STUDIES IN GROWTH

Abstract

The need for normal figures on the growth of different parts of the body presented itself to me as a result of my studies on the growth and metabolism in pathologic cases during the last two years.¹Since these data were not available, figures were compiled from a series of body surface measurements, taken, according to the Du Bois linear formula, on a group of clinically normal American children on whom studies had previously been made to determine the normal standards of basal metabolism.²These were average children within the accepted normal limits of height and weight for age, and do not represent exceptionally well nourished or poorly developed children. A description of these children has been given in an earlier publication.² The measurements were plotted on charts, and smoothed curves drawn to indicate the trend of growth of the different parts of the body. These curves