BEESS IN RELATION TO HEALTH. 195 



circumstances it might be expected that the weight of the men, taken 

 as a whole, would remain sensibly the same ; and that the numbers 

 losing or gaining, as well as the quantities lost or gained, would vary 

 little month by month ; or that, if any marked variation occurred, it 

 would be of an accidental character, depending on the greater or less 

 amount of sickness during any particular month. The results, how- 

 ever, showed that a marked periodicity existed, and that, taking an 

 average of years, there were two distinct sei-ies of months, during the 

 one of which there was a constant loss of weight, and during the 

 other a constant gain, so that, if the year were divided into quarters, 

 there was a loss during the first and fourth quarters, and a gain during 

 the second and third. 



The two series of gaining and losing months were unbroken, except 

 in one instance. On reference to the results it was found that in 

 November, which was in the losing series, a gain occurred. The 

 amount gained was very small, and the discrepancy was caused by 

 the arrival of large numbers of prisoners in September and October, 

 who usually gained weight for a short time after they were received, 

 so that probably this break in the series resulted from the influence of 

 the stage of imprisonment, which rather more than balanced the in- 

 fluence of season. On estimating carefully the facts which showed 

 the average gain or loss per prisoner weighed, it was seen that, be- 

 ginning at December, the amount lost per man increased rapidly and 

 very steadily till March, but that between March and April there 

 was a very abrupt transition from loss to gain. The gains then con- 

 tinued till August, the amount gained increasing on the whole, by a 

 series of jerks, each alternate month presenting a larger and a smaller 

 gain respectively : so that, to obtain a steadily increasing series, it was 

 necessary to couple the summer months in pairs. Between August 

 and September a change of weight occurred, about equal in amount, 

 but in the opposite direction to that which took place between March 

 and April. The changes between March-April and August-September 

 were far greater in amount than the changes which took place between 

 any other pairs of consecutive months ; and this remark applied with 

 greater force to the percentages of men gaining or losing, and to the 

 net gains and losses per man. 



The inferences which may be fairly drawn from these observa- 

 tions were : 1. The body becomes heavier during the summer months, 

 and the gain varies in an increasing ratio. 2. The body becomes 

 lighter during the winter months, and the loss varies in an increasing 

 ratio. 3. The changes from gain to loss, and the reverse, are abrupt, 

 and take place about the end of March and the beginning of Sep- 

 tember. 



The results, which were thus gathered from the study of a large 

 number of periodical weighings, presented a remarkable relation to 

 the facts obtained by Dr. Edward Smith from a series of most valu- 



