Summary of the Scientific Principles Illustrated in The Course of the Exposition of Our Subject
When an anthropological datum is of such fundamental importance as the stature, its limits of oscillation must be established, and its terminology must be founded upon such limits expressed in figures that have been measured and established by scientists (medium, tall, low).
The stature is the most important datum in pedagogic anthropology, because it represents the linear index of the development of the body, and for us educators is also the index of the child's normal growth.
Biopathological Laws.—In cases of total arrest of development of the personality (infantilism) the first characteristic symptom usually consists in a diminution of stature in relation to age; the morphological evolution, as well as the psychic, fails to progress in proportion to the age of the subject; but it corresponds to the mean bodily proportions belonging to the age which would be normal for the actual stature of the subject.