In woman the thoracic segment is shorter and the abdominal is longer than in man; but the total sum in woman is relatively greater in proportion to the whole stature.
In a case like this we have no right to speak of a morphological or psychosocial superiority of type; nor would a fact of this sort have any weight, for example, in establishing the anthropological superiority of woman. Nevertheless, it may be asserted that, if the day comes when woman, having entered the ranks of social workers, shall prove that she is socially as useful as man, she will still be, in addition, the mother of the species, and for that reason preeminently the greater producer.
Now, it is beyond question that this indisputable superiority is in direct relation with the type of stature. But without insisting unduly on a point like this, we should note the connection between the brachyscelous type and the tendency shown by women to accumulate nutritive substances, adipose tissue; consequently, as compared with man, she is the more corpulent—as are all brachysceles as compared with macrosceles.
Growth is not an augmentation of volume, but an alteration in form; it constitutes the ontogenetic evolution, the development of the individual. The child, as it grows, is transformed. If we compare the skeleton of a new-born child with that of an adult, we discover profound differences between the relative proportions of the different parts. The child's head is enormously larger than that of the adult in proportion to its stature; and similarly, the chest measure is notably greater in the child. If we wish to compare the fundamental measurements of the new-born infant with those of the adult, we get the following figures, on a basis of 100 for the total stature:
Adult
Child at birth
Total stature = 100
Essential stature
52
68
Perimeter of thorax
50
70
Height of head
10
20
Fig. 14.
Accordingly, the child has to acquire, in the course of its growth, not only the dimensions of the adult, but the harmony of his forms; that is, it must reach not only certain determined limits of dimension, but also a certain type of beauty.
Among the fundamental differences between the new-born child and the adult one of the first to be noted is the reciprocal difference of proportion between the two statures. The child is ultra-brachyscelous, that is, he presents a type of exaggerated brachyscelia, calling to mind the form of the human fœtus, in which the limbs appear as little appendages of the trunk. In the course of growth, a successive alteration takes place between the reciprocal proportions of the two parts, so that the lower limbs, growing faster than the bust, tend to approach the total length of the latter. Godin has noted that during the years before puberty the lower limbs acquire greater dimensions, as compared with the bust, than are found in the fully developed individual; in other words, at this period a rapid growth takes place in the long bones of the lower limbs, and accordingly at this period of his life the individual passes through a stage of the macroscelous type. Immediately after puberty, there begins, in turn, an increase in the size of the bust, which regains its normal excess over the lower limbs, thus attaining the definite normal type of the adult individual. After the age of 17 years, by which time these metamorphoses have been completed, the individual may increase in stature, but the proportions between the parts will remain unaltered. In Fig. 14 we have a graphic representation of the relative proportions between the height of the bust and the length of limbs at different ages, the total stature being in every case reduced to 100. The upper portion of the lines represents the bust, and the lower portion the limbs, while the transverse line corresponding to the number 50 indicates one-half of the total stature. From such a table, it is easy to see how the bust, enormously in excess of the limbs at birth, gradually loses its preponderance.
It was drawn up from the following figures calculated by me:
TYPES OF STATURE ACCORDING TO AGE IN YEARS
At birth
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
68
65
63
62
60
59
57
56
55
55
54
53
53
52
52
51
51
52
Godin furnishes the following figures, relating to the type of stature at the period preceding and following puberty:
RATIO OF SITTING STATURE TO TOTAL STATURE REDUCED TO SCALE OF 100 (GODIN)
Age
13½
14
14½
15
15½
16
16½
17
17½
Ratio
52
52
51
51
51
52
52
52
52
Hrdlicka has calculated the index of stature for a thousand white American children and a hundred coloured, of both sexes, and has obtained the following figures, some of which, based upon an adequate number of subjects, (10-13 years) are what were to be expected, while others, owing to the scarcity of subjects (under 6 and above 15 years) are far less satisfactory:
PROPORTION BETWEEN THE SITTING STATURE AND THE TOTAL STATURE
(American Children)
Age in years
Number of subjects of each age
Males, white
Females, white
Number of subjects of each age
Males, coloured
Females, coloured
3
—
—
—
1
60.8
59.5
4
—
—
—
1
—
58.9
5
2
57.4
57.3
3
57.3
57.9
6
15
56.6
57.4
5
55.9
55.6
7
38
56.3
57.2
5
54.9
55.4
8
56
55.9
56.2
13
55.1
53.3
9
62
55.2
55.9
25
54.2
54.1
10
98
54.6
54.2
12
54.9
53.7
11
99
54.0
55.0
12
52.8
53.8
12
93
53.5
54.1
10
57.7
54.0
13
86
52.9
53.8
13
52.9
51.9
14
53
52.7
54.1
7
52.3
51.8
15
20
53.1
53.7
6
51.7
53.0
16
9
52.0
55.0
2
53.0
—
17
3
52.2
54.7
—
—
—
Which goes to prove (in spite of the inaccuracies due to the numerical scarcity of coloured subjects of any age) that the females are more brachyscelous than the males; and that the blacks are more macroscelous than the whites.
The above table of indices of stature was worked out by Hrdlicka from the following measurements:
SITTING STATURE
Age in years
Males, white
Females, white
Males, coloured
Females, coloured
3
—
—
476
476
4
—
—
—
534
5
551
576
597
571
6
595
608
616
607
7
631
621
630
625
8
644
635
659
671
9
672
663
679
680
10
684
687
697
695
11
711
718
718
703
12
728
734
797
792
13
751
770
737
767
14
764
809
787
808
15
777
825
753
819
16
839
824
795
—
17
864
850
—
—
TOTAL STATURE
Age in years
Males, white
Females, white
Males, coloured
Females, coloured
3
—
—
783
839
4
—
—
—
906
5
961
1004
1044
985
6
1051
1060
1101
1091
7
1120
1086
1147
1127
8
1152
1130
1196
1260
9
1212
1187
1251
1257
10
1248
1267
1271
1295
11
1315
1304
1360
1307
12
1362
1357
1381
1467
13
1420
1431
1392
1477
14
1449
1495
1505
1559
15
1462
1535
1455
1545
16
1615
1498
1500
—
17
1654
—
—
—
18
—
1554
—
—
The following chart, prepared by MacDonald, on the growth of the total stature and the sitting stature of male white children, born in America, gives a very clear idea of the rhythm of each of the two statures. The sitting stature increases quite slowly, and its greatest rate of growth is immediately after puberty (from 15 to 17 years) (Fig. 15)
Mac Donald.
Fig. 15.
Lastly, in order to make this phenomenon still more clear, I have reproduced an illustration given by Stratz, consisting of a series of outlined bodies of children representing the proportions of the body at different stages of growth; and not only the proportions between the bust and the lower limbs, but also between the various component parts of the bust, as for instance the head and trunk. The transverse lines indicate the changes in the principal levels: the head, the mammary glands, and the bust (Fig. 16).
Fig. 16.
The different types of stature at different ages deserve our most careful consideration, yet not from the point of view already set forth regarding the different types in the fully developed individual. In the present case for instance, we cannot say of a youth of sixteen that, because he is macroscelous he is a weakling as compared with a boy of ten who is brachyscelous; nor that a new-born child represents the maximum physical potentiality, because he is ultra-brachyscelous. Our standards must be completely altered, when we come to consider the various types as stages of transition between two normal forms, representing the evolution from one to the other. At each age we observe not only different proportions between the two fundamental parts of the stature, but physiological characteristics as well, biological signs of predispositions to certain determined maladies, and psychological characteristics differing from one another, and each typical of a particular age. From the purely physical and morphological point of view, for example, a child from its birth up to its second year, the period of maximum brachyscelia and consequent visceral predominance, is essentially a feeding animal. After this begins the development of psychic life, until finally, just before the attainment of full normal proportions, the function of reproduction is established, entailing certain definite characteristics upon the adult man or woman. In accordance with its type of stature, we see that the child from its birth to the end of the first year shows a maximum development of the adipose system together with a preponderance of the digestive organs; while the adolescent, in the period preceding puberty, shows in accordance with his macroscelous type of stature, and reduction in the relative proportion of his visceral organs, a characteristic loss of flesh.
These evolutionary changes in the course of growth having been once established, it remains for us to consider the individual variations. The alterations observed at the various ages, or rather, the notable characteristics of each age, serve as
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