INTRODUCTION 



ONE good effect of the War has been that it has thoroughly 

 awakened public interest in the importance of physical 

 fitness, not only to the individual but also to the nation. 

 Hitherto there has been no satisfactory nor uniform method 

 of estimating the physical fitness of a man, woman, or 

 child. It is the aim of this book to supply medical men 

 and others directly interested in the subject with a method, 

 new only in the details of its application, whereby physical 

 fitness can be assessed on the basis of a few simple physical 

 measurements. This method will, I believe, be found to 

 be easily learned, speedy, and trustworthy. 



INADEQUACY OF THE OLDER METHODS. Investigators 

 who have been concerned with the study and estimation 

 of the physical development of the population of this and 

 other countries must undoubtedly have felt how un- 

 satisfactory the results obtained by the use of existing 

 Tables dealing with the height and weight of the body 

 have proved. 



Extensive statistics have been gathered, but the 

 information derived therefrom has often been contra- 

 dictory, especially when applied to collections of in- 

 dividuals varying widely in age and bodily development. 



Most of the existing Tables dealing with the size of the 

 normal human body are based on the theory that definite 

 relations between age, height, and weight exist. It has, 



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