1 9 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



occupation, that of clerk, is light, so that the natural development 

 of a skater has not been interfered with by other causes, as in the 

 case of McCulloch. The plotting of the measurements of these 

 three great skaters, Johnson, Norsing, and Nortwedt, on Chart A, 

 shows the remarkable similarity of their build. All are about 

 the same height and weight, and we find in all certain character- 

 istics. The typical speed skater has a short body, capacious, round 

 chest, with well- developed back ; his thighs are strong and very 



FIG. 7. OLAF NORTWEDT. 



long, as are also his legs. His feet are large and flat. His weak 

 points are his calves, due to the long, flat skate to which his flat- 

 tened foot is so closely bound. The large muscles of his chest are 

 not exercised, and his arms, held lying idly along his back, are un- 

 used except in an occasional spurt, when they are brought down 

 and swung straight from the shoulder. They say that they catch 

 less wind held that way, and that the position is restful to the tense 

 extensors of the back. This is, no doubt, true, but the result is 



