40 



CARL SCHIØTZ. 



M.-N. Kl. 



m. The relation between weight and height. 



Concerning the different methods of expressing the weight-height 

 relation in numbers, we refer to M a r t i n's "Lehrbuch der Anthropologie", 

 p. 156. The best one is reported to be Rohrer's "Index der Körperfülle" 

 (that is, weight — in grammes — multiplied by 100, divided by the 

 height — in centimeter — in third potency; in other words, the weight 



• 1-, , , • , weight X 100, 

 m percentage of a cube whose edge is like the height: j — . ^ ). 



I cannot here enter into any criticism of all the methods in question. 

 Yet I shall mention the following: Any method which — anyway for 

 the mass of the material — can be accepted with confidence must let 

 that well known phenomenon be deservedly taken into consideration, 



iO 11 è 13 li Î5 Iß Ù )S V ÎOijeari^ 

 Fig. 14 b. 



that a certain physiological decrease in proportional weight takes place 

 and undoubtedly also in the weight-height relation ^^ up through the 

 years until toward or about the age of puberty. This is the case with 

 Rohrer's "Index". But "Index der Körperfülle" is unquestionable an 

 unfortunate designation (cf. the note below). Only the weight-height 

 relation, and absolutely nothing else, is being characterized. Special 

 attention must be paid to this, especially if single individuals are to be 

 judged according to this index. It cannot be too much emphasized, 

 that number values permit and give the only efficient foundation for 

 characterization of a large material and for study of the laws of de- 

 velopment and body building. But when it concerns single individuals, 

 the numbers may at most be a help for the expert subjective judgment. 

 The objective method, which when it concerns single individuals would 

 be the most efficient, would probably be photography. A high index 

 of a single chiJd may be caused not alone by plumpness or fatness, but 

 also by, f. inst., a large head and a large abdomen (a rachitic build). 



"Weight-height-' relation does not entirely cover "Körperfülle". That one pheno- 

 menon alone, that the head gets relatively smaller from the birth and up, the 

 extremities longer, causes a decrease in the relation of weight and height. 



