DURING POST-NATAL DEVELOPMENT. 517 



of the same age and stature may have a slightly smaller head-girth. In adults 

 relative head-girth varies inversely with stature (table L) . 



Girth of neck. Data on the girth of the neck are given by Quetelet (1870), 

 Landsberger (1888), Hall (1896), and Godin (1905). According to Quetelet, it is 

 29.7 per cent of the stature in the new-born, 20 to 20.3 per cent in the adult 

 male, 19.2 to 19.4 per cent in the adult female. It is relatively smallest in the 

 period immediately preceding puberty (males, 18.9 per cent). It is slightly smaller 

 in females than in males. 



Girth of shoulders. Quetelet (1870) gives the girth at the level of the acromion 

 processes as 64.2 per cent of the stature in infants; it is least in the period just 

 preceding puberty, males 52.1 per cent, females 51.5 per cent; subsequently it 

 increases to 55.3 per cent at the age of 20 in men, 53.7 per cent in women, and 55.8 

 per cent at the age of 30 in men, 54.2 per cent in women. 



Girth of chest. There is a large amount of material on chest-girth, but much 

 of it is unsatisfactory, owing to the difficulty of selecting and applying uniform 

 methods of measurement. We can not here enter upon a discussion of this broad 

 subject. The curves in chart J are based primarily on the data of Schmid-Monnard 

 (table A) for infancy and early childhood and on those of Hall (1896) for later child- 

 hood and adolescence. Quetelet (table E) and Weissenberg (table D) give data 

 on chest -girth from infancy to maturity, other investigators for more limited periods 

 of growth. Among these other investigators may be mentioned Roberts (1878), 

 Pagliani (1879), Kotelmann (1879), Landsberger (1888), Porter (1894), Moon 

 (1892), Hitchcock (1900), Daffner (1902), Barr (1903), Godin (1903), Rietz (1903), 

 Ernst (1906), and Seaver (1909). The relative chest-girth is largest in infancy. 

 It is then about two-thirds of the stature. It is smallest in the period preceding 

 puberty, when it is considerably less than half the stature. During adolescence 

 it usually reaches about half the stature in males, less frequently in females. In 

 the adult it usually continues to increase in size for some years. In the adult it is 

 larger in short than in tall individuals (table L) . 



Girth of waist. Data on the girth of the waist are given by Quetelet (table E), 

 Landsberger (1888), and Hall (1896). The relative girth declines from infancy to 

 the period preceding puberty and then begins to increase. The increase may con- 

 tinue until the tenth decade or later. It is larger in short than in tall men, but the 

 reverse seems to be the case for young women (see table L). 



Girth of pelvis. This measurement is usually taken at the level of the anterior 

 superior iliac spines. Data from Quetelet (table E) show an increase of relative 

 girth from infancy to early childhood and then a decrease to the period preceding 

 puberty, followed by a marked increase during adolescence and early adult life. 

 The female girth for a given stature, according to Quetelet's figures, is slightly less 

 than the male up to the period of puberty, but after this period it greatly exceeds 

 the male. For men aged 30 Quetelet gives it as 47.5 per cent of the stature, for 

 women as 53.0 per cent. Hall (1896) has given data on this measurement for 

 American boys 9 to 23 years of age. His figures for relative girth are higher than 

 those of Quetelet, but were taken at a lower level. 



