The Daily Dispatch: July 20, 1863., [Electronic resource]

Physiological facts.

The average height of man and woman at birth, is generally sixteen inches. In each of the twelve years after birth, one twelfth is added to the stature each year. Between the age of twelve and twenty the growth of the body is slower, and it is still further diminished after this up to twenty five, the period of a maximum growth.

In old age, the height of the body diminished on the average about three inches. The height of a woman varies less than that of a man in different countries. The average weight of a male infant is about seven pounds; of a female, about six and a half pounds. The weight of an infant, decreases a few days after his birth, till it is a week old. At the end of the first year, the child is three times as heavy as when it is born. At the age of seven years, it is twice as heavy as when a year old. The average weight of both sexes at twelve is nearly the same; after that period, females will be found to weight less than males. The average weight of men is the hundred and thirty pounds, and of women one hundred and twelve pounds. In the case of individuals of both sexes, under four feet four inches, females are somewhat heavier than men, and vice versa. Men attain their maximum weight at about forty, and women at or near fifty.--At 60 both sexes usually commence losing weight, so that the average weight of old persons, men and women, is nearly the same as at nineteen.