2 5 2 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



there is some 100 points difference in the tests of Groups 3, 4, and 

 7 and 14, all the groups of scholarship men have surpassed the strength 

 test of the average university student of 1880. The height and weight 

 of the student within normal limits may be said to represent his poten- 

 tial strength and vital capacity. The actual test of strength gauges 

 his real functional power — or would so gauge it if each student tried 

 to do the best he could. While the required physical test for athletes 

 and scholarship men has undoubtedly stimulated many students to 

 make greater physical efforts in preparation for the examination, it 

 has made many of them simply content in doing just about enough to 

 pass the minimum requirement. This in a measure accounts for the 

 more uniform tests of the scholarship men, and the little difference 

 between Groups I., II. and III. The average student, as shown in 

 Groups 3 and 4 is more likely to try to make a good strength test than 

 the scholarship men, as he is desirous of passing the minimal require- 

 ment for the athletic teams, in order to be eligible to one or more of 

 these organizations. Although the average height and weight of all 

 the scholarship men are below the average student of to-day, the average 

 of the honor scholarship men is considerably above the average of the 

 university students of 1880 — while the average of the stipend scholar- 

 ship men of the present time is not only below the average students of 

 that year in point of weight, but is below the average of the stipend 

 men of the early eighties. Although the number of men in Groups 6 

 and 9 is rather small to base definite conclusions upon, the numbers 

 in the other groups are large enough to give conclusive evidence of 

 the trend of physical development in the three great classes of Har- 

 vard students, namely, the scholars, athletes and the average students. 

 The discrepancy in the physical measurements of the several groups of 

 scholarship men and the average students raises questions which are in 

 my opinion worthy of grave consideration. The physical superiority 

 of Group I. over Group II. in point of height among both the honor 

 and stipend class of scholarship men is perfectly consistent with ac- 

 knowledged physiological truths in regard to mental and physical 

 development. But the dominating factors that determine stature and 

 weight are age, race and nurture. The medium or average age of 

 Group I. of stipend scholarship men is 19 years, of Group II. 20 years, 

 of Group III. 19 years and 3 months, and the Lawrence Scientific 

 School Scholarship Group is 22 years. The average age of Groups 

 I. and II. of the honor scholarship men is 18 years and 6 months, 

 respectively. Here it will be noted that the honor scholarship men, 

 though the youngest are the tallest, heaviest and strongest. Does the 

 advanced age of the stipend men indicate inferior natural ability or 

 retardation in mental and physical development due to preoccupation 

 with other work? In either case the question also arises whether the 



