Abstract
THE physiological cycles of lower mammals in relation to the seasons of the year must have been included in the earliest biological knowledge acquired by primitive man when he first began to observe the processes of Nature. On the other hand, corresponding functional rhythms in man are too inconspicuous to have attracted attention without deliberate inquiry. Even so, it has for a long time been recognized that the rate of growth of the human body is to some extent influenced by, or correlated with, the seasons. Data bearing on this question, partly the result of personal observations, have recently been collected and analysed by Prof. A. B. Fitt, and published by the New Zealand Council for Educational Research. These data include the weight and height increases of school-children, the weight increases in tubercular patients, seasonal fluctuations in muscular capacity, mental ability, mortality, suicide and delinquency, and the relation of weight, height, intelligence, etc., to the month of conception. The last subject is unfortunately included by the author under the general heading of “Seasonal Influence on Inheritance”, a phrase which is clearly misleading, for the relevant data do not include a correlated study of the corresponding characters in the parents.
Seasonal Influence on Growth, Function and Inheritance
By A. B. Fitt. (New Zealand Council for Educational Research, Educational Research Series, No. 17.) Pp. xiii + 182. (Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.; London: Oxford University Press, 1941.) 10s. 6d. net.
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LE GROS CLARK, W. Seasonal Influence on Growth, Function and Inheritance. Nature 151, 66 (1943). https://doi.org/10.1038/151066a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/151066a0