The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-12-29

Hts Paper Before the AnthropoIogical
Society.

| NOttN'ys
A very interesting paper read during
the present convention Of American sci
entists was that of Professor Jay w.
| Seaver, of Yale, before the section of
anthropoogy. He gave the first collec-
ton of statistics of the physical char
acterstics of American women ever
made, embracing specimens from all
sections of the country. His due
tons, that casters, western and south
ern women differ physically, is a novel
one to advance. Dr. Seaver said:
This is an age Of testing and meas
urine.. 1t is a time when men are seek
ing for eXactness, both in method and
in results 1t is not strange, then, that
persons studying the human body
should use measurements for recording
the results of observations for compar-
alive studies. The question has often
been asked as to whether the improved
hygiene of the present day would leave
trace in a physical betterment of the
race that could be stated, or estimated,
mathematically Such a result has
been doubted by some of the ablest
psychologists Of the day, it being be-
]
SO fixed that the comparatively slight
changes that could be made in methods
of living would be important in MAX
ing radical physical changes Recently
a study of the measurements of the fe-
male students in one of the western I'M
| iversities, covering period sufficiently
long to secure fifteen hundred individu-
al records, has been published. This
table, with one of similar character
from the middle west, and a previous
one from the east covering a group of
similar size and of similar age and oc-
cupation, that was published by Miss
Wood of Wellesley college, forms the
basis of our paper.
about 1890 Miss Anna F. Wood pub
lished a percentile table showing the
grouping of Wellesley students to the
number of sixteen hundred according to
their physical sizes. This was the first
table of the kind that had ever been
published, although table had been
published In 1888 in percentile form,
giving tabulation of twenty-three
hundred Yale students, In 1894 DR..
Delphine Hanna, of Oberlin college,
published a percentile table of fifteen
hundred women whom she had pc SON
ally measured in that college. These
two tables give a fair means of COM
pairing the physical type of young wo-
men of college age in the New England
states and in the middle west OF
course each institution had representa-
tives from both east and west in it's
group of students, but the majority Of
them could be classed according to the
locality where the college was located.
In June, 1890, Miss Anna M. Barr of
the University OF Nebraska, published
a table that shows the physical stand
ard by heights of the fifteen hundred
women whom she had measured in
that university. The patronage of this
state university may be fairly assumed
to come from the region west of the
Mississippi river, and all three colleges
have drawn their patronage largely
from Anglo-Saxon stock although a
fairly large sprinkling of Teutonic
blood will be found in each one, as in /
dicated by the names found on cata-
logue lists. This percentage being 4
somewhat larger in the University of
Nebraska than in either of the other
Whatever change in size and physical
type may be disclosed by these tables
may be properly attributed to methods
of life and environment, and not to ra-
cial peculiarities. 1t may be said that
the eastern college draws a much larger
of its patronage from urban
while the more western in
stitutions represent types that live
more out of doors and are engaged in
nh
With this explanation let us glance at
some of the physical peculiarities that
are disclosed by these tables We no
tice first that the Wellesley woman is
taller and heavier than the typical wo-
man of either of the western groups, }
while the Oberin and Nebraska wo-
men are about the same size and
weight. The increased frequency of the '
teutonic element in the western group {
accounts for a taller height ,
sitting in the western group than in
he eastern, the eastern type partak- |
ng more of the long-legged and short {
runked type, which seems to be char
icteristic of the tendency in modern
development.
The symmetry that exists in the
ength of the upper extremities is re- I
although there seems to be t
greater length of foot in the eastern |
.roup than in either of the others In {
irths we notice first the record of head '
which seems to be larger
4 the eastern group, and according to I
he general law that seems to obtain
mong men, this larger girth of head t
5 accompanied by larger girth OFF :
eek, although all the chest measure
tents are found to be considerably be-
wv the standard set by either Of the
'estern colleges. This poor develop
tent of chest is in an important re-
ion of the body, and would seem to in
icate less vitality and certainly less
ndurance or working power They
lso fall below in girth of hips, while
lie waist girth is essentially the same.
n girth of upper arm. the eastern
roup excel, while in girth OF forearm
hey are markedly deficient This, 7
link, may be explained if the western
ype has been more accustomed to
1ySical work, which would tend to re-
Ice any fatty tissue from the upper
m and would give marked muscular \
through the forearm.
his conclusion would seem to be estab- A
he'd by the larger thigh measure