58 



Table 16. — Ages and physical measurements of subjects — Continued. " 



The gain in weight, averaging about 4 per cent, is the most signifi- 

 cant point brought out by the table. Every subject but one (Subject 

 C) showed a slight, but tolerably uniform, gain in weight throughout 

 the year. As was to be expected, all the other measurements also 

 increased more or less. In the case of the older of the men, i. e., 

 those who had attained their full physical development, the gain in 

 weight indicated that their diet was a little more than sufficient to 

 maintain them in e(|uilibrium with their environment. With the 

 younger men it is a question whether their gain was more or less than 

 normal growth demands; or, in other words, whether their diet was 

 sufficient to maintain them in equilibrium with their daily work and 

 also to supply the needs of bodies still growing and developing. It is 

 impossible to answer this question from the data of this study, but it 

 is clear that in every case but one (Subject C) the amount of nutritive 

 material obtained was at least not too small to allow of a slight 

 increase in the body weight. 



The element of skill in applying one's power to the dynamometers 

 influences results to an unknown extent, and the same individual after 

 several successive trials often increases his previous records by several 

 hundred points. The increase of about i35 per cent in the strength, as 

 shown by the figures, can hardly be regarded as a reliable indication 

 of actual gain in mu.scular strength, since it seems too small to lie out- 

 side the improvement arising from a mere repetition of trials. 



The strength records of the subjects are rather lower than the 

 general average of such tests with students at Harvard. The physical 

 measurements recorded also show that the men included in the inves- 

 tigation were below the average. For example, as regards height, 

 these men, on the average, would stand about twenty-fourth if we 

 took 100 students at random and arranged them in a row, beginning 

 with the smallest and ending with the tallest. As regards weight, 

 they, as an average, would stand at the thirty-fourth place, beginning 



