Evening star., 1941-12-13
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henry.

Bu Thomas r. Henry.
The average weight of the 15-year -old
American schoolboy has increased nearly
2l2 pounds, and of the schoolgirl 3H2
pounds in less than decade.
Such is the conclusion of DR.. Georg
Wolff of the United States Public Health
Service, based on thousands OF weight
measurements of the children of Hagers-
town. Md. For the past is years the
Public Health Service has used this
Maryland city as laboratory Tor de-
tecting changes in the physical status
of the population Its growth and health
trends have proved fair mirror OF what
is happening in the country as a whole.
Measurements were taken In two four
wear periods-l933 to 1886 and 1887 to
1910, inclusive.
When the periods are compared. DR..
Wolff reports to the Public Health SerV-
ice, there is found distinct upward
trend for all age groups. but not to the
same degree through all stages OF de-
velopment. The 6-year- boys OF the
second period are notably heavier than
those of the first, but from then to about
the 18th year there is little difference.
Then comes the big squirt of growth ana
the adolescent boys are unquestionably
heavier than were their older brothers.
With girls there is hardly any difference
until the 10th year, when they show up
to much better advantage than their
sisters.
The difference may be due in part to
the fact, DR.. Wolff says, that the earlier
measurements were taken in the clos
ing days of the depression, when there
NAV have been considerable malnutrl-
ton.
SAYS DR.. Wolff THE phenomenon OF
real increase in body weight Of the white
school children over the last decade
and particularly Of the older children
over the last two decades-appears in
contestable What the reasons are can
not be easily grasped. The phenomenon
is world wide and therefore we could
assume that the general increase in
bodily dimensions may be indirectly
associated with such other worldwide
phenomena as the birth decrease in the
Western countries and the decline in
size of the family.
This striking phenomenon of recent
years has, Of course, increased the mean
income per person, whether real wages
have or have not risen. Other investiga-
tions have revealed a distinct associa-
ton between growth of children and
well-being Of parents. Such bearing
| OF the general birth decrease on chill
dren's growth appears the more reason
| able after 1t has become evident from
the new figures Of population trends in
| Hagerstown that the highest socio-eco-
nomic class has, since about 1920, stead
| lily increased its proportional contribu-
| ton to births.
Some of the earliest Americans made
drinking cups of human skulls.
DR.. Ales Hrdlicka, curator of physical
anthropology of the Smithsonian In
| stitution, describes some samples of this
macabre practice which he found in vii
lage sites on Koniag Island. in bulletin
Just issued by the institution.
The Koniag Islanders whose remains
| were studied were among the first mi
| grants from Siberia to settle on the
North American continent. They were
| cannibals, so there was no shortage OF
skulls from which to make tableware.
The practice. 1t is believed. was not
solely utilitarian. The pre-Koniags, as
Dr. Hrdlicka calls the vanished people
may have used skulls of valorous ene-
mics for cups in the belief that some oi
| the virtues of the former owner would
be conferred on the beverage.
At one time. DR.. Hrdlicka says, the
practice was distributed widely over the
world and dates back at least to the
late Stone Age in Europe In America
it can be traced over both continents
The Araucanians Of Chile honored slair
leaders of the Spanish expeditions
against them by converting their skulls
into bowls
The bones of the pre-Koniags, DR.
Hrdlicka says, show remarkable free
less common than would be the case
today. No dental carries are shown by
the teeth, but many of them show signs
| Of extreme wear.
The medicine men apparently prac-
ticed form of primitive surgery, boring
holes through the skull presumably tc
release evil spirits from the brain. Al
the skulls found by Dr. Hrdlicka upor
which this operation had been per-
formed belonged to women. The surgery
appears to have been performed with
considerable skill and the patients sur.
vived.
The only constitutional disease suf-
fered by the pre-Koniags, as revealed by
their bones, was senile arthritis. Thi
curse apparently has been in the work.
almost as long as the human race.
Mother in Ireland Sends Thanks
To Americans Kind to Her Son.