68 



CELL-DIVISION AND GROWTH 



II. a 



taken during that early period when growth is due in the main 

 to absorption of water, the other measurements (as may be seen 

 from Tables I, II) during the later period when the percentage of 

 water has already begun to decline and growth is effected by 

 other means. 



It is, of course, a commonplace of embryology that the growth 

 of all the organs of the body does not occur at the same rate. 



50% 



40%- 



Chest-girth. 



Stature. 



Weight. 



30 % 



Years. 12345678 91011121314151617181920 



FIG. 40. Curves showing the alteration during the first twenty years 

 of life of the rate of growth as measured by weight, stature, and chest- 

 girth in the human being (males). (Constructed from Quetelet's data.) 

 The abscissae are years, the ordinates percentage increments. (The 

 percentage increment of weight for the first year could not be included 

 in the figure. It is given in Fig. 37.) 



There are nevertheless few cases in which the exact difference 

 in rate has been ascertained. From those few cases, however, 

 it appears that the individual parts, though they do not grow 

 with equal rapidity, still obey the same law as the whole. 



Thus human stature exhibits the same loss of growth-power 

 as is shown by the weight of the whole body, with this 



