LARGER BABIES.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXX, Issue 3434, 27 January 1912, Page 4

LARGER BABIES.

DOCTOR SAYS tht race is GROWING .TALLER. Is a race of growing up in L< Th?s n would certainly seem to be the case in the Marylebone distnctj sine the height and weight of newly non children have increased m an astonis ing degree during the last *««' This fact was mentioned by Di - L/e l-ipl Bovd of Seymour Place, in xno Mar vie hone Police Court recently, when Kfd that children bon. last two years were undoubtedly buv ier and longer than hitheito. Dr. Boyd made some startling closures about the increasing stature ° f “of course there is no doubt that we are becoming a taller natio*than we used to bo/' he said, but. the «* d traordinary increase in the . . weight of babies in tins distiict is out of all proportion to our gradual m crease of stature, and it has m< * ‘An ewly-born infant used to weight o.Blb, bu< I am now accustomed to babies weighing Bi!b, which is about the average for the last two years, the period during which I have noticed this straneg plienomenon. Ba hies of 101 b or 121 b,. or alrTloht 'l° ';! the old average weight, are not US “f L am only speaking of Maryieboim where my practice lies and tlunk these big babies are chiefly ) to be iounU among the middle classes. . i v Dr Boyd went on to explain " Jl .v ue shall ultimately become a race of ‘These big babies should grow up into big men and women, if they are nronerlv nourished, because.... modem wheaten flour allows people to grow larger than they used to be when it was ground under millstones. “I believe that Hour is the secret oi our increasing growth because a considerable quantity of lime used to become mixed with the mill-ground floui from the constant wearing away ol tne great millstones. “The lengthening of the bones oi a growing person ceases when the ends become ossified, which generally occurs between the ages of 18 and 22 years. Now, in years gone by, I Vffmve v. e never grow to our fullest possible height because the abundance of lime in our staple food— flour—brought about this ossification sooner than would luive been the case otherwise. “Herein lies the great secret or the increased stature which has been notice, ■able among all civilised races curing the last 30 years. “I don’t think that this can have anything to do with the big babies. Dr. Boyd concluded, “and I cannot understand it in the least, unless the improving condition of the middle-class mother accounts for it. ’