Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-02-02

The second matter in connection with
this is stated by ladies-ce certainly good au-
thorities ir this day and generation-who
say that the skirts Of dresses which ex-
actly clear the ground while the person is
standing still, will, the instant they begin
to walk, drag upon the earth; and in the
third place, DR.. Oliver Wendell Holmes,
who has written some upon this subject,
has stated that man is shorter when he
walks than when standing erect. l have
tried the experiment over and over again,
and am convinced that at every single
point in ordinary walking man is shorter
than when standing still.
There Is certain average length of a
mans body, and this length may be de-
fined as the distance between two parallel
planes which coincide respectively with
his uppermOst and lowermOst points. But
there is some difference between the length
of the body and the height. The length
fairies under certain conditions, and the
first is that q man is taller when he takes
a full breath than when he has his lungs
empty. That fact was practically de-
monstrated by the lecturer. The second
is that man is shorter when he stands
than when he is lying down flat upon his
back. The professors assistant laid down,
and in that position measured five feet and
eight inches; standing up, and carefully
measured, it was shown that he was an
inch shorter This difference is for the
reason that when we are lying down, the
whole body is allowed to stretch itself out
while, in standing it settles down, so to speak
From the same cause comes the familiar
fact that man is taller IN the morning
than at night after he goes to bed. He
loses, perhaps, an inch In the daytime.
One other thing will not stop to prove,
and that is, that any DETECTION of the body
from the perpendicular lessons the length
of the body. We can prove that mans
body is shorter when it is bent. For in
stance when we bend the body at the hips
and spread the legs at any extent, or when
we bend the knees, we become shorter.
The hight of body may be less, and yet
its length be exactly the same
In stating the phenomena of walking
we have to consider two things first,
whether different parts of the body are
bent upon each other when walking, and
second, whether the body is swung from
one side to the other We shall find that
both of these occur in every stage of walk
ing. The walking man is peculiar in this
respect, that the center of gravity is con-
stantly shifting from one side to the other,
and at the same time propelled forward.
1t is oscillated from side to side, and at
the same time it performs forward move
ment in the direction in which the person
is going. Now this transfer of the center
of gravity gives us that oscillation of the
body which you see in very tall or stout
persons when walking behind them. The
leg of giant is to the leg of the dwarf as
is the pendulum of large clock to that of
a mantel clock. In the short man it
swings more rapidly, in the tall man moro
slowly. The body is carried forward
steadily, but the legs are not.
The lecturer then exhibited gradi-
graph, simple apparatus consisting of
two hollow tubes placed so as to form a
ht-angle triangle, each tube containing
wooden piston resisting on a spring,
and having attached to the outer end a
piece of charcoal BY means of this in
strument he showed the variation in hight
Of person while walking, and also the
oscillation of the body from side to side
al do not" said he, "claim for this instru-
ment any wonderful powers, but it is,
think, possible by this means to get more
exact idea of the gaits Of different nations
1t would certainly be easy to recognize a
gait having any distinct characteristics,
as, for instance, stage stride We know
that the French walk different from the
Prussian, and the Prussian from the Eng
lish 1t is possible that this instrument
may yet be perfected so as to measure the
exact amount of oscillation upward and
downward and from side to side. One
very curious fact in regard to walking is
that one side of the body always
tends to outwalk the other side.
1t is not possible, when the eyes
are shut, to walk in straight line
for any length of time. We have heard
stories of persons losing their way in the
woods and on prairies, and coming out SO
as to indicate that they had been walking
nearly in circle. have myself tried the
in large room, and have
found on looking at a crack in the floor
and closing my eyes, that it was impossi
BILE to keep that crack. l almost always
turned to the right; and it will be found,
where persons lose their way, that they
almost Invariably wander off to the right
rather than the ielt.-Scientife american.