898 M. Quetelefs Inquiries respecting the 



magnificent hospice which has been constructed in the same 

 city for a period of four years. The results have been complet- 

 ed by observations made upon isolated individuals, taken by 

 chance from the mean of all these data. The author has been able 

 to construct tables, which shows the mean stature, the mean 

 weight, as well as the minimum and maximum, at each age, and 

 for both sexes. Th^se tables show, that there exists at each 

 age, and for each sex, a constant relation between the mean 

 weight and the mean stature, from which the author has con- 

 structed another table, more exact than those which result di- 

 rectly from observations on the weights. It follows, from the 

 mean st^ature formerly observed by the author, for the whole 

 population, or at least from a number of individuals much more 

 considerable' than in these last inquiries, and gives the mean 

 weight corresponding to each stature, according to the observa- 

 tion which make the subject of this memoir.* The following is 

 a table, which we may consider as exact for the whole popula- 

 tion of Brussels, and which, for want of a table of this sort, cal- 

 culated for other countries, may serve, at least, as an approxima- 

 tion for the Caucasian race, and in a temperate climate. 



We see, from this table, 1^^, That, at an equality of age, the 

 male is generally heavier than the female ; towards the age of 

 twelve years only, an individual of either sex has the same weight. 

 2dli/, That the male attains the maximum weight about the age 

 of forty years, and that he begins to lose, in a very sensible 

 manner, towards his sixtieth year ; that, at the age of 80 years, 

 he has lost about 13.23288 lb. Avoird., the stature being also 

 diminished 2.75604 inches. ScIIt/, That the female attains 

 the maximum weight later than the male, towards the fiftieth 

 year. 4^7/7?/, That when the male and the female have assumed 

 their complete development, they weigh almost exactly twenty 

 times as much as at the moment of their birth, while their stature 

 is only about 3| times beyond what it was at the same period. 



• The author cannot consider the results obtained in hospitals and public 

 schools as very exact, as to the mean stature of the population, because in- 

 quiries made by him concerning a great number of individuals have proved 

 to him that the mean stature is a little more among individuals in easy cir- 

 cumstances than in the indigent population, who have recourse to hospices, 

 hospitals, and gratuitous schools. 



