6z6 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



has been thoroughly done, the director has at hand a valuable fund 

 of information to be used in framing advice suited to the needs of 

 the individual, and the study of hundreds of such cases together may 

 yield important deductions concerning the characteristics of the 

 student class. In this way a variety of graphic charts have been pre- 

 pared, upon which the measurements and tests of the individual can 

 be plotted, so as to show at a glance his relation to an imaginary 

 standard. It is true, however, that much of the chart-making hither- 

 to done has been of trifling scientific value, based upon insufficient 

 data, or the result of superficial methods. This study of men in 

 masses should not lead to the neglect of the individual, who, after all, 

 must be compared with himself, with his own latent possibilities. 



There is so much diversity in the methods of physical training 

 employed in our colleges and universities at present that a satisfac- 

 tory summary is difficult to give. As elsewhere in this paper, where 

 names of institutions are used by way of illustration no attempt is 

 made to furnish complete lists. A few schools, like Bowdoin and 

 Leland Stanford, allow credit for work done in the gymnasium, just 

 as for any course in the laboratory or classroom. Regular attend- 

 ance during the four years of undergraduate life is required at Am- 

 herst, Bowdoin, Brown, University of Chicago, Bryn Mawr, Smith, 

 Vassar, and the Woman's College of Baltimore. The requirement 

 extends only through the junior year at Mount Hobyoke and the 

 women's department at Oberlin; through the sophomore year at 

 Wesleyan and the University of Wisconsin; and is confined to the 

 freshman year at Cornell, Dartmouth, Williams, and Wellesley. 

 Attendance is altogether optional at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, 

 Johns Hopkins, and the Universities of Pennsylvania and Michigan. 



The nature of the work done can be shown with tolerable 

 accuracy by the selection of certain types. The results sought at 

 Amherst are hygienic and recreative, rather than corrective or educa- 

 tional. The men meet by college classes, each of which elects its 

 captain. The characteristic feature is a memorized series of exer- 

 cises with wooden dumb-bells, set to music and executed by the entire 

 class under the leadership of its captain. The men are required to be 

 present and to take part, but beyond this there is little attempt at dis- 

 cipline. They have a good time, all the functions of the body are 

 stimulated by the vigorous exercise, and the spirit of class rivalry, 

 intensified by a system of prize exhibitions, insures a degree of pro- 

 ficiency. The use of the fixed apparatus is optional, and not much is 

 made of prescription work for the individual. This plan, while it 

 has given general satisfaction at Amherst for many years, has not 

 been introduced into other schools to any extent. It owes much of 

 its success to the peculiar conditions existing there, and to the per- 



