The superior vitality of the female sex is also noticeable in the greater ease with which it builds up its organism. M. Iribe, superintendent of the sanitarium of Hendaye, to which are sent Parisian children from three to fourteen years of age, who are afflicted with anaemia, incipient tuberculosis, scrofula and rickets, reports that at the time of their dismissal, at the end of six months, the progress in weight, girth and chest development is incomparably higher in the girls than in the boys, the increase in weight is double and often more.
The same statement has been made by other superintendents of sanitariums. (Bulletin Medical, No. 81, 1903.)
Woman undeniably possesses a greater vitality than man. M. Gustav Loisel has made inquiry "as to whether this difference existed in embryonic life, and what may be its cause?" He has communicated the results of his inquiries to the Biological Society of Paris, which published them in its Bulletin of November 6, 1903.
M. Loisel availed himself of 792 weights and measurements made upon 72 foetuses at the Maternity Hospital of Paris by C. E. Legou; [37] from the following weights of the foetuses at three, four, five and six months he obtains the following figures:
| Males. Females. Differences. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grammes. | Grammes. | |||
| Total weight | 1908.18 | 1708.11 | 200.07 | in favor of males |
| Kidneys | 16.87 | 17.19 | 2.67 | in favor of males |
| Superrenal glands | 5.15 | 6.43 | 0.32 | in favor of females |
| Liver | 88.35 | 96.31 | 1.28 | in favor of females |
| Spleen | 2.59 | 2.38 | 7.90 | in favor of females |
| Thymus | 3.89 | 3.97 | 0.21 | in favor of males |
| Heart | 10.97 | 12.60 | 0.08 | in favor of females |
| Lungs | 47.29 | 44.62 | 1.63 | in favor of females |
| Brain | 236.94 | 235.17 | 1.17 | in favor of males |
"These figures thus show us," says M. Loisel, "a preponderance already existing in favor of the females as regards the kidneys, the superrenal glands, the liver, the thymus and the heart; this predominance is the more noticeable since the total weight of the body is larger in the male than in the female."
If now we take the relation between the total weight and the weight of the organs which are heaviest in the male, we find that the proportion is still in favor of the female:
PROPORTION OF TOTAL WEIGHT.
| Males. | Females. | |
|---|---|---|
| Spleen | 1 to 736 | 1 to 718 |
| Lungs | 1 to 40 | 1 to 38 |
| Brain | 1 to 8 | 1 to 7 |