The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1910-12-16
woMAN's FORM CHANGING?
Dr.. Sergeant, Harvard's Physical Director,
Says Feminine Type Passing

dous change IN the short space OF ~
years, and is approaching that Of TIT
opposite sex, is the belief Of DR.. Dude.
Allen Sergeant, director Of the Sargean
and Harvard gymnasiums in Cambridge
recognized turnout the country as th'
foremost authority Of the day on thu
physical development Of women.
Twenty years ago, according to Dr.
Sargeant's statements, woman's ultra
feminine haracteristics-smal waist
large hips, small feet, etc.-were over
developed, and she wa the positive
antithesis Of man in physical proper
tons. Today her physique has become
revolutionized, he says. and already aD-
proximates that Of the other sex. Thi:
great evolution has taken place, says
D. Sergeant, since 1890.
Although I have no actual figures
to verify the statement" he said, /
know for a fact that the women OF to-
day are more mannish than the women
of that time. Women in the savage
state were so like men in form that it
was well-nigh impossible to tell them
apart. Then, as civilization progressed,
their especially feminine characteristics
became accentuated until the exagger-
alton was almost painful to look at.
Since that time woman's physique
has been thoroughly made over. 1t is
approximating that Of man. The slop-
ing shoulders Of her grandmother
time have disappeared. They are no
longer in fashion. They are no longer
desired. In their place We find we'll
knit, athletic shoulders-broad ones.
Her back, likewise, is better developed.
Her hips, on the other hand, are not so
large as they once were. The entire
pelvic region has decreased in size,
and the result has been an enlargement
of the waist. The small waist is a
thing Of the past.
Her neck is thicker and more mus
cular; her limbs more smoothly de-
veloped; her hands and feet are larger.
In every respect OF which we in max
ing measurements Of many women daily
take note, the woman of today is get
ting to be more like man. Her chest
has been said to be hatter. I should
hardly wish to indorse that opinion. 1t
is true, however, that her chest may
appear %1atter, because, 1 am glad to
say, the corset which formerly forced it
upward has of late been somewhat
modified.
1T is this modification Of the corset
which is responsible for the betterment
of woman's figure. The tightly laced
corset is no longer in style, but seems
to be replaced by the corset waist.
Thus both the upper and lower parts Of
the trunk have more room. The chest
is therefore larger and better developed.
In certain persons, as in Miss DeTape-
tan, who is constantly doing trapeze
work and other thinge which tend to
develop it, the chest is developed to an
extreme degree, and is stronger than
that of many a man.
The modification of the corset, as I
have said, is n reason for the change
in woman's physique. Another reason
is that within the last twenty years
women have done more in the way Of
athletics than they did formerly. Golf,
tennis, running and swimming have
done much to improve woman's physi-
cal development. Being the sports
which one naturally takes to be mascu-
line, they have the inevitable result o.
making those who indulge in then
more like men.
For it is a rule to which one may
take few exceptions that if a man de-
votes himself to the activities of +;
woman, Or if a woman devotes hersel
to the activities of a man, there il
bound to be a loss of sex. And it mus
be admitted that is one OF the tenden
cies OF our time. 1t is a result of com
mercialism. We find a great man,
women doing work which men ough
to do, and vice versa.
This approximation Of mans ply
sique is, from an anthropological poin
of view, a bad thing. 1t is to be hope'
that men and women will not grow t
be more alike than they are today. TIL
same may be said of men. From tn
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