34 ALES' HRDLIKA 



II 



Two of the main lessons taught by experience in anthropometry are, 

 the need of precision, and the value of simplicity. Precision is a 

 matter of proper well tested instruments, of good instruction, and of 

 that something in the nature of the investigator, whether inherent or 

 built up, which strives for accuracy and abhors looseness. Simplicity 

 is the open road to advance. The road that is clogged by a multitude 

 of unnecessary measurements and digressions leads generally to 

 stagnation. 



It is self-evident that in a branch of research where so much depends 

 on accurate measurements, the objects of first importance are the 

 instruments. The instruments should be accurate and not easily 

 disordered; they should be in the highest degree well-balanced and 

 "handy" or easy of manipulation, as well as of reading; they should 

 be free from qualities that in the long run might in any way bias the 

 determinations; and they should be easily transportable for field work. 

 Finally their cost should not be prohibitive. 



Before the war we had such instruments. The best were those made 

 on the original patterns of Broca, the father of anthropometry, or, 

 with useful modifications, by Collin and Mathieu in Paris; but nice 

 sets were also made in Switzerland. During and since the war the 

 supply of French instruments has ceased, with the resumption un- 

 certain, while the Swiss instruments have advanced considerably in 

 price and are not readily obtainable. Also they retain the disadvan- 

 tage of a small "compas d'6paisseur," one that does not permit the 

 measurement of the height of the head which has become of much 

 importance. The American instrument makers could not as yet be 

 prevailed upon to undertake the manufacture of anthropometric 

 instruments at reasonable price. We are therefore confronted with 

 difficulties that cannot be readily surmounted. As a result anthro- 

 pometric work has already been considerably interfered with in this 

 country and on numerous occasions the instruments used are the less 

 adapted and less accurate ones used for gymnastic or other purposes. 



With proper instruments, the next absolute necessity in scientific 

 anthropometry is proper instruction. This point was strongly insisted 

 upon during the conference of the International Committee on Unifica- 

 tion of Anthropometric Procedures at Geneva (1912), and becomes 

 more pressing as time goes on. A person who is a medical graduate, 

 or is used to the manipulation of other instruments of precision, is 

 not yet thereby fitted to practice anthropometry. He could con- 



