126 AGE, GROWTH, AND DEATH 



estimate the loss very simply by deducting this rate, 

 which is the capacity of the animal to grow persisting 

 at birth, from its original capacity, which we assume 

 to have been 1000 per cent, per day. And if we do 

 that the result is obvious. Over 98 per cent, of the 

 original growth power of the rabbit or of the chick 

 has been lost at the time of birth or hatching, respec- 

 tively, and the same thing is equally true of man. 

 We start out at birth certainly with less than two per 

 cent, of the original growth power with which we 

 were endowed. Over 98 per cent, of the loss is 

 accomplished before birth less than two per cent, 

 after birth. That, I think, is a rather unexpected con- 

 clusion, certainly not one which, until I began to 

 study the subject more carefully, I in the least ex- 

 pected ; and even now when I have become more 

 familiar with it, it still fills me with astonishment, it is 

 so different from the conception of the process of de- 

 velopment as we commonly hold it, so different from 

 our conclusions based on our acquaintance with the 

 growth and progress of the individuals about us. We 

 overlook the fact that the progress which each indi- 

 vidual makes is the result of accumulation. It is as 

 if money were put into the savings-bank ; it grows and 

 becomes larger, but the rate of interest does not alter. 

 So too with us ; we see there is an accumulation of 

 this wealth of organisation which gives us our mature 

 power. But as that accumulation goes on, our body 

 seems to become, as it were, tired. We may com- 

 pare it to a man building a wall. He begins at first 



