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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



We know, first of all, from our common observation, that the very 

 old grow shorter in stature. We see that they are not so tall as in the 

 prime of life. The figures which have been compiled upon this sub- 

 ject are instructive, for they show that at the age of some thirty years 

 the average height of men — these figures refer to Germans — is 174 



Fig. 1. Photograph of Chevreul, taken on his one hundredth birthday. He was asked 

 to write in an album and replied "Que voulez vous que j'cScrive sur votre album. Je vais 

 £crire mon premier principe philosophique, ce n'est par moi, qui l'ai formule, c'est Male- 

 branche "On doittendre avee effort & Pinfallibilitc*. sans y pretendre." Chevreul was born 

 Aug. 31, 178G and died Aug. 9, 1889. For the privilege of using this portrait I am indebted to 

 Dr. Henry P. Bowditch, to whom the interesting original belongs. 



centimeters. It remains at that, however, only for a short period; 

 then it decreases and at forty it is already less; at fifty decidedly less; 

 and at sixty the change has become more marked; until at seventy 

 years we find that the height has shrunk from 174 to 161. There it 



