ATHLETICS FOR CITY GIRLS. 147 



conformation oftener than those of other nations is not precisely- 

 proved, but we are inclined to think that such is the fact. Cer- 

 tainly the shallow chest is present in the case of many girls ex- 

 amined by the writer. 



The second noticeable feature, the lack of bodily symmetry, is 

 a patent fact to all physicians who have been called upon to make 

 physical examinations of the bodies of children, and the art of 

 the dressmaker is continually required to conceal defects of this 

 nature. They arise partly from habits of faulty postures in school 

 or at home duiing the plastic period of growth, and largely from 

 the coincident lack of muscular vigor which is due to the absence 

 of proper training. From twenty-five to thirty per cent of all 

 cases examined by the writer exhibit some degree of unsymmet- 

 rical development of the body, many of these cases showing a 

 degree of lateral curvature of the spine, more or less marked, 

 according to the influences which have been at work. It is a note- 

 worthy fact that children are not born deformed, and therefore 

 most of these minor asymmetries assume special importance as 

 being acquired mainly through faulty hygienic conditions of en- 

 vironment which obviously call for every counteracting influence 

 at our command. 



The third deficiency we noted in the development of our city 

 girl is the lack of muscle. With this we are also concerned first, 

 because a girl who has small muscular strength is continually 

 living below her capacity for usefulness as well as pleasure ; and 

 second, because the external muscles of the body are the natural 

 outlets for excessive nervous energy, as well as the great stimu- 

 lators of the functions of circulation, digestion, and respiration, 

 while the internal muscles are so widely distributed in the great 

 organs of the body that their vigorous condition is absolutely 

 necessary for its health. We have physiological reasons for be- 

 lieving that internal muscular structures often partake of the 

 same flaccidity and nervelessness as is sometimes exhibited by 

 the external muscles; the softened heart muscle following cer- 

 tain diseases or a relaxed condition of the muscular coats of the 

 stomach is capable of working serious ill, as every practitioner 

 can testify. 



That the muscle of girls is weaker than it need be we have 

 ample proof in the statistics of our gymnasiums, which record 

 the physical tests of strength taken at the beginning and the end 

 of a course of physical exercise. These tests are taken with vari- 

 ous dynamometers, and with these we find that a short course of 

 two or three hours weekly, extending over six months, will often 

 double the strength of the principal muscles of the body in girls 

 from fifteen to twenty-five years of age. 



Such improvement indicates that these girls were previously 



