gation is to establish the normal height and weight of children 

 between the ages of !4 and 16. The normal measurements for 

 a given age can be arrived at only by a statistical study of a 

 considerable number of cases. For this purpose, the Board of 

 Health of New York City, at the request of the writers, turned 

 over to them the records of the 10,043 children who had re- 

 ceived certificates during the nine months beginning July 13, 

 1914, and ending April 12, 1915. 



To be sure, a number of investigations have been made on 

 the heights and weights of children. The subject received its 

 impulse from the well-known anthropometric researches of 

 Quetelet. In England, notable studies were made by Galton, 

 Roberts, Greenwood and others. An early investigation of the 

 subject in this country was made by Bowditch in 1877 in the 

 city of Boston. Subsequent studies were made by Peckham 

 in Milwaukee, Porter in St. Louis, Boas in Worcester, Oakland 

 and Toronto, and by a number of other investigators. But 

 these studies concerned themselves with children at school, 

 while our data deal with children who are on the point of leav- 

 ing school to go to work. Moreover, the number of children 

 between the age limits of 14 and 16 covered in the other inves- 

 tigations was in every case comparatively small. Thus, 

 Bowditch's data included only 2,678 children, and the investi- 

 gations carried on in the other five cities combined were based 

 on an aggregate of 5,514 children 14 to 16 years of age. Our 

 study is based on a much larger number of observations, 

 namely, on 10,043 children, and is, therefore, more representa- 

 tive for children at these ages. 



The records of the Health Department were transcribed on 

 cards, and the following information was abstracted in each 

 case: sex, color, birthplace of child, birthplace of father, 

 mother- tongue, age, .height, weight, grade in school, and vari- 

 ous other items pertaining to the condition of the applicant's 

 health. The foregoing items were tabulated, either singly or 

 in combination, to give the data of this investigation. We 

 shall first dispose of a few preliminary items such as sex, age, 

 and school grade of the children, and shall then proceed with 

 the consideration of their height and weight. 



SEX 



Of the 10,043 children, 5,393, or 53.7%, were boys, and 

 4,650, or 46.3%, were girls. The preponderance of boys over 





