Height-weight Index of the Newborn Infant 103 



are relatively lighter than shorter ones, although the values are 

 slightly below those reported by Bardeen. It seems significant 

 that this drop is accentuated after the infant reaches the length 

 of 50 cm. which is generally regarded as a criterion of the com- 

 pletion of the normal span of intrauterine life. Since the pon- 

 deral index drops very rapidly with increasing length after 50 

 cm. the usual empirical formulae for body length and body height 

 in the fetal period will not hold for these longer infants. 



A graph illustrating the relation between body length (or height) and body 

 weight in a series of 4,208 living, new-born children. The curves show the 

 average body weight, the coefficient of variability of body weight and the 

 height-weight index for centimeter intervals of body length from 47 to 57 

 em. The males are indicated by solid, the females by broken lines. 



