BEPOUT OF THE ANTHROPOMETRIC COMMITTEE. 235 



The increase of stature throughout life as shown by Tables I. and V. 

 is a new and unexpected fact, but it is obviously due to the survival of 

 the taller and better developed members of the population, and the elimina- 

 tion by disease or death of the smaller and feebler ones. Quetelet has 

 stated that man attains his maximum height at the age of 30 years and 

 maintains it up to 50 years, after which it begins to recede, and at 90 it 

 has lost three inches. This may be true of individuals if measured from 

 year to year, but it does not appear to be true of the population in the 

 iiggregate. The loss of stature resulting from the degeneration and loss 

 of tissues, and the stooping position assumed by old people, is more than 

 counterbal9,nced by the survival of a greater number of individuals who 

 are above the average in height. The uniform increase in the weight and 

 chest-girth throughout adult life also confirms this view. 



The Tables do not show distinctly at what period man attains his full 

 stature, and much difference of opinion exists on this subject. Some 

 French writers (Barnard, Allaire, &c.) maintain that growth in height 

 goes on until the 32nd or 3oth year, and Dr. Baxter arrives at the same 

 conclusion from the statistics of the United States Army ; while most 

 English writers (Danson, Aitken, Roberts, &c.) regard the 25th as the 

 year of mature growth, and Dr. Beddoe places it as early at the 23rd 

 year, admitting, however, that a slight increase may take place after this 

 age. The difference of opinion on this subject arises, no doubt, from the 

 faulty method of relying on the measurements of many dififerent indivi- 

 duals, instead of measuring the same individuals from year to year until 

 growth ceases. The elimination of the weak and ill-developed by death, 

 the difficulty of following the same class, and all the members of the class, 

 through successive years, and the selection of special classes (i.e. recruits, 

 whose ages are never certain), invalidate all conclusions as to the period 

 of maturity, drawn from statistics of measurements of many different 

 persons ; but, allowing for these sources of error and judging by the run 

 of the curves formed by the means and averages in Tables I. and V., 

 it is probable that little actual growth takes place after the age of 21, 

 and that it entirely ceases by the 25th year. It is evident, moreovei', 

 from Table V., that the full stature is attained earlier in the well-fed 

 and most favoured class (Class I.) than in the ill-fed and least favoured 

 classes of the community. 



