Fact and Comment

The following article from the New York Times concerning the relative physical development of college men of today in comparison with those of the last generation is of interest in that exact figures prove the oft-stated assertion of better physiques at the present time. The article is by Dr. F.J. Born, the Medical Examiner of Yale University.

"The general public is more or less conversant with the results of a college course from a mental standpoint, and in order that it might have some conception of the physical changes I have published various figures and conclusions. Professor C. S. Minot of Harvard, who has demonstrated his facts by experiments on animals has said with respect to power of growth: 'Paradoxical as it will sound whenever it is first stated to any one, the period of youth is the period of most rapid decline.' In a table compiled by Professor Donaldson on the growth of English boys, he shows that the increase in weight from the nineteenth to the twenty-third year is only eight pounds. The average weight of a boy at nineteen is 139.4 pounds or 1.7 pounds more than the average of the Yale Class of 1910 on entering college. However, at the end of Senior year we note an increase of 14.6 pounds or 6.6 pounds more than the average boy of the same age according to the Donaldson table, an increase which must be considered large in view of a previous statement that the growth power during this period is exceedingly small. For an explanation of this difference we have recourse to two great facts, namely, the increased facilities for exercise and physical development, and the increasing number of students who are availing themselves of these privileges.

Statistics Prove the Contention.

"A study of the figures not only demonstrates that there has been increase in the growth power of Yale students, but also corroborates the assertion that the youth of the present day are better developed physically than those of past generations. At the close of the war, Dr. Gould had occasion to examine 291 normal and healthy students from the Senior and Junior classes at Yale and Harvard. From these examinations he compiled the following statistics, with which we compare the measurements of the present class:   1910.  1864.   Senior Class.  Dr. Gould's Statistics. Age  22.2  21.7 Height  68.1 in.  68.09 in. Weight  152.3 lbs.  136.1 lbs. Girth-- Neck  14.3 in.  13.1 in. Chest, nor.  36.9 in.  35.3 in. Chest. in.  38.7 in.  36.7 in. Chest, ex.  35.3 in.  33.7 in.

"In other words, a study of the question leads one to infer that an important factor in the solution of the above figures is the larger appreciation of the influence of the physical upon the mental and the moral which is resulting in increased facilities for physical development."

Figures of the relative development of the New England Civil War volunteers and of the men enlisting today bear out in another field the conclusion drawn above.

"In other words, a study of the question leads one to infer that an important factor in the solution of the above figures is the larger appreciation of the influence of the physical upon the mental and the moral which is resulting in increased facilities for physical development."

Figures of the relative development of the New England Civil War volunteers and of the men enlisting today bear out in another field the conclusion drawn above.