CHAPTER III. 

 THE PHASES OF LIFE. 



§ 712. The child has at birth, on an average, rather less 

 than one-third the maximum length, and about one-twentieth 

 the maximum weight, to which in future years it will attain. 



'1 ! composition of the body of the new-born babe, as com- 

 pared -'th that of the adult, will be seen from the following 

 table, in which the details are more full than those given in 

 § 413 ; the figures in brackets are more recent observations. 



It will be observed that the brain and eyes are, relatively 

 to the whole body-weight, very much larger in the babe than 

 in the adult. This disproportion is a very marked embryonic 

 feature, and has a morphological or phylogenic, as well as a 

 physiological or teleological, significance. Inasmuch as the 

 smaller body has relatively the larger surface, the skin is natur- 

 ally proportionately greater in the babe ; but the same dispro- 

 portion is observed in the kidneys, these like the skin increasing 



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