7$ THE GROWTH OF THE BRAIN. 



resistance to the forces which attack it. As we depart 

 from the initial stages the more consolidated becomes 

 the bodily structure, and the nearer the approach to a 

 satisfactory modus vivendi. For a period of fifty-five 

 years, from the age of five years onward, there is a strong 

 and steady withstanding of these influences which had 

 previously been so fatal. After this time ruin sets in, 

 and the structural elements fall apart. From this there 

 is no possible escape, for the good building material of 

 sixty years before has in a large measure lost its strength 

 and becomes rapidly less fit for the purposes of life. 



Returning with these facts to the statistics for the 

 weight of the entire body, derived by the general 

 method, we see that account must have been taken of 

 both those individuals who will successfully grow during 

 the first five years and those who will not, whereas 

 the later observations are made on those among whom 

 the death-rate is much diminished. The character of 

 the data, then, for the first five years of life is particularly 

 heterogeneous. 



At the latter end of the curves for increase both in 

 weight and stature there is also a difficulty of import- 

 ance. As regards weight, it is almost impossible in the 

 years after twenty-five to determine when the proper 

 growth ceases, and when increase in weight becomes due 

 to the accumulation of body-fat, a habit in which different 

 persons vary widely. Yet however strong may be the 

 inclination to scorn fat as an ignoble tissue, and a disturb- 

 ing factor in the proper study of growth, it is neverthe- 

 less not without its significance. The chubbiness of 

 infancy, the lankness of youth, and the roundness of 

 maturity are all normal phases of the body. From the 

 physician's point of view this relation has been studied 

 by Stephenson, whose curves for the absolute increase 

 in weight were given in the last chapter ; also it has 



