AGE. 



75 



of persons living in towns, taken at the age of 

 nineteen, exceeds that of residents in the coun- 

 try by two or three centim (1 or \\ inch); and 

 that the children of persons in easy circum- 

 stances, and those of studious habits, are gene- 

 rally above the middle height.* 



A memoir by the same author devoted to an 

 examination of the weight of the human subject 

 at different ages, contains a series of interesting 

 conclusions, from which we select the following. 

 (1.) At'the period of birth there is an inequality 

 both as to weight and to stature, in the two sexes ; 

 the medium weight of males being 3 kil. 20, 

 (rather more than 7 Ibs.), that of females 2 kil. 

 91, (about 6^ Ibs.); the height of the former 

 Om. 496, (about 19 inch.); that of the latter 

 Om. 483, (about 18 inch.) (2.) The weight of 

 the infant diminishes the first three days after 

 birth, and does not begin to increase till the 

 second week. (3.) At the same age the male is 

 generally heavier than the female; it is only 

 about the twelfth year that their weights are 

 equal. Between the first and eleventh year the 

 difference of weight is from 1 kil. to 1 kil. and 

 a half; between sixteen and twenty, about 6 kil. 

 and after this period from 8 to 9 kil. (4.) At 

 full growth the weight is almost exactly twenty 

 times what it was at birth, while the stature is 

 only about three and a quarter more than it 

 was at that period. This holds good with both 

 sexes. (5.) In old age both sexes lose about 

 6 or 7 kil. of their weight, and 7 centim. of 

 their height. (6.) During the growth of both 

 sexes, we may reckon the squares of the weights, 

 at the different ages, as proportional to the fifth 

 powers of the heights. (7.) After full growth 

 in each sex, the weights are very nearly as the 

 squares of the heights. (From the two prece- 

 ding statements it may be deduced that the 

 increase in the longitudinal direction exceeds 

 that in the transverse, including in the latter 

 both width and thickness.) (8.) The male at- 

 tains his maximum weight towards the fortieth 

 year, and begins to lose it sensibly towards the 

 sixtieth. The female does not attain her maxi- 

 mum weight till about the fiftieth year. (9.) 

 The weights of full-grown and well-formed 

 persons vary in a range of about 1 to 2, while 

 the heights vary only from 1 to \\. This state- 

 ment is deduced from the following table :f 



Male stature 

 Female 



MET. 

 1.990 

 1.740 



MET. 



1.740 



1.408 



MET. 



1.684 

 1.579 



* Recherches sur la loi de la Croissance de 

 1'Homrne, par M. Quetelet. Annales d'Hygiene 

 Publique, &c. t. vi. p. 89. 



t Ann. d'Hygiene, t. x. p. 27. To the above 

 memoir M. Villerme has appended some extracts 

 from manuscript notes found among the papers of 

 M. Tenon, and written about the year 1783. They 

 contain observations which correspond, in many re- 

 spects, with those of Quetelet. 



The last researches of this industrious ob- 

 server have been devoted to the muscular power 

 of man at different ages, and have been but 

 very recently published. In the course of his 

 memoir he refers to two tables ; one stating the 

 relative power of draught (la force renale), at 

 the several periods ; the other, the relative ma- 

 nual strength (la force manuelle) ; in each case 

 estimated by the dynamometer. The results 

 are very much what might be expected a priori. 

 It appears that the maximum of the " force 

 renale " is at the age of t\\ enty-five ; and that 

 the difference in the extent of this kind of mus- 

 cular power between males and females, is less 

 during childhood than at the adult age. Thus, 

 in the former period the male surpasses the 

 female by one-third, towards puberty by one- 

 half; and at full growth, his strength is double 

 that of the other sex. The manual force is 

 greatest at the age of thirty, and at all ages is 

 greater in the male than in the female ; before 

 puberty, in the ratio of 3 : 2, after this period, 

 in the ratio of 9:5. The average manual 

 strength of a man is equivalent to 89 kil. and 

 exceeds his weight by 19 kil., so that he might 

 support himself by his hands only, even with a 

 considerable weight attached to his feet.* 



This and the preceding memoirs, we are 

 told by M. Quetelet, are extracted from a work 

 which he is about to publish, entitled " Sui 

 1'Homme et le developpement de ses facultes; 

 ou, Essai de Physique Sociale." We need 

 scarcely add that we are justified in expecting 

 from the specimens already presented to us, a 

 series of valuable and highly interesting facts, 

 together with deductions of no ordinary im- 

 portance and originality. 



Having thus briefly traced the changes that 

 precede maturity, we may ask what is it that 

 prevents the processes of growth from advancing 

 at the same rate as they have hitherto done ? 

 Why, so long as they are undisturbed by dis- 

 ease or unnatural circumstances, should they 

 not advance ad infinitum, or at least why 

 should they not raise man to the strength and 

 dimensions which poets have fabled in their 

 Titans ? The same food, the same atmosphere, 

 the same light and heat, the same electric 

 agencies, by which the organs have been main- 

 tained or excited, are still around them and 

 exerting their influence. Why, then, should 

 they never transcend a certain point? Why 

 should the stature, however much it may vary 

 between a Boruwlaski and an O'Brien, yet 

 never rise above a certain measure ? Why does 

 the strength never exceed the powers of a Milo 

 or a Desaguliers, or the intellect surpass the 

 limits of Aristotle, Shakspeare, or Newton? 

 These are interesting but impossible problems. 

 If we say that a certain quantum of vital power 

 is allotted to the growth of man, and that while 

 a portion is expended in raising him to matu- 

 rity, the residue must be husbanded for con- 

 ducting him through the remaining portion of 

 his duration, else he might suddenly stop short 



* Ann. d'Hygiene, &c. Oct. 1834, t. xii. p. 294. 



