526 



HEIGHT AND WEIGHT IN RELATION TO BUILD 



o/ioy.5. 9. u and 13 



of age. 



Stature, 

 inches. 



Weight in pounds at a given stature and at an index of 



.650 



55 



54 



53 



51 



50 



49 



48 



45 



43 



42 



41 



40 



91 4 



81 2 



76 4 



67 5 



63 3 



59 3 



51 7 



44 8 



.600 



99 8 



79 6 



75 



70 6 



62 3 



58 4 



54 7 



47 7 



38.4 



.550 



91 5 



77.3 



73. 



64 7 



60 8 



53 5 



50 2 



46 8 



.500 



83 2 



78 8 



62 5 



58 8 



55 3 



19.8 



37 1 



.450 



.400 



38 3 



33 3 



53 1 



44 2 



41 5 



34 



29 6 



25 6 



.350 



Typical 

 age in 

 years. 



for males. Estimated average age for well-developed individuals is indicated at the 

 right side of each chart. The light lines represent the curve of average indices for a 

 given height at a given age " weight-f or-height curves." The numeral at the upper 

 end of each curve signifies the age in years. 



The parabolic height-weight index-growth curve for boys has its vertex, point 

 of lowest height- weight index, at height 56 inches (approximately 142 cm.). This 

 would indicate that at about this height the average healthy American boy is 

 lightest in relation to his stature. According to our estimates he is 12.25 years old 

 at this period. To the left the curve continues smoothly to the period of infancy 

 at 27 inches stature. It is, of course, not probable that a sharp break in the growth 

 curve from a parabola to a vertical line occurs at this point. In the charts we have 

 slightly rounded the angle of transition. We must have much more extensive data 

 than are at present available before we can construct a normal curve of transition 

 from the infantile growth-curve to that of childhood. For girls I have empirically 

 selected a growth-curve the vertex 



of which is shifted 0.5 inch (1 cm. CHART c.-'r**' fr u&t 

 in the curve of the centimeter-gram 

 index) below that for boys. This 

 gives a difference of indices which 

 approximates that existing be- 

 tween the two sexes. We can not 

 draw curves which show sexual 

 differences with perfect accuracy 

 until we have a far greater amount 

 of data on weight without clothes 

 in the two sexes. The curve for 

 girls meets the infantile curve at 

 a height of 26^ inches. 



Chart C shows weight-for- 

 height curves for ages 5, 9, 11, and 

 13 years. It is to be noted that at 

 5 years the weight-f or-height curve, 

 although hyperbolic instead of par- 

 abolic in character, for the range 

 of variations in stature found at 

 this age, very nearly coincides with 

 the growth-curve. This means 

 that a short child of 5 will have 

 very nearly the same height- weight 

 index as a younger child of the 

 same stature, and a tall child of this 

 age very nearly the same proportions as an older child of the same height. At 9 

 years of age the shorter children average slightly heavier, the taller slightly lighter 

 than younger and older children of respectively the same stature. On the other 

 hand, the weight-for-height curves at ages 11 to 13 show that the shortest children 



58.2 



55 



49 2 



46 4 



38 7 



36 3 



29 8 



27 8 



25 9 



TypiccU 

 growth curve 



