The weight of the male infant at birth is 7 lbs. avoirdupois; that of
the female is not quite 6-1/2 lbs. The maximum weight (140-1/2 lbs.)
of the male is attained at the age of 40; that of the female (nearly
124 lbs.) is not attained until 50; from which ages they decline
afterward, the male to 127-1/4 lbs., the female to 100 lbs., nearly a
stone. The full-grown adult is 20 times as heavy as a new-born
infant. In the first year he triples his weight, afterwards the growth
proceeds in geometrical progression, so that if 50 infants in their
first year weigh 1,000 lbs., they will in the second weigh 1,210 lbs.;
in the third 1,331: in the fourth 1464 lbs.; the term remaining very
constant up to the ages of 11-12 in females, and 12-13 in males, where
it must be nearly doubled; afterwards it may be continued, and will be
found very nearly correct up to the age of 18 or 19, when the growth
proceeds very slowly. At an equality of age the male is generally
heavier than the female. Towards the age of 12 years only an
individual of each sex has the same weight. The male attains the
maximum weight at about the age of 40, and he begins to lose it very
sensibly toward 60. At 80 he loses about 13.2328 lbs., and the stature
is diminished 2.756 inches. Females attain their maximum weight at
about 50. The mean weight of a mature man is 104 lbs., and of an
average woman 94 lbs. In old age they lose about 12 or 14 lbs. Men
weigh most at 40, women at 50, and begin to lose weight at 60. The
mean weight of both sexes in old age is that which they had at 19.
When the male and female have assumed their complete development they
weigh almost exactly 20 times as much as at birth, while the stature
is about 3-1/2 times greater. Children lose weight during the first
three days after birth; at the age of a week they sensibly increase;
after one year they triple their weight; then they require six years
to double their weight, and 13 to quadruple it.
It has been computed that nearly two years' sickness is experienced by
every person before he is 70 years old, and therefore that 10 days per
annum is the average sickness of human life. Till 40 it is but half,
and after 50 it rapidly increases. The mixed and fanciful diet of man
is considered the cause of numerous diseases from which animals are
exempt. Many diseases have abated with changes of diet, and others are
virulent in particular countries, arising from peculiarities.
Human Longevity.--Of 100,000 male and female children, in the first
month they are reduced to 90,396, or nearly a tenth. In the second,
to 87,936. In the third, to 86,175. In the fourth, to 84,720. In the
fifth, to 83,571. In the sixth, to 82,526, and at the end of the first
year to 77,528, the deaths being 2 to 9. The next four years reduce
the 77,528 to 62,448, indicating 37,552 deaths before the completion
of the fifth year.
At 25 years the 100,000 are half, or 49,995; at 52, one-third. At
58-1/2, a fourth, or 25,000; at 67, a fifth; at 76, a tenth; at 81, a
twentieth, or 5,000; and ten attain 100. Children die in large
proportions because their diseases cannot be explained, and because the
organs are not habituated to the functions of life. The mean of life
varies in different countries from 40 to 45. A generation from father to
son is about 30 years; of men in general five-sixths die before 70, and
fifteen-sixteenths before 80. After 80 it is rather endurance than
enjoyment. The nerves are blunted, the senses fail, the muscles are
rigid, the softer tubes become hard, the memory fails, the brain
ossifies, the affections are buried, and hope ceases. The remaining
one-sixteenth die at 80; except a one-thirty-third, at 90. The remainder
die from inability to live, at or before 100.
About the age of 36 the lean man usually becomes fatter and the fat
man leaner. Again, between the years of 43 and 50 his appetite fails,
his complexion fades, and his tongue is apt to be furred on the least
exertion of body or mind. At this period his muscles become flabby,
his joints weak; his spirits droop, and his sleep is imperfect and
unrefreshing. After suffering under these complaints a year, or
perhaps two, he starts afresh with renewed vigor, and goes on to 61 or
62, when a similar change takes place, but with aggravated symptoms.
When these grand periods have been successively passed, the gravity of
incumbent years is more strongly marked, and he begins to boast of his
age.
In Russia, much more than in any other country, instances of longevity
are numerous, if true. In the report of the Holy Synod, in 1827,
during the year 1825, and only among the Greek religion, 848 men had
reached upward of 100 years of age; 32 had passed their 120th year, 4
from 130 to 135. Out of 606,818 men who died in 1826, 2,765 were above
90; 1,432 above 95, and 848 above 100 years of age. Among this last
number 88 were above 115; 24 more than 120; 7 above 125, and one 130.
Riley asserts that Arabs in the Desert live 200 years.
On the average, men have their first-born at 30 and women at 28.
The greatest number of deliveries take place between 25 and 35. The
greatest number of deliveries take place in the winter months, and in
February, and the smallest in July, i.e., to February, as 4 to 5 in
towns and 3 to 4 in the country. The night births are to the day as 5
to 4.
Human Strength.--In Schulze's experiments on human strength, he found
that men of five feet, weighing 126 lbs., could lift vertically 156
lbs. 8 inches; 217 lbs. 1.2 inches. Others, 6.1 feet, weighing 183
lbs., 156 lbs. 13 inches, and 217 lbs. 6 inches; others 6 feet 3
inches, weighing 158 lbs., 156 lbs. 16 inches, and 217 lbs. 9 inches.
By a great variety of experiments he determined the mean human
strength at 30 lbs., with a velocity of 2.5 feet per second; or it is
equal to the raising half a hogshead 10 feet in a minute.