344 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis. 
those of normal height. There is a disadvantage also in the 
loss by mechanical labor. Greater height entails increased 
work on the heart and on the skeletal muscles. In short, 
increased loss of energy goes hand in hand with increase in 
height. Hence in the tall the necessity for a physical 
development which shall be so much above the mean as to 
compensate their greater loss of energy. In growing children 
not only must there be compensation for the expenditure of 
energy, but there must be also energy stored in the increase 
of tissue which constitutes growth. 
If the greater demands of tall children are balanced by a 
correspondingly greater income of energy, a normal equilib- 
rium or ‘* health’’ is preserved. It should be clearly recog- 
nized that this equilibrium is unaffected by the absolute 
height and is dependent only on the relation between height 
and the other physical dimensions. Consequently health is 
as possible in tall children as in those of normal height, 
although less probable, for the chances against a compensatory 
development of weight and other dimensions increase very 
rapidly with the deviation of the height from the norm. 
The absolute height of an individual is of very secondary 
interest from a practical point of view, because it is not nec- 
essarily a state of ill health, whereas the development of 
weight, girth of chest, etc.,in proportion to height is of 
supreme interest. A lack of proportion between height 
and other physical dimensions is itself ill health. The ten- 
dency of organisms to adopt ends to means is strong, and an 
imperfect compensation may suffice for most demands. A 
heart in which an hypertrophy of the left ventricle has par- 
tially compensated an insufficiency of the mitral valve may 
beat regularly enough for ordinary exertions, and yet fail 
utterly when its possessor is forced suddenly to ascend a 
height or to make any other unusual exertion. So a tall child 
may have a sufficient income of energy to meet the demands 
of a wisely regulated life, and sink under the burden of 
unusual tasks. 
It has been shown in the foregoing pages that the means 
derived from anthropometrical metrical measurements by the 
generalizing method can be used to determine whether the 
