38 ALES' HRDLIKA 



contributes to the knowledge of what is most worth while. His 

 studies of human evolution and antiquity, of the developing child and 

 youth, of the infinite variation of full-blown manhood and woman- 

 hood, of the laws that control all this, and of the means by which 

 these laws may consciously and effectively be directed for future 

 advance of humanity all these will provide him with mental food of 

 such an order that he will easily forget the regrets of not having 

 chosen a more remunerative vocation. 



IV 



Granted a well qualified student presents himself at our Laboratory 

 for a thorough instruction in anthropometry, what will be the pro- 

 cedure? The preliminaries may be outlined as follows: 



1. Acquaintance with Instruments. Anthropometry commands a 

 number of special instruments, which in exactly the same form are 

 used in no other branch of science. These instruments are graduated 

 in the metric system, which must be well understood by the scholar. 

 They are all graduated in centimeters and millimeters, and this 

 indicates the most natural and safest way of recording the data. Their 

 marking, however, presents certain differences and peculiarities which 

 must be thoroughly mastered, or they will lead to errors. Therefore 

 the first lesson and practice will relate to a thorough acquaintance 

 with the most common instruments; while the next will be devoted 

 to their handling. 



2. The handling of instruments is a matter of considerable concern. 

 They may be handled uncouthly, and in such a way that they will 

 tire the hand and eyes, even if not conducing to errors; and they may 

 be handled so that they completely cease to be sensed as something 

 foreign in the hand or to the eye, and offer not the slightest impediment 

 to work however prolonged. Even in anthropometric laboratories 

 and text-books, however, the methods practiced or advocated are 

 not the same throughout, wherefore the student will need a careful 

 guidance. An interesting fact in this connection is that all hands, 

 short or long, stout or slender, are not equally adapted to any method 

 and will generally result in more or less individual modification in the 

 direction of least resistance. Also a long practice with a method that 

 in itself is not the very best may lead to fair efficiency, which with 

 personal reasons explains why more than one method are being per- 

 petuated. 



Attention to Instruments. Anthropometric instruments demand a 



