The Growth, of Children. 



75 



Table No. 1G. 

 Showing the Age at which Menstruation begins in American Women. 



A comparison of these data with the figures in Table No. 3 

 shows that the period of rapid growth which gives to girls 

 their temporary superiority over boys precedes the average 

 age of puberty by at least two years, and that at the age of 

 puberty the annual growth in height is less than at any pre- 

 vious period of life. Whether a similar relation prevails in 

 other countries and in the male sex are questions to be settled 

 by future investigations. 



An examination of the curves on Plates I-III shows that 

 the statements in regard to the rate of growth of the two 

 sexes, made in 1872,* as the result of a very small number 

 of observations, are fully confirmed by a more extended 

 investigation, and that the facts announced at that time in 

 regard to the growth in height are found to be equally true 

 of the growth in weight. It was hoped at the beginning of 

 this investigation that it would be possible, by comparing 

 these observations with those taken in foreign countries, to 

 determine how far the peculiarities in the rate of growth, 



* See beginning of this article. 



