102 American Statistical Association. 



V. The relation between diseases and the rate of groioth. — 

 For example, it would be interesting to inquire whether, in 

 the rapid growth which is said to follow certain diseases, 

 especially fevers, the height and weight increase in their nor- 

 mal ratio ; whether this accelerated growth after the disease 

 is simply a' c6rKpensation for a retardation du^^ing the disease ; 

 whether abnormally rapid growth causes a predisposition to 

 disease,^an'b^\h ether any connection can be traced between 

 the rate of growth and the frequency with which certain dis- 

 eases of growing children (e. (/., chorea) occur at different 

 ages. 



VI. The effect of local hygienic conditions on the physique 

 of growing children. — Since comfort and misery appear to 

 have such a direct effect upon the size of growing children, it 

 seems not improbable that a systematic comparative study of 

 the physique of the growing population in different localities 

 will throw light upon the relative sanitary conditions there 

 prevalent. 



It will thus be seen that a wide field is open for statistical 

 research, in which nearly every one can do good work. The 

 collection of physical data in regard to the human body has 

 been in the past left almost exclusively in the hands of artists, 

 who have sought to establish, as guides for their work, simple 

 proportions between the various dimensions of the body, and 

 of military statisticians, who have looked upon the human 

 frame simply as a machine for performing a soldier's work, 

 and have necessarily confined their observations to adult 

 males. It is to be hoped that in the future the hygienist and 

 the educator will recognize, in the physical measurements of 

 growing children, a guide for the application of their sanitary 

 regulations and a test for the efficiency of their sj^stems of 

 physical training. 



