The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1893-12-01
THE AVERAGE MAN.


Hls Size, Weight, Strength and Appear
ance From an Experts Calculation.
'.The average man" is a phrase fire.
quently employed, but the conception of
which it is the symbol is apt to be ex-
tremely shadowy. 1t has remained for
DR.. Sargent of Cambridge to endow the
conception with concrete form. With
extraordinary industry he has applied
himself to measuring chests and necks
and hips by the thousands, and biceps
and calves by the tens Of thousands. He
has calculated the strength, expressed
in foot pounds, of unnumbered forearms
and backs. The results of his labors con-
sist of two nude figures modelled in clay.
The first figure is the average, or
composite" of more than 5000 Harvard
men at the age of 2l. This type is 5feet
8 inches in height. He weighs 13S
pounds. He has lung capacity of 240
inches. His breadth of shoulders is II
inches. His girth of natural chest is 33.S
inches; of inflated chest 36.3. His stretch
Of arms is 70.02 inches, which is 32
inches greater than his height. Thus
one idol after another is smashed with
the hammer of cold fact, for the rigid
law of ancient art was that the stretch
of arms should always exactly equal the
height. The girth of the types head is
1928 inches, of his hips 35.1 inches. The
strength of his forearm is 10 pounds, and
of his back 308 pounds. Standing square
ly, clean Gmbed, strong necked, he looks
rather like runner than a rover, but
there is nothing sordid, nothing warped,
nothing to indicate the deterioration of
e civilization of too many wheels, the
stunting and abnormal, one sided devel-
opment due to factory or city life.
In considering the other figure reluc-
tant gallantry must 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 composite" one,
and the best that can be said of it is that
it is depressingly solemn in expression.
The type is 8 feet inches tall. She
weighs 115 pounds. Her breadth of
shoulder is II inches. The girth Of her
natural chest is 30.5 inches. She can ex-
pand that about two inches. Her girth
of hips is 35.4 inches. Her girth of head is
21.5 inches. Her stretch of arms is 63.5
inches. AS the college girl is too sensible
to construct her waist to any considerable
degree, so she is wise enough to give her
feet plenty Of freedom.
The types foot is 81 inches long. Her
waist is "a inches in circumference. Her
legs are not we'll developed. Her girth
of calf is only 134 inches. In truth the
figure has more fragility than that of her
counterpart, without a corresponding
gain In grace.
1t is when he finishes the results of
his observations as to temperament, how
ever, that DR.. Sargent approaches most
closely to dangerous ground, for he de-
clares that the typical college girl stu
dent is distinctly nervo-bilious. This
seems like a maliciously devised scheme
on the part of the doctor to forestall crit
icism 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, IL propitiat-
ing the ladies by the deprecatory re-
mark that his lay figure is not that of an
so or 80 per cent girl; that it represents
merely so per cent of their good points,
and is halfway from the best to the
worst.-Philadelphia Record.