Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-10-05
THE AVERAGE MAN.
Results of the Measurements of Five
Thousand Men.

1.-The average man" is d phase fire.
quently employed, but the conception
of which it is the symbol is apt to be
extremely Shadowy. 1t has remained
for DR.. Sargent, of Cambridge, to en-
dow 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
result of his labors, consisting of two
nude figures modelled in clay. is now
on exhibition at the worlds fair.
The first figure is the average, or
composite of more than 5000 Harvard
men at the age of 21 years. The type
is 5 feet s inches in height He
weights 1873 pounds. He has a lung
capacity of 24O inches. His breath of
shoulders is II inches. His girth of
natural chest is 1873 inches; of inflated
chest 1868. His stretch of arms is TO.2
inches, which is % 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 22.3 inches;
Of his hips 35.1 inches. The strength
Of his forearm is 10 pounds, and OF
his back 3OS pounds. Standing square
~, clean-limbed, strong necked, he
looks rather like runner than a row
er, but there is nothing sordid, nothing
warped, nothing to indicate the deter
ioration of a civilization Of too many
wheels, the stunning and abnormal,
one-sided development due to factory
or city life.
In considering the other figure re-
luctant gallantry must give place to
Veraclty, 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 a com
pOSite' one, and the best that can be
said of it is that it is depressingly
solemn in expression. The type is
feet inches tall. She weighs lis
pounds. Her breadth Of shoulder is
seventeen inches. Her girth of natural
chest is 800. She can expand that
about two inches. Her girth of hips
is 35.4. Her girth of head 21.5 inches.
Her stretch of arms is 62.5 inches. AS
the college girl is too sensible to con-
strict her waist to any considerable de-
gree, so she is wise enough to give her
feet plenty of freedom. The types foot
is nine and one-half inches long. Her
waist is twenty four inches in circum-
ference. Her legs are not very well
developed. Her girth Of calf is only
thirteen and one-quarter inches. In
truth the figure has more fragility than
that Of her counterpart, without a :,
gain in grace.
1t is when he finished the results OF I
his observations as to temperament,
however, that DR.. Sargent approaches
most closely to dangerous ground, for
he declares that the typical college girl
student is distinctly nervo-bilious.
This seems like a maliciOusly devised
scheme on the part Of the doctor to
soreStaH criticism from the girls. The
shrewd scientific expert has doubtless
conceived the notion Of putting their
very criticisms in evidence to prove his
sweeping assertion. He will scarcely
however, IN propitiating the