Ill 



OF GROWTH IN CHILDHOOD 



107 



slower than he does for a few years thereafter (6). At ten years old 

 the girl's growth-rate begins to rise (c), a full year before the boy's; 

 at twelve or thirteen the rate is much ahke for both, but it has 

 reached its maximum for the girl. The boys' rate goes on rising, 

 and at fourteen or fifteen they are growing twice as fast as the girls. 

 So much for the annual increments, as a rough measure of the rates 

 of growth. In actual stature the baby girl is some 2 or 3 per cent, 

 below the boy at birth; she makes up the difference, and there is 



7 9 

 Age 

 Fig. 13. Ratio of female stature to male. 



II 13 15 



From Simmons and Todd's data. 



From R. M. Fleming's data. 



good evidence to shew that she is by a very little the taller for a 

 while, at about five years old or six. At twelve or thirteen she is 

 very generally the taller of the two, and we call it her "gawky 

 age" (Fig. 13). 



Man and woman differ in length of life, just 3,s they do in weight 

 and stature. More baby boys are born than girls by nearly 5 peF 

 cent. The numbers draw towards equality in their teens; after 



