Health in the nursery / by Henry Ashby.

  • Henry Ashby
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health in the nursery / by Henry Ashby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    vary, as everyone knows who tries on somebody else’s hat. In appraising the value of these averages it must be borne in mind that a small well-proportioned head in an undersized child is normal rather than abnormal. A small head much under the average and out of proportion to the face and body suggests some degree of mental deficiency. On the other hand, many backward and imbecile children have normal sized or even big heads. There is something in quality as well as quantity of brains ! A large head with a prominent forehead is usually due to the thickened skull bones of rickets (see p. 130) ; a large round head suggests chronic hydrocephalus. Chest.—The chest circumference, as measured with a tape on a level with the breasts, measures about 13 ins. in the newly-born infant, being thus smaller than the head. In the adult the chest cir¬ cumference is about half as much again as the circumference of the head. During the first year there is a gain of about 6 ins. ; during the second year the increase is much less, being rather more than an inch ; and about the same during the third year, so that at three years it is about 21 ins., being now slightly larger than the head. The yearly increase is slower after the third year, so that at ten years of age the chest circumference is perhaps about 24 or 25 in. In making these measurements it should be borne in mind that the measurement should be taken when the chest is at rest, neither after a full breath has been taken or after a forcible effort, the breath not being held in the position of deep inspiration or forced expiration. In children who are old enough to inspire
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