Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1893-12-13
THE AVERAGE MAN.


Dh slxc, weight, strcnsth and Appear.
suce FrDn an Expert's Calculation.
The average man" is q phrase fire.
qucntly employed, but the conception Of
watch il IS the symbol is apt to be ex-
trenely ohadowy. It hes remained for
DR.. Sargent of Cambridge 10 cndow the
conception with concrete form. With
extraordinary industry h1 has applied
himself to measuring chests and necks
and hips by tho thousands. and biccps
and calves By the tens of thousands. He
has calculated the strength. expressed
in foot pounds. Of unnu,nbcrcd forearms
and backs. Tho results Of his labors con-
sist Of two nude figures modelled in clay.
The first fgyrc is the average, or
composite" of more than 5000 Harvard
men ut the age Of 81. This type is 5 feet
s inches in height. He weighs 1aS
pounds. Ec has lung capacity Of $40
inches. His breadth of shoulders is II
inches. His girth Ut natural chest is 1913
inches; of inflated chest 1858. His stretch
of arms is s0.02 inches, which is 80
inches greater than his height. Thus
one idol after another is smashed with
the hammer of cold fact, for tho rigid
law Of ancient art was that the stretch
of arms should always exactly equal the
height. The girth of the types head is
90. 3 inches. Of his hips ISL inches. The
strength Of his forearm is 40 pounds, and
of his bacl, sos pounds. Standing square
ly, clean limbel, strong necked. he looks
rather like a runner than rover, but
there is nothing sorlid, nothing warped,
nothing to indicate the deterioration of
civilization Of too many wheels, the
stuntinS and abnormal, one sided devel-
op:nens due TO factory or city life.
In considering the other figure reluc-
tant galiantry mast give place to verac-
ity, and it must be admitted that the
man is the finer figure Of The two. The
face Of the average college girl, like that
of the other figure. is Il composite" one.
and ti,e best that ca;; BE- said of it is that
il Is depressingly sole:nn i'll expression.
The type is feet ) inches tall. She
weighs 10 pounds. Her breadth of
shoulder is i. inches. The Sirth of her
natural chest is 500 inches. She can cx-
pand that abont two inches. Her girth
Of hips is 1914 inches. Fer girth of head is
a1.o inches. Her stretch OF arms is $50
inches As the college girl is too sensible
to construct her waist to any considerable
degree. SO she il wise enough TO give her
feet plenty of freedom.
The types foot is 8! inches long. Her
waist is q inches in circumference. Her
legs are not well developed. Her girth
of calf is only 13i inches. In truth the
figure has more fra:,ility fnan that Of her
counterpart, without a corresponding
gain in grace.
1t is when he finishes the results of
his observations sto temperament, how
ever, that DR.. Sargent approaches most
closely to dangerous ground. for he de-
clares thar the typical college girl stu
dent is distinctly nervo- bilious. This
seems like a nlaliciorsly devised scheme
on thc part Of the doctor to forestall crit
ic:sm from the girls.
The shrewd. scientific expert has
doubtless conceived the notion Of put
ting their very criticisms in evidence to
prove his sweeping assertion. He will
scarcely succeed, however, in rrop;tiat-
ing the ladies by the dcprecatory re-
mark that his lay figure is not that Of an
50 or 90 per cent girl; that il represents
merely 90 per cen. OF their good points,
and is halfway from the best to the
worst.-Philadelpbia Record.