hrdlicka] 



PHYSIOLOGICAL AND MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS 



109 



was but little misunderstanding on the part of the children of what 

 was desired; usually the testing was soon looked on by them as a 

 sport; this attitude assured the best exertions of every individual. 

 Owing to the nature of the instruments, the records probably do not 

 represent the force in kilograms with absolute accuracy,'* and they 

 should not be compared with data obtained with dynamometers of 

 other construction. These records are of value, however, when 

 compared with records of tests secured by the use of instruments of 

 the same make and by the same method. 



The average results of the tests outlined above of the Indian chil- 

 dren are as follow^s: 



Pressure arid traction force in Indian children and adolescents in relation to stature 



Data on whites for comparison with these interesting results are 

 very meager. There are certain dynamometric observations on white 

 children recorded in literature,'' but either the manner of presentation 

 or the method used does not quite agree with that of the present 

 author or there is some doubt about the instrument employed, so 

 that the data can not well be utilized in this connection. In 1897-98 

 the writer made dynamometric determinations on 908 white children 

 of both sexes, of the New York Juvenile Asylum,'' the instrument and 

 the method employed being similar to those used by him with the 

 Indians. The results embodied in comparative form are given in 

 the following table: 



a As to accuracy of the Mathieu and Collin instruments, see Manouvr^er, Sur quelques erreurs dyna- 

 mom^triques, Bull. Soc. d'Anthropol. de Paris, 3 ser., vii, 1884, 271 et seq. 



fc Of particuliir value are those of Dcmentyefl, in Razvitic mishechnoi sili chelovieka, etc. (Develop- 

 ment of Muscular Force in Man in connection with his General Physical Development), 1 vol., 8°, Moskva, 

 1889, with bibliography. See also Kotelmann, messungen an Hamburger gymnasisten, Zeitschr. d. 

 Konigl. preuss. statist. Bureaus, 1877; and Riccardi, P., Intorno a la forza muscolare di compressione, 

 (mano diritta e mano sinistra) studiata in una serie di maschi Bolognesi, Rassegna di sc. med., Modona, 

 1887, II. 206-214. The data obtained by Riccardi are abnormally high. 



c Hrdlicka, A., Anthropological Investigations on One Thousand White and Colored Children of 

 Both Sexes, New York and Albany, Wynkoop-Hallenbeck-Crawford Co., 1899, 45-47, 



