6o Heredity and Child Culture 



exceeded by vigorous infants. As far as initial 

 weight may be considered a gauge of vitality, 

 six and a half pounds will show a good vitality, 

 five and a half pounds a rather poor one, and 

 from four to five pounds a very poor vitality at 

 the start. 



Some infants are bom with small bones, per- 

 haps in this respect resembling one or both 

 parents. The birth weight of such an infant, 

 as well as that attained later, will be less than 

 that of a baby having a larger bony framework. 

 Different races, as well as families, show con- 

 siderable variation in this respect. Needless 

 alarm is sometimes excited if the physician or 

 mother merely consider averages that are taken 

 from a different class or community and hence 

 do not particularly apply to the baby under con- 

 sideration. This fact may be considered in con- 

 nection with relative weights and heights at all 

 ages. In every case, the extremely rapid 

 growth of the infant after birth makes careful 

 observation of all the phenomena connected 

 therewith not only interesting but important. 



During the first few days there is generally a 



