Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-12-04
GIRL MEASUREMENT.
ANThROPOMETRicAL MEASURES AT
WELLESLEY COLLEGE.
PHYSICAL Construction Of Eleven Hundred
Young Ladies Subjected TO Carefui
Analysis Set Forth In Tables.
New York Times


Eaton Hill and Miss Anna Wood, the |
director and examiner, respectively, OF |
the Wellesley College gymnasium, many |
curious facts are discoyerable. The !
carefully-prepared chart shows the physi-
cal construction with the lung capacity |
OF ], 100 women Of from somewhat over
eighteen to twenty-one years OF age. |
For facility in computation, measures OF |
weight and bulk are presented both IN |
millimeters and Kilograms and in inches |
and pounds, the French scale, however,
permitting Of greater minuteness.
Taking, then, these 100 students, |
the shortest being $50 inches, the tall
est 67.7 inches. the heaviest young
Woman was the oldest and weighed 1927
pounds. The average of weight was
1875, the lightest being 1868 pounds.
The average height Was 62.S inches. In
sitting, the proportions of height DO not
necessarily follow. A girl OF eighteen
years and ten months, 5S.3 inches in
height, when seated measured 81. i inches,
while the tallest person, OF 67.7, when
seated measured 81. 4, and two others, Of
66. and 67.3 inches, would, when seat
ed, measure also 34.4. The general
average when seated was 33 inches.
From the foot to the knee the pro-
portion appears TO hold closer, when
height is considered, the measure of the
shortest being l4.9 and of the tallest
| III inches, so that from foot to knee
the length would be close to one-fourth
OF the whole height The average was
1G. for height of knee. Girth OF head
averaged Dis, with that of neck IL.
Variations here were marked the clrcum-
ference OF neck not following the pro-
portion OF average heights. Questions
OF anthropometrical waist measure show
that normally the differences are not
great. Slim, wasp-like waists are the re-
suit of false and injurious mechanical
devices.
40 Luf-wATSrED WOMAN.
81 cannot" said well-known Ameri-
can artist, whose fame is European, lem
ploy slim wasted woman as a model.
1t is never natural, but has been made.
Then what follows? Unnatural exag-
gerationS 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
proportions are lost "
Waist measurements OF the slimmest,
according 10 these tables, we're 1871,
and the fullest were 25.2. The women,
GG.3, $50. 67.3, and 67.7 inches in
height. all had the same,waist-25,2. The
average was 24.2. THIS measurement
may be correct for American women. but
it is a trihe too little and below that Of
European women. A Dutch squat figure
inclines toa thick waist, and may 10 some
be considered without beauty, but in
physiological sense it has its great adj
vantages. Differences of climate and
| food may in measure have brought
about IN the United States these changes.
Students of comparative anatomy de-
clare, however, that no mechanical pro-
cesses should disturb nature when she
builds up the human form.
HEADS. CALVES. AND ANKLES.
Indian mothers have no babies born
with depressed crania, though for ages
children's heads, as among the Flathead
tribes, have been artifcially 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 13. Small or thick
ankles vary from rs TO S.4 inches for
the right ankle and 7.5 to 8.3 for
the left ankle. The general average
| is 8 for the right and 10 for the
left. 1t all depends on the height and
height normally means bulk. SO how
could 10 ankle be discoverable when q
woman is 3 feet 8 inches 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 danseuse is in the
calf Of the leg, the thigh. and the sinews.
| The foot of the danseuse rarely or ever
is n neat one any more than il the fist Of
the pugilist n pretty one but neither
does the form Of the ankle In the
premiere fgvGpte or the wrist of the
| prize fighter lose its tineness.
Insteps, arched or not arched, occupy
the attention of those who look for beau
ty in the female foot. That arch belongs
to race. Though Spanish Gypsy girl
has trodden the ground shoeless her heel
end toe seem 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 Spanish snug
gler. land never touchit." But anthro-
pometric measurements do not give the
poetic foot, only girth, and SO we have
an average Of S.4 for the right insteps
and 8,3 for the left. Wrists will vary in
girth from so to 60 for the right-hand
one, with about an inch less for the left,
the two averages being 5.S and 81
inches.
CHEST CAPACITY.
When we come TO depth OF chest this