Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-03-20
BY TELEGRAPH.
THE PERFECT PHYSICAL MAN
Male and Female Figures from DR.. sargen. S
thousands OF Measurements

Boston. March l" -Scnlpsors Harry
kiyson and Ni,s Theo Ruggies ar Iiuiel-
ling two figures IN clay in i 30, isten stree,
>taiio Of the typical American male anil
female forms of the present day. thus :
the resul; of the hong labor of DR.. u. \ .
Sargent OF Harvard, director Of the Heulin-
way gymnasium, 10 secure a model Of the
most perfect forms ideally Of modern life
The figures are the resglt Of measure
meuts carefully taken by the mos; APPROX ed
snthropolosicai methods of ne less than
loco persons, nearly all of them between
Is and - years of age, and the majority of
them college sta !tnjs Five thousand Har-
ward undergraduate were measured for the
male statue. Several measurements of
students of other colleges and few of
professional athletes have been used.
There are Lyle less than 5000 measure
meuts of females, most of them from Har-
ward Annex, Smith, Nassar, Wellesley. and
other institutions of learning for women
Ever since lSso these measurements of Har-
ward men have been pihng up in the ar
chives of the gymnasium. Sixty-fve diff
fegent measurements had TO be taken of
every individual. The measurements in
cude the girth of head. neck trunk, arms
dilfi legs, tdCfI III VARIOUS tIaCes.
1t is possible from the measurements
thus taken to form an exactly accurate
statue of the person measured, perfect in
every detail of muscle and confguration,
except of course the features and expires
sion. The % measurements of the 10 600
people are classified and the mean Oh
tanned.
The mean instead of being the average,
is the instance that is found most fire.
quently. For instance. if most of the 5UoD
men are Just IS inches tall, IS inches is the
mean By this method of calculation the
extremes do not count. An odd feature has
been that scarcely an idual filled the
measurements of the type iii more than oae
or two particulars, and a great multitude. of
course. have not Il single one of the meas
urements of the typical figure.
One difficulty that has greatly bothered
the artists has been the impossihility OF
finding model io could come anywhere
near the proportions of the figure ordered.
One man would be possessed of exactly the
height of the type, AMI therefore would be
the characteristic American man in tina,
particular. Another might have the collar
bore of the typical American, and be il
violent departure from the type in all other
respects.
As matter of curiosity Prof. Sargent
may some time 90 over the measurements
! and pick out the individual who comes the
nearest to the type, but this would he a big
task, AMI is not likely to be done right
away. The faces of the figures are taken
from composite photographs. Some three
hundred face, of Young men will be rep
resented in the face of the male figure, and
about as many in that of the female.
The female face is that of Il co-composite
representing number of seperate com
poSites from the different female colleges
enumerated. The face of the male figure
which is bcariless is a composite of lIar-
ward men, re-cnforced by composites from
Amherst, Bowdoin and other colleges. The
figures are for the Worlds Fair. They
viii be completed early next month. Re
plicas in various materials will be- furnished
to all museums AMI other institutions that
may wish to possess them.