 With his usual thoroughness he started a scientific investigation, which included several weighings and measurings of the children's height every day.To shorten the time needed to perform the weighings, Malling-Hansen had some large weights made, where he could weigh up to ten children at the time.The results soon showed him that the growth of the children was not a constantly ongoing process throughout all the year, but that the children grew in periods, and this was totally unknown to science up until then.