E. M. Elderton 
289 
remaining 14 are due to Miss H. Gertrude Jones ; I have to thank most heartily 
these colleagues for their very efficient help in this matter. 
The three factors with which we are concerned are the age, height, and weight 
of school children. The instructions issued to the teachers in the schools for 
recording these three facts were that ages were to be given to the nearest year, 
weights to the nearest pound, and heights to the nearest quarter of an inch*. The 
method of recording ages is very important. Ages being recorded to the nearest 
year, this means that children classed as 6 years were from 5'5 years to 6"5 years ; 
and the average age of this group was 6 years ; this is not the method most 
frequently employed for recording ages ; " age last birthday " is generally used 
and if "age last birthday" be given as 6 years then the children of that age are 
from 6 to 7 and the average age of children in this group is approximately 6'5 years. 
It will be seen at once that a comparison of weights and heights of two groups of 
children of 6 years cannot be undertaken until we know which method of recording 
ages has been adopted. The height and weight of these Glasgow children have been 
compared by Dr Leslie Mackenzie and Captain Foster*]- with the height and weight 
of children as given by the Anthropometric Conunittee of the British Association 
and it is pointed out that at each age the average weight of the children is 
uniformly below the " standard of the Anthropometric Committee," and that 
generally speaking the same thing applies to height. As a matter of fact this 
point as to age has not been noticed by these writers and children whose average 
age is 6 years in Glasgow are compared with children whose average age is 
6"5 years, naturally the younger children are shorter and lighter. There is further 
an important question to be asked : Which standard of the B.A. Anthropometric 
Committee ought to be selected ? To this point I return below. 
As I have said the Glasgow children's ages were recorded to the nearest yearj, 
but the Anthropometric Committee recorded age last birthday, and before these 
children can be compared the six months extra growth must be allowed for. This 
is quite easily done by finding the regression of height and weight on age and 
adding half the regression coefficient to the height and weight of the Glasgow 
children. We have found the regression for children of 5 to 14) inclusive to be as 
follows : 
Boys Girls 
Regression of Weight on Age ... 4-564 4-916 
„ Heiglit on Age ... 1-807 1-937 
* It is not known what record was made vvlieu an exact half year, an exact half pound or an exact 
quarter inch occurred. 
t Report on the Physical Condition of Children attending the Public Schools of the School Board for 
Glasgow, by Dr "W. Leslie Mackenzie and Captain A. Foster. Wyman and Sons, 1907. 
X The actual wording of the Glasgow direction to school teachers runs : " In recording age, disregard 
months and record to nearest year; thus G years 7 months record as 7 years, 8 years 3 months 
record as 8 years." It is not clear how 6 years 6 months would be recorded ; we have assumed as no half 
years are entered in the schedules that an exact calculation was made in the case of each child of 
doubtful age to ascertain whether it was or was not past the half year. 
