392 On the Anglo of the Elbow 



the motion of the elbow seems to be greater than are those of young 

 women. At any rate, from an artistic standpoint, a slight amount of 

 hyperextension is permitted in a child's arm, but it makes a bad impres- 

 sion when it is present in the arm of a muscular man. It is evident 

 that the standard of the beautiful must change for different periods of 

 life, and the question is whether the beautiful and anatomical normal 

 correspond. It was mentioned above that the arms of antique statues 

 were unlike in form those of the renaissance, the latter being more 

 realistic. 



The Greeks constructed the canon of the human body with its length 

 eight times the length of the head, which was taken as the modulus. 

 This gave a rather short body, too much so, for Michael Angelo found it 

 necessary to add one-third of a modulus, making the body 8^ heads long. 

 This third of a modulus was added to the legs above, which were also ex- 

 tended one-sixth of a modulus below. Thus Michael Angelo's canon 

 is half a head longer than the Greek canon, all of the difference being 

 added to the legs. This may account for the plump arms of the Greeks 

 and the thinner arms of the renaissance. Since that time many systems 

 of measurement have been invented, differing mostly in the modulus, 

 and contributing little to the proportion of the body. It appears that 

 the first scientific step was taken by Quetelet, who drew averages from 

 the measurements of some 30 soldiers. So much variation was encoun- 

 tered, however, that his results proved to be of little value. Others made 

 many measurements, as is shown by Sargent's admirable work on the 

 average figure of American students of both sexes. The next 

 step in advance was made by measuring from the principal joints to 

 obtain the proportions of the trunk, and the most satisfactory system is 

 that of Fritsch, whose modulus is the length of the spinal column. His 

 canon, to a certain extent, outlines the human body, giving at a glance 

 many ratios. When this is compared with numerous recent outlines it 

 is remarkable how well they coincide. It may be added that the best 

 recent outlines of the body were constructed by anatomists and that there 

 is now a tendency for artists to accept a canon which is anatomically 

 correct. Furthermore, this canon is much more like that of antiquity 

 than like that of the renaissance, being half a head shorter than the 

 Greek canon. 



The difficulty is not to be solved by inventing a new modulus but by 

 establishing its length. This in turn will establish the length of all 

 other important measurements, bringing ultimately the artistic ideal 

 and the anatomical normal together. Furthermore, measurements from 

 the centers of the main joints are most desirable, for then exact measure- 



