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48
I was, however, able to follow up the development of seventeen
of these children, examined 1943-44. Eight children (four
boys and four girls) have doubled, or more than doubled, their
weight in the five years since the examination as intermediates.
Besides these, there are other children who gained 100 per cent,
or more without reaching 120 lbs. in this space of time, e.g.
BOYS.
Name: Intermediate Leaver.
P.S. 50 lbs. 117 lbs.
R.H. 48 lbs. 96 lbs.
A.T. 51¼ lbs. 111½ lbs.
J.F. 46 lbs. 93¾ lbs.
GIRLS.
Name: Intermediate Leaver.
H.B. 42½ lbs. 85 lbs.
F.J. 50 lbs. 103¼ lbs.
R.D. 44¾ lbs. 95 lbs.
F.L. 54 lbs. 112 lbs.
Children Under-Weight.
I was interested to find out if the under-weight of these
children was caused by war nutrition. By surveying their
weight at entrance to school and their weight as intermediates,
I found that most of them have been under-weight from the
start—that means, under-weight in pre-war time. Thus, we
cannot expect these children to reach the same weight of the
average leaver. We have to find out by other means if these
children show a normal development. The average child as an
intermediate has an average weight of 50 lbs. and gains in the
5 years to leaver age about 25 lbs.; in other words, it puts on
about 50 per cent, of his weight as intermediate in this space
of time. Thus, any child that as a leaver has gained 50 per cent
of his weight as an intermediate has at any rate a normal
development. Using this standard, we can now ascertain how
manv under-weight children have shown a normal development
I found out the following figures: from 52 under-weight
boys I was able to trace the development of 43 boys, and from
45 under-weight girls the development of 38 girls, from intermediate
to leavers. 32 boys = 74 6% and 32 girls = 84.2ro
reached the standard mentioned above, as sample:—
A. BOYS.
Intermediate Weight. Leavers. Difference.
R.Ch. 37½ lbs. 57 lbs. 19½ lbs. = 52%
R.G. 38½ lbs. 62½ lbs. 24 lbs. = 62%
B GIRLS.
M.B. 38 lbs. 59½ lbs. 21½ lbs. = 57%
J D 34 lbs. 58½ lbs. 24½ lbs. = 73%
I found that most of these under average weight children
came from families of small stature. Investigation of the re-
maining children yielded many other causes for their under