394 



THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



the bright look of boyish glee has given way to one of worry and anxiety. 

 Melancholy often accompanies his failures as he and his friends become cognisant of 

 the change that has taken place. The boy is generally better at night after food, 

 and at early morning after sleep, but is especially stolid at intermediate times. 

 These cases, if not looked to, often end in a general break-down with the develop- 

 ment of some chest affection. 



The education of threatened consumptives should be physical rather than mental. 

 Accomplishments are all very well in their way, but they are not much without 

 health. A fair amount of study is undoubtedly advisable, but the weakly youth 

 should be encouraged to pass his time out-doors in the fresh air, rather than in the 

 school-room or study. An hour's gallop will do him more good than a page of 

 Euclid. Boys coming of consumptive parents should not, as a rule, be permitted to 

 go in for competitive examinations. There is a growing opinion amongst medical 

 men that the competitive system is, in a large number of cases, productive of the 

 most serious injury to the bodily health. We know that for the real struggle of 

 life vigorous health is of even more importance than intellect. How many have 

 attained eminence simply because, in addition to a certain amount of industry, they 

 are blessed with "the constitution of a horse 1 " and how many feeble ones have been 

 swept away to make room for the present occupants of our first positions at the Bar, 

 in political life, in administrative appointments, and in medicine 1 



People with weak chests often anxiously inquire whether their weight is what 

 it should be at their age. This is, undoubtedly, a point worth investigating, and we 

 append a table showing the average height and weight of the human body between 

 the ages of eighteen and thirty. 



TABLE SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE HUMAN BODY FROM 18 TO 30 YEARS OF AGE AS 



INDICATED BY HEIGHT AND WEIGHT. 



Growth expressed by stature and height is most marked between the ages of 

 fourteen and sixteen. Its rate is as much as three inches in height during that 

 time, and about ten inches from the age of eleven to eighteen. From eighteen to 

 twenty-five it is usually about two inches. 



Persons of spare habit and a temperate mode of life are able to sustain fatigue, 

 and to make prolonged exertions which the more robust and fleshy often find it im- 

 possible to undergo. Moreover, thin people bear loss of weight, even of rapid occur- 

 rence, with comparative impunity, whilst on the other hand the corpulent and flabby 



