No. 391.) REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE. 607 
The rate of growth of American and Bohemian boys does not 
differ materially, but the Bohemian boys remain throughout life 
between 1 and 2 cm. shorter. It is difficult to say how much of 
this smaller height is due to racial characters and how much to 
inferior nutrition. The Bohemian boy is also smaller than the 
English and Swedish boy, but surpasses in height the Belgian, 
Polish, Italian, and most German male children. The children of 
poor classes show much smaller average height than the children 
of well-to-do people. This has been equally observed on American 
children (Bowditch, Boas). 
Weight. — The average increase in weight was not found to corre- 
spond exactly, or at all ages of the children, with the height. The 
weight of the boys was as follows: 
Years 6 7 8 9 10°; Jil R 13 I4 
Prague 18.6 kg.. 21.2. 23.4, 25-1. 27.2 - 308. 33-4 .368 40.7 
Boston (Bowditch) 20.5 “* 22.5 24.5: 26.9 29.6 31-8 34.9 385 -42.9 
The American boys are at all ages, but especially at ro and from 
12 years upward, the heavier. Up to the 7th year the weight of the 
Bohemian girls and boys was found almost alike; from 7 to 12 years 
the girls remain behind the boys in weight; from the r2th year, how- 
ever, they begin to surpass the boys. This fact has been observed 
by other investigators. It signifies the approach of puberty, which 
in girls begins by augmented deposition of fat. 
The Circumference of the Head measures show the following 
averages : 
Years 5% 6 7 8 9 ae 12 13 14 
cm. 50.72; 50.92 51.18. 51-43 51-75 519 52-12 52-34 52.8 53.05 
-` The average annual increase = 0.28 cm, The measures are slightly 
(0.5 to 1.0) smaller than those which I obtain in American-born chil- 
dren of same ages, which is in relation with the somewhat greater 
height and weight of these children. 
Circumference of the Thorax. — This is a very uncertain measure. 
The average circumference of the thorax of the 6-year-old Prague 
male children was 58.7 cm.; the annual increase amounted, on the 
average, to 1.6 cm. The increase was least between 6 and 7, and 
again between rx and 12 years; but, as it was the greatest between 
the years 7 and 8 and 12 and 13, the probability is that the average 
differences in age between the two series were greater than 12 months. 
The thoracic circumference of the 14-year-old boys reached 72.0 cm. 
