454 C. R. BARDEEN 



from Quetelet and Lorey. In Vierordt's tables of the weight 

 of organs in the adults selected from various investigators to 

 illustrate normal build ('06, p. 34, 35) the percentage of body- 

 weight given for the heart varies from ,477 per cent to .633 per 

 cent with an average (not weighted) of .558 per cent. The 

 figures of Kress for children which are based upon the average 

 body weight divided by the average heart weight for each age 

 show a considerably higher relative heart weight than that 

 given in Vierordt's tables. In part this is due to emaciation in 

 the children studied by Kress but it is not due entirely to 

 emaciation because in case of several of the Kress groups the 

 average body weight is to be looked upon as normal. 



If one bases his estimate of the relative size of the heart in 

 the living upon the relative size of the heart in the dead, as 

 done by Boyd, Miiller and Kress one is apt to get too high a 

 relative heart weight owing to the relatively large degree of 

 emaciation in the dead. If one bases his estimate upon a di- 

 vision of the average heart weight of a group of individuals by 

 a body weight assumed to be normal for such a group like Thoma 

 and Vierordt he is apt to get too low a proportional heart weight 

 because the heart weight compared with the 'normal' body weight 

 is not the average of a normal group but of a more or less emaci- 

 ated group. The mean between the two estimates will proba- 

 bly more nearly approach the normal relative heart weight 

 than an estimate based on either method alone. 



The following table (table 8) shows the relative weight of the 

 heart for each age group as reported by W. Mueller, the relative 

 weight of the heart based on normal body weight as given in 

 Tables A and B and the mean between the two. Owing to the 

 fact that the average height and average age for each group is 

 not given in the Miiller tables the estimates of normal weight 

 for each group are necessarily somewhat rough. 



This table shows that the heart is relatively much smaller for 

 a given age group if the normal weight for the group be taken 

 instead of the average weight of the group and that the differ- 

 ence in general is greater during childhood than in adult life. 

 The mean between relative weight based on average weight 



