NORMALITY OF CHILDREN STUDIED. 



45 



better medical care. Judged, therefore, by these old standards of 

 height to age and weight to age, our laboratory children measure up 

 to normal (average) in practically every instance, except in the case 

 of the weights of our girls 8 years of age and above, but they do not 

 measure up to the superior type of child found in the private schools 

 in the environs of Boston. 



RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEIGHT AND BODY-WEIGHT WITH 



BOYS AND GIRLS. 



With adults, no one would think of considering the relationship 

 between weight and age or height and age as of any particular sig- 

 nificance, but, singularly enough, with children these two ratios, 

 particularly that of weight to age, have long held the attention of 

 physiologists to the exclusion of almost every other method of com- 



Cms. 



HEIGHT REFERRED TO BODY WEIGHT. 



BOYS. 



6 8 10 12 14 1& 18 20 22, 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 



FIG. 7. Relationship between height and body-weight with boys. 



parison. With adults, the comparison of height to weight has long 

 been. known to be a comparatively good index of the state of nutrition. 

 If the individual is very tall and light in weight, he is obviously under- 

 nourished; if he is very short and heavy in weight, he is obese. It 

 seems much more logical to consider the relationship between height 

 and weight of children than between weight and age or height and 

 age. Consequently we have plotted on our chart (fig. 7) the values 

 representing the height referred to weight for our laboratory boys. 

 As stated on page 37, these values for weight and height may be found 



