The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-08
THE FEMALE FORM DIVINE
Eleven Hundred Young Women An
thropometrically Considered
for Purposes Of Science.
Revelations Of the Tape Line, Both
Very Interesting and
Instructive.

Short and Long. Slim and Fat-willow
Waists Unnatural-Canon of
the Female Figure.
In examining an interesting series Of an
thropometrlcal tables, carried out in an ex
haustive manner by Miss Lucille Eatol
Hill and Miss Anna Wood, irector and ex
aminer. respectively, of the Wellesley col
lege gymnasium. many curious facts ar
discoverable, says the New York Times
The carefully prepared chart shows tn
physical construction with the lung capacit
of 1,1OO women Of from somewhat owe
eighteen to twentv-one years of age. Fo
and bulk are presented both in millimeter
and Kilograms and in inches and pounds
the French scale, however, permitting Of
greater minuteness.
Taking, then, these 100 students. tbs
shortest being 58.3 inches, the tallest 81. z
inches, the heaviest young woman was the
Oldest and weighed 1925 pounds
The average of weight was 1886, tht
llghtest being 1865 pounds. The average
height was 62.7 inches. In sitting, the
proportions of height do not necessarily
follow. girl of Is years and 10 months
1913 inches in height, when seated measured
31.1 inches, while the tallest person, Of 67.7,
when seated measured 34.4, and two others,
of 66.9 and 67.3 inches. would, when seated,
measure also 3.4 The general average
when seated was 80 inches.
From the foot to the knee the proportion
appears to hold closer when height is con-
sidered, the measure of the shortest being
149 and of the tallest Ill inches, SO that
from foot to knee the length would be close
to one-fourth of the whole height. The
average was 1876 for height of knee. Girth
of head averaged 21.8, with that of neck IL.
Variations here were marked. the circum-
ference of neck not following the proper
ton Of average heights. Questions of an
thropometrical waist measure show that
normally the differences are not great.
Slim, wasp-like waists are the result of in
furious mechanical devices.
cannot" saba well-known American
artist, whose fame is European, "employ a
slim-waisted woman as a model. It is never
natural. but has been made. Then what
follows? Unnatural exaggerations in other
parts of her body, which make her hideous
and impossible to draw. She is entirely
wanting in symmetry. Hips are deformed
and legs thick, and she is without grace
Unless she adopts bantingism all her pro-
portions are lost"
Waist measurements of the slimmest, &C
cording to these tables, were 237, and the
fullest were 25.2. The women, 66.3, 66.9,
67.3 and GIT inches in height, all had the
same waist-25.2. The average was A2
American women. but it is trifle too little
and below that of European women. A
Dutch squat figure inclines to thick waist,
and may to some be considered without
beauty, but in physiological sense it has
its great advantages. Differences of clim-
n mr. yvo r,,An 1n.y
brought about in the United States these
changes Students of comparative anatomy
declare, however, that no mechanical pro-
cess should disturb nature when she builds
up the human form.
Indian mothers have no babies born with
depressed crania, though for ages children's
heads, rs among the Flathead tribes, have
been artifioially moulded. Calves Of legs
differ, the right calf being more developed
in women than the left by O.2. Where the
right calf was 1872 the left calf was Is.
Small or thick ankles vary from 7.6 to "a
inches for the right ankle. and rs to 8.3 for
the left ankle. The general average is 8
for the right and 10 for the left. It all de-
ponds on height-and height normally
means bulk. So how could rs ankle be
discoverable when woman is feet in
ches in height? 1t is asking too much.
That wonderful mechanism of the ankle
does not increase notably in bulk or size
with work. The development of the dan
sense is in the calf of the leg, the thigh. and
the sinews. The foot of the danseuse rarely
or ever is neat one, any more than is the
fist Of the pugilist pretty one; but neither
does the form of the ankle in the premiere
fgurante or the wrist of the prize fighter
lose its fineness.
Insteps, arched or not arched, occupy the
attention of those who look for beauty in
the female foot. That arch belongs to race,
Though Spanish Gypsy girl has trodden
nrnnnH Hh00Ino2 hop hoo ovrlk ra
to spurn the soil, and there is space under
her foot. my girl has such fine foot that
she will walk over my gun barrel,' says a
Spanish smugRler, s'and never touch it."
But anthropometric measurements do not
give the poetic foot, only Rirth, and so we
and S3 for the left. Wrists will vary in
girth from Sc to go for the right hand one,
with about an inch less for the left, the two
averages being So and 81 inches.
When we come to depth of chest, this is a
serious question, for lungs have to do with
easily, oxigenate all the blood, without
chest capacity? The measurements follow
very generally heights and weights. From
6.3 it ls at it's maximum with 81, and the
average depth is 6.5. Seven inches through
seems little enough for all the work the chest
mas to DO; Depth OF heads in women we
know little about, because OF themethods of
wearing hair. and even a woman, when
cropped, conceals her tonsure by artificial
means. Depth of head is then only an an
thropometrical curiosity, and has nothing
to do with brains. Young women Chen
with heads 81 inches thick, or 5.9-the
average being 5.7-all possess an average
amount of ability and somehow. according
to received aesthetic ideas of the Rosetti
school, bow-window heads or rotunda
heads are not considered "nice.'' Hence
banging of the hair.
Here are feet again. How long is wo-
mans foot? What was the size of Gin
derella's last? If that Spanish gentleman
drank toast in the slipper OF his beloved
mistress what was the liquid ontcnts of that
pantoufle? The average foot OF woman, as
represented at the Wellesley college, is the
same whether for the right or left, and
measures 81 inches. It follows, as it natur-
ally should, height and weight from g. Is to
90 inches. Why should We expect 1926
pounds to stand on the same pedestal as
does 1864? A woman on stills would be
as useless creature as is one of the en-
peror of China's spouses.
What 10 the measure of a woman:s arms
when outstretched? fifty-nine inches for
height of $50 is curious, because it repre-
sents seven-tenths of an inch more than the |
stature of the woman. The tallest woman
being GIT inches, from tip 10 tip of fingers
the measure was 68.3 inches, 1he average
is 64.2. ~ 49,.
Tr,c