Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-04-13

Iege graduates and those interested il
the athletic side of university life, saws
Il New Haven letter to the New York
World.
The Yale gymnasium has been open
less than six months, and its record
thus far is so remarkable that the Re.
suits attained deserve study. For Tiff
teen years Yale teams went forth from
the old gym now the college com
mons, to conquer or receive defeat
Few men besides the candidates fol
the teams We're ever seen on the ex-
ercising floor, and only an occasional
specialized grind battered around the
running track after study hours in the
evening.
The objections against college athlet-
les held good with this state of affairs.
But in the new gymnasium any after
noon 500 men can be counted at one
time on the exercising floor and run
ming track. This is more than one
fourth of the entire university, and it
is probable that during the week one
third of the Yale students improve
muscle and wind on one Of the be-
Wildering number of machines on the
floor. The great hall has 10000 square
feet of floor, with the glass roof fifty
feet above. The running track, four
teen las to the mile, is in a gallery
raised half way up the walls.
The popularity Of the place is partly
due to it's novelty, but large credit
must be given to the two physical di-
rectors in charge-Dr. w G.. Anderson
and his brother, III. L. Anderson. They
have put into effect a system Of de-
yeloping men which seems to approach
perfection more nearly than any meth
Cd now in use. A large part Of their
attention is given to individual men,
but class work is not neglected, and
nearly every night in the week classes
of from fifty to a hundred men spend
an hour in light and heavy gymnastics
i'll a regular course for all-round de-
Yelopment. These classes are volun-
tary, and the compulsory gymnasium
work formerly required of the fresh
awkward youth need fear a condition
in dumb-bell practice any more.
The system of individual work is
conducted after this fashion. Young
Highstand" sees that he is getting hol-
loW-cheSted and rOund-shouldered He
concludes that he needs exercise. For
merly he would go over to the gym
yank a few weights around aimleSSly,
sprain his back and lame himself on
the parallel bars, and quit in disgust.
Now he goes first to the office of DR..
". SeaVer, the medical adviser
Of the gymnasium, aid asks to be mea-
sured. DR.. Seaver has been taking the
physical measurements of Yale stu
dents for nine years, and from the
proportions of two thousand of them
has compiled an anthrOpOmetic chart.
This chart has spaces for fifty different
measurements of the human body. For
each measurement there are twenty
girths, as it happened to be, expressed
in millimeterS and inches. These
twenty three dimensions or each meas
urement express the development Of Il
certain per cent of the men measured,
from l per cent to so per cent which
is adopted as the average. Thus, when
Dr. Seaver puts his tape around an atl-
letics chest and finds it forty inches,
q mark is placed Oh his chart under
girth Of chest at forty inches, and he
finds that only one per cent OF the
college men are in the class. When
these tWentythree marks are connect
ed, a broken line is formed, which APP
proaches a straight line as perfection
of development is made. When the
line falls below the so per cent point
that measurement is below the average.
So the candidate for exercise is meas
ured carefully and his chart made out.
There are also divisions on it for lung
capacity, strength of legs, back and
arms. When the proper spaces are fill
ed in on the anthropometric chart the
line tells just where the man needs
Development mnS-. 1t may be his chest
back, arms, neck, stomach or lungs.
The applicant fills out card containing
set of questions relative to his general
state of health. AS the next step DR..
CldfSI ILLS OuC d CdIu W Dc tdlAth "
the gymnasium director for his in
sruction. This card is a statement OF
the mans physical condition, the state
of his heart, lungs, digestion, eyes, cir
culation, skin and nervous system.
The candidate takes the card to Mr..
Anderson, on the exercise floor, who
fills out another card from the infor-
nation given him in DR.. Seaver'S card
This last document of the series is a list
Of the machines in use. Every machine
is numbered, two and three Of them
forming a series of one set of muscles.
Mr.. Anderson fills out this list, check
ing off the machines which the appi
cant needs for his best development
and tells him how much work to take
each day. The athlete-tO-be can then
take his directiOn-card, look up the ma
chimes numbered according to his guide
book and start work. He has the salts
faction of knowing that he is getting
lust the right kind Of exercise to build
him up and strengthen the weak points
/ in his constitution. He is not develop
ing one part at the expense of another
but is laying the foundation of a good
allaround constitution. Some of the
machines for this work are chest
weights, dumb-bells and Indian clubs
| intercostal machine, abdominal mat
wrestling machine, neck harness, wriSt
machine, leg and ankle machines, row
ing machines DIInching-bapS roneS lad