Heights and Weights of Two Thousand Five Hundred Girls in Coimbatore City

Human development is a fascinatingly complex process. Growth is influenced by a number of factors which constitute heredity and environment. The interaction between heredity and environment determines the personality and character of an individual. As Breckenridge and Vincent point out from the moment of conception when the parent cells fuse, a pattern for future growth and development is set. To what extent and in what direction a child's potentialities will be realized depend upon his environment. Jelliffe lists the environmental factors that influence growth as sex, intra-uterine conditions, birth order, birth weight in single and multiple pregnancies, parental size and genetic constitution and other factors such as climate, season and socio-economic levels.