Observations on normal growth and development of the human body under systematized exercise : read in the Section on Physiology, First Pan-American Medical Congress, Washington, D.C., September 5-8, 1893 / by Henry G. Beyer.

  • Beyer, Henry Gustav, 1850-1918.
Date:
[1894?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on normal growth and development of the human body under systematized exercise : read in the Section on Physiology, First Pan-American Medical Congress, Washington, D.C., September 5-8, 1893 / by Henry G. Beyer. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Table of heights. A. No. Age. Height (first measure- ment. ) Height (second measure- ment.) An- nual gain. No. Age. Height (first measure- ment.) Height (second measure- ment.) An- nual gain. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. mm. 1 16.0 1,663 1,683 i, 659 1,723 20 1,758 1,618 1,785 1,620 27 2 16.8 1,652 7 16 20.3 2 3 17.3 1.710 13 17 19.3 1.748 1,750 1,806 2 4 18.0 1,730 1,736 6 18 18.8 1,800 6 5 17.6 1,719 1,721 19 19.0 1,730 1,740 10 6 18.5 1,735 1,735 0 20 19.0 1.818 1,820 1,658 2 19.6 1.779 4 21. 17.3 1,650 8 8. 19.9 1; 082 1,688 6 22 17.5 1,766 U 760 0 9 17.0 1, 753 1,760 23 17.5 1,645 1,649 1,733 4 10.. 18.2 1,688 1.742 1,656 1,695 1,638 1.700 12 24. 18.0 1,718 1.780 15 11 12 20.1 15 2 1.742 1.694 1,700 1,645 0 38 5 7 25 16. 1 1,784 4 13 14 it! i 18.9 Averages. 18.0 1,715 1,723 8 B. 1 19.11 1,811 1,811 0 18.5 1,850 1,850 o 2 16.0 1,693 1,712 19 16 18.7 1,670 1.680 10 3 1,770 l’ 781 11 17 19.3 1,720 1,720 o 4 17.9 l!740 b740 0 18. 19.8 1,770 i; 770 0 5 '. . 19.2 1,708 1,720 12 19... 19.5 1,716 1,720 4 6. 18.2 1,606 1,610 4 20 15. 5 1,633 i;670 37 7 17.3 1,609 1,672 3 21 18. 11 1,704 1,712 8 8... 18.4 1,698 1,700 2 22 17.9 1,700 1,711 11 9 18.0 1,705 1,712 23 16.3 1,730 1,742 12 10 19.0 1,730 1,733 3 24 16.4 1,676 1,695 19 11 19.0 1.810 1,810 0 25 19.7 1,803 1,804 1 12 17.8 1.751 1,754 3 13 16.7 1,754 1,754 0 Averages. 18.0 1,728 1,735 7.3 14 16.3 1,786 1,792 6 Now, the question might well be asked, is it a mere coincidence or is it of a certain significance that the members of Table B, who were slightly taller in the beginning than the members represented on Table A, had their total strength increased so much more than the members of Table A, all of them living under identical conditions? This question will be more fully discussed in connection with the tables of total strength to be presented later on. The average height, then, of the 50 cadets at the beginning, and as ascertained by the first measurement, is l,721mm, and toward the close of the six months, as ascertained by the second measurement, it is found to be l,729mm, showing an increase in the average height of 8,mn, or about one-third of an inch. At pres- ent there exists no standard of comparison of the annual or semiannual growth of boys at all ages. An approximation to such a standard of development in height and weight for the pupils of the Boston public schools has been pub- lished in the above-mentioned work of H. P. Bowditch for a period of from 5 to 17 years; but, inasmuch as Bowditch has shown that this increase is irregu- lar and grows smaller the nearer the individual approaches to its destined maxi- mum size, in order to fairly compare the growth of our cadets we ought to have a standard giving the increase in height above the age of 18 years, this being the average age with which we started. On looking over the tables of Yale students published by Seaver I find that the height given for students aged 18 years and 6 months, which period would exactly correspond to the average ages of our cadets at the time of the second measurement, is l,687n,m, or 23mm above the height given on the same tables for those of 18 years, and which is l,664mm. According to these tables, then, the semiannual increase in height from 18 to 18£ years would be 23mm, or nearly 1 inch for Yale students. On.examining the table of ages of the students at Amherst College, published by Hitchcock, I find that the height given for students of 18 years and 19 years of age is exactly the same, namely, l,733mm, apparently indicating no growth at all during the period between 18 and 19 years. Thus it must be admitted, until we have arrived at an exact standard of growth M S 10
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