CHAPTER III THE RATE OF GROWTH

very well to those of Rû¥ssow, which we have just considered, and (though His〙s measurements for the pre-natal months are more detailed than are those of Rû¥ssow for the first year of post-natal life) we may draw a continuous curve of growth (Fig. 7) and curve of acceleration of growth (Fig. 8) for the combined periods. It will at once be seen that there is a 〜point of inflection〝 somewhere about the fifth month of intra-uterine life²⁷: up to that date growth proceeds with a continually increasing {76} velocity; but after that date, though growth is still rapid, its velocity tends to fall away. There is a slight break between our two separate sets of statistics at the date of birth, while this is the very epoch regarding which we should particularly like to have precise and continuous information. Undoubtedly there is a certain slight arrest of growth, or diminution of the rate of growth, about the epoch of birth: the sudden change in the {77} method of nutrition has