the United States
Public Health Service.
Starting with his third birthday, the
measurements show boy Is just about
half as tall as he will ever be. From
then on he grows steadily until he is
II when for the great ma jority prog
ress stops in the upward direction.
But during these IA years the boy
doesn't grow tall at the same rate all
over. For several years after birth the
trunk Is disproportionately long COM
pared with the legs. BY the seventh
or eighth birthday the legs have caught
up so that the proportions are approx
mately the same as they will be in adult
life. During the period Of adolescence
the legs grow faster. This Is the period
of the long-legged. lanky boy. BY the
seventeenth birthday the diSproportion
again is overcome.
Growth in weight is quite different.
At 3 the baby has only about one-flfth
the weight it will have at the begin
ming OF adult life. Weight increases
very rapidly during the adoleScent
period and the same growth rate con-
tinues well into the twentieth year.
Then there is a slow, gradual increase
during adult life for which there are
no compensations in added height.
Because of the varying relation be-
tween weight and height growth, the
Public Health Service report points out
the futility OF saying that q person Of
q certain height should have certain
IL Tv@A f1 flneQ
ratios are prepared for each age, based
on q large number of cases.
Much closer to heighth Is chest cir.
conference. This also Is about halt
developed in the Swear -old and, In.
creaseS steadily until the 18th year
Then 1t slows up enormously but shows
some slight growth during the entire
adult life. For chest expansion, how
ever, the peak Is not reached until be-
tween 20 and "a years, after which
there Is q definite decline during adult
life. The increase of air capacity OF
the lungs follows about the same curve
as weight up to adolescence. Then II
rises very rapidly to a maximum, and
during adult life is closely related te
chest circumference, although the de-
cline is somewhat less. The circumfer-
ence of the abdomen Is relatively great
| in young children, and increases II
about the same proportions as chest
circumference, but the increase Is con-
Siderably more rapid during adult life.
Muscular strength continues to rise
until the 30th year, when slight de-
cline sets In, which is accelerated afteI
so. Thus strength seems TO move In
semi-circle from the low point Of
| babyhood to the low eto of senility.
From the composite picture Of
growth" says the report OF Surgeons
Louis Schwartz and Lewis r. Thompson
and Statistician Rollo H. Britten, '.tht
measurements divide themselves into
| two rather sharply contrasting groups
Weight, vital capacity and strength be-
| gin at very low values and rise witt
amazing rapidity during adolescence
! The other measurements show mod
crate increase throughout childhood
and some are still rising, more or less
at so years"
Beginning at about the fourth year
| the curves drawn by the Public Health
Service investigators show, there Is q
| sharp decline in the rate Of growth ir
weight, height and chest expansion
| This continues until about the ninth
year after which there is a much les:
rapid decline until about the fifteenth
year Then the tendency is checked
altogether and there is pronounced