250 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



sists of 295 university football men examined since 1880. The mean 

 height of this group is 69.5 inches, and the mean weight 157.6 pounds. 

 Both the crew and the football groups are composed of picked or 

 selected men, the former being chosen largely for superior height and 

 the latter for superior weight. It will be observed that the strength 

 of both of these groups being 625 and 652, respectively, is lower than 

 some of the groups that follow. The reason for this difference may be 

 explained by stating that prior to 1890 there was no required strength 

 test, and the great majority of the crew and football men in the 

 eighties fell below the present requirement for university athletes, 

 which is 700 points. Group 3 is composed of 505 students who entered 

 the Lawrence Scientific School during the years 1902-6. The height 

 is 68.7 inches, the weight 143.3 pounds, and the strength 680 points. 

 Group 4 is composed of 530 students who entered the academic depart- 

 ment during the years 1904-6. The height is 68.7 inches, the same as 

 that of the Scientific School men, but the weight is 140 pounds, or 3.3 

 pounds less, while the strength is 650, or 30 points less than the Scien- 

 tific School men. These two groups, comprising some 1,035 under- 

 graduates, are made up of all classes — of athletes, scholarship men, 

 semi-invalids and average students — as they come to the university 

 from the preparatory schools. The Scientific School students are 

 heavier and stronger than the academic students, a fact frequently 

 referred to by the late Professor Shaler, showing his remarkable powers 

 of observation. The most significant facts in regard to these two 

 groups can only be comprehended when they are compared with Group 

 No. 11, comprising 1,000 students taken from the four classes and all 

 departments of the university in 1880. It will be observed that in 

 1880 the medium height of the university student was only 67.7 inches, 

 although the group contained many men who had been in college three 

 and four years. The medium weight of this group was 135.2 pounds 

 and the total strength 490 points. The average weight and height of 

 the Harvard student at this time was about the same as that given for 

 the American youth, ranging from 21 to 26 years of age, who entered 

 the army in 1860. At the present time the average student is an inch 

 taller, and from 4 to 8 pounds heavier than the average student of 

 1880, while his strength has increased from 490 to 650 and 680, a 

 gain of 140 and 190 points. In 1880 only 50 per cent, of the Harvard 

 students would have surpassed the height and weight of the army 

 average. To-day over 65 per cent, would pass that standard. This is 

 a most remarkable uplift in growth and development for any consider- 

 able body of men in any country or community to have attained in 

 25 years. My only hesitation in accepting this fact as conclusive is 

 the lingering doubt as to what effect the 30 or 40 per cent, of students 

 who are never weighed or measured at the gymnasium might have 

 upon the medium height and weight. The 1,035 men examined from 



