POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



573 



low temperature, the heat of the sun is 

 easily borne, and the violet rays of the spec- 

 trum act chemically on the blood, increas- 

 ing the haemoglobin ; diminished barometric 

 pressure, which facilitates chemical action in 

 the blood and tissues, favors vaporization of 

 moist secretions in the lungs, and aids pul- 

 monary circulation and expansion ; and the 

 general stimulus of high levels, producing 

 exhilaration and an increase of nutrition. 



Facts about the Growth of Boys and 

 Girls. — A summary of the results of an in- 

 vestigation of the laws governing the growth 

 of various parts of the body, instituted in the 

 schools of "Worcester, Mass., in 1891, is pub- 

 lished in Science. Some three thousand two 

 hundred and fifty individuals were examined, 

 of ages ranging from five to twenty-one years, 

 and comparisons were made in the growth of 

 boys and girls. The length of the head in 

 girls is shown to be less than that of boys 

 throughout the whole period of growth, and 

 consequently through life ; but the difference 

 in length, instead of remaining the same from 

 year to year, varies considerably, and the an- 

 nual increment is irregular in both sexes. In 

 girls the greatest length of head is reached 

 about the eighteenth year ; in boys, not be- 

 fore the age of twenty-one. The girls 1 heads 

 are narrower than those of the boys, while 

 the phenomena of breadth of head, in pe- 

 riods of alternate growth and cessation of 

 growth, are similar to those of length of 

 head. The faces of the girls are broadest at 

 seventeen, those of the boys after the eight- 

 eenth year ; while the faces of the boys are 

 usually broader than those of the girls. In 

 stature, the boys, starting out at five years of 

 age, are apparently taller than the girls, but 

 the girls appear to catch them in the seventh 

 year, and continue at an even stature up to 

 and including the ninth year, after which 

 the boys again rise above the girls for two 

 years. About the twelfth year the girls 

 suddenly become taller than the boys, and 

 continue taller until the fifteenth year, when 

 the boys again and finally regain their supe- 

 riority in stature. After the age of seven- 

 teen there seems to be very little if any in- 

 crease in the stature of girls, while the boys 

 are still growing vigorously at eighteen, and 

 probably continue to grow for several years 

 after that age. The curves of the sitting 



height present the same characteristics, some- 

 what more accentuated, as the curves of 

 stature. The curves of weight, while pre- 

 senting the general characteristics of the 

 curves of stature and sitting height, show 

 minor differences. The superiority of the 

 girls in respect to weight is for a much shorter 

 period than in respect to total height or sit- 

 ting height. In weight also the girls seem 

 to reach their maximum average at seven- 

 teen, while the boys continue to increase in 

 average weight until a much later period in 

 life. The movements of the curves of the 

 index of sitting height indicate that the 

 greater part of the growth in stature up to 

 the twelfth year in girls and to the fifteenth 

 year in boys is made in the lower limbs, while 

 after these respective ages it is made in the 

 trunk. The results of the whole series of 

 measurements afford evidence, deemed con- 

 clusive, that women reach maturity before 

 men, and that, for all the measurements ex- 

 cept the weight, girls have completed their 

 growth by then eighteenth year. 



Paradoxes of the Witch-hazel. — The 



witch-hazel, according to a correspondent of 

 Garden and Forest, is a true witch among 

 shrubs. It has a wild way of growth, sev- 

 eral crooked, branching trunks growing from 

 the root ; smooth leaves ; four very long, lin- 

 ear petals, yellow and twisted or curled. So 

 far it is not unlike other shrubs. The name 

 " hamamelis " indicates its most striking pe- 

 culiarity, " flowers and fruit together on the 

 tree." It blossoms in October and Novem- 

 ber, and the flowers of this fall will be 

 the fruit of next fall, which hangs on the 

 bare boughs when it next blossoms. The 

 flowers, though small, are made noticeable 

 by blossoming in clusters on the stem. The 

 fruit is a woody capsule, nut-like, two-celled, 

 and the seeds, almost black and shining, are 

 the prettiest seeds in the world. Another 

 peculiarity of this curious shrub is its explo- 

 sive seed-scattering. " Many years ago, wish- 

 ing to secure a quantity of these seeds to 

 make a necklace like one I had seen, it be- 

 came a question how to get them. Before 

 the nut was ripe enough to open, it was 

 almost impossible to get at the seeds, and 

 when the capsule opened they were shot out 

 suddenly, scattered far and near, and lost. 

 A quantity of the almost ripe seed-pods were 



