The New York herald. [volume], May 08, 1921, SECTION SEVEN, Page 4, Image 82

About The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924

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SPORTS DEVELOPING COLLEGE GIRLS INTO AMAZONS
DASEBALL. rowing, golf, tennis, track
*-* and field events as well as systematic
gymnasium work, all favorite pastimes of
the college girl of to-day, are beginning
to reflect their benefits in the future
mothers of the race. Statistics gathered
by THE HEW YORK HERALD from
the great women's colleges, from the Girl
Scouts and the Young Women's Christian
Association all show that vast physical
?improvement is noticeable among girls in
their teens.
IS it because she can vote that woman has
grown taller, stronger, more of a "per
son," as she Is more athletic? She is
all these things. Not all of us find our par
ticular style of beauty in the "daughter of
the gods, divinely tall divinely
fair," anil every .man, even the most ignor
ant, has a rignt to his taste. Put unless he
is willing to embrace celibacy, as women
grow now he will have to content himself
With a tall and muscular person for a wife.
At the moment this is the feminine vintage.
At Stanford f'niversrity, Palo Alto, Cal., rec
ords have been taken and kept of the height
and weight of the American girl as she pays
her matriculating fee and as she takes her
diploma. These statistics cover a period of
thirty years, and on them Dr. Clelta Duel
Mosher, medical adviser to the women of the
university, bases her belief in the Amazonian
as the prevailing type.
Dr. Mosher has compared the mrosnr
Wellesley Varsity eight: Miss Sibyl Wardwell. coxswain: Miss
Dorothy Brainard, stroke: Miss Gladys Hathaway, Miss Marion Smith,
Miss Jeanette Luther, Miss Eleanor Snow. Miss Dorothy Conant, Miss
Helen Sherman and Miss Helen Hess, bow.
m e ? ? - ? wm& tM.
?
Some of the outdoor games and part of the gymnasium work that have
done so much to raise the physical standard of the present day girl.
merit's of 4,023 giris as they entered college.
From study of this data she affirms that the
modern American girl is an inch or an inch
and a tenth taller than her sister of thirty
years ago, also that women weigh several
pounds more, and again that they are physi
cally stronger.
The changes which Dr. Mosher views as
Improvements are in the earlier years of the
girl's life and not due to a system of gym
nastics as carried on in the college Course,
for the statistics do not include the latter.
As the students of Stanford come from all
Hurts of the country and are not limited to
the western sections of it. the increased
Seight and weight are believed to he general.
Dr. Mosher ascribes the upward trend of
the feminine physique to two things, the
Srst being that the clothes women wear now
interfere less with growth than those their
mothers wore, and the second cause is. she
thinks, the greater popularity of sports and
greater physical activity among young
vomen.
As girls enter college nowadays at an age
rotinger than preceding students in the
thirty years survey, this helps. Dr. Mosher
thinks, to show the importance of increuse
n stature.
Girls in Eastern Colleges Show
Increase hut in Less Degree
Kast< i n colleges for women show this in
rrease. hut in a less degree. Reports from
lie Y W. C. A.. Girl Scouts, Camp Fire
t",ii is and other associations of women who
ire Interested in athletics Mso note the same
improvement, as was to be expected, but do
iioi appear to show an increase in inches
In all cases.
Miss Roxana II. Vivian, department of
hygiene of Wellesley College at Weilesley,
Mass . makes the following report:
"t have recently looked at figures which
v<-ra compiled some time ago for 200 stu
dents who entered Wellesley between 1881
and 1884 and another group of 200 who en*
tered in tile fall of 1915.
"Certain averages from this small collec
tion of figures were obtained, but they did
not give any definite information, though
there Is nothing in the results that seems to
contradict the statement which Dr. Mosher
has made.
"A variation In the age and a variation in
reographlcal distribution might make a good
deal of difference in the figures obtained
rroup ill 2(1
from any group bf 200 students."
Showing the Average Physique
Of Student at Bryn Mawr
Miss Margaret G. Blaine, executive secre
tary of the Alumna Association, sends along
figures showing thi present iverage phy
sique of the 379 undergraduate -undents at
Bryn Mawr College as computed in Octol ar,
/
1920. As there were so few students at Bryn
Mawr In the first years of the college, a
comparison between them and the present
day students would not he of any particular
value. However, the average in the strength
tests in classes from 1921 (graduating this
year) to 1924 (freshman class) is informa
tive. It follows:
AVERAGES.
October, 1920.
Expansion Lung
Weight. Height, chest. 9 rib. Strength. Capacity.
I<c cm. <'m. cm. kg. cu. in.
38.47 164 09 6.11 6.68 319.02 191.48
American averages as stated by Dr. Dudley
Sargent :
^ a 235.00 132.00
STRENGTH TESTS.
Table showing the number of students above
and below the average in the physical exam
ination according to classes:
(jK'tober. 1920.
Strength testa: 1921. 1922. 1923. 1924.
400 kg. and up 16 5 7 5
375 4 7 R 4
250 6 9 11 8
325 14 5 13 14
300 11 14 14 19
215 | 12 15 13 13
250 6 4 10 27
225 2 8 6 9
200 0 o 1 4
175 1 0 0 3
150 0 0 0 1
72 62 30 107
Strength tests, October, 1920.
Highest Lowest
kg. class. kg. class.
512,5 1922 ' 194 1924
E09 1923 178 1921
469.5 1921 156 1924
Foresees Race of Women
Ignmune From Minor Ills
Mis." Florence Snevely, director of physical
education at Connecticut College, is a strong
believer In a future race of women whore
health will he so good that the minor evils,
headaches, colds In the head, backache and
kindred Ills will be something to read about
In out-dated novels and not a modern fea
ture Miss Snevely is a graduate'of the.
University of Utah and the Sargent School
of I'byslcal Education. During three years
before coming to Connecticut College she
was director of swimming and recreation at
the Wisconsin State Camp for Girls at Wau
paca. Wis.
This young physical director is a firm be
liever in the good effects of waiter sports
and she hesitated not at all to Interest th?
girl students In forming a college rowing
crew. This was not difficult, for, as Miss
Snevely savs. the girls are as keen about
rowing as their brethren at the universities.
There aie crews at Wellesley and Vaasur
Girl Scouts and Y. W. C. A. Find Outdoor Play Has Raised Physical
Standards of Young Women on Their Rolls---More Sensible
Dress Especially Shoes Made Popular by Life in Open
interest in the new sport?new. that is. for attract crowds equal in number with those
their sex?because their college is situated who attend the annual struggle on the water
beside the river which annually furnishes between Vale and Harvard. t
This new development will have a very
powerful effect on the feminine figure, sport
, directors say, In tncreased muscle and a
greater number of inches. How ?ug stretches
the figure out qfuite remarkably, it is said,
whether masculine or feminine.
Since the war the Physical ^Education De
partment of the Yourg Women's Christian
Association hap been greatly enlarged in
scope, although for years it has been car
ried on throughout the country on an ex
tensive scale. ,
"In one year." said the directress in charge
of the gym in the great building at Fifty
second street and Lexington avenue, "156,654
girls attended our gym classes throughout
the country, corrective work and swimming
pools. Here In New York alone the attend
ance amounted to 53.550.
"National Health Week has been put in
operation as part of an educational health
programme, to be worked out locally in
every community. A recent outgrowth of
this work is the Health Foundation Oent-e,
43 East Twenty-second street. It was started
a" an experiment by the national board of
??r 'wr W w
? ^ Hjwp WF?%: | ^Bk .lB-^ this association, which supported it for the
^L> WKKF- ... *11* ?. 1irat year. It proved such a success that
K V^K:^: "IB As^lfeiesSitow " i? now operated independently under the
.??i" ?? joint auspices of fifteen women's organiza
? i^lflions, all Interested in promoting better
health among self-supporting and other girls
||PBBp and women.
I^SBKE HBPik. ' "The improvement in indivdual cases is
very marked. Stunted girls can a!meet he
" *<#< ^r.een to spring up several Inches and all of
MHHMHf B^ young women who are
^^^B |F gymnastic work show Improved health
While it Is still too early to say that these
^^^B 4, 1BMM centres of exercise are going to make big
^^^B 4 ? jrt"r women, although 1 think they will in
* ,$ '^^BJ *" time, it is perfectly legitimate to claim that
, J/SBy they have already made new apd stronger
4 : women. This will have, must have, a won'
% ' - ... J derful effect on coming generations."
and some lively races arc certain to be staged a rowing course for the Crimson and the From aml'h Collegc come veryr ?ntere",;
at no very distant season. Blue. It will not be. more than pother June ..iff statistics covering a period of tWent>
Connecticut college girls naturally took an away. it is said, before the girl oaVsmen will years. The flg"reB ?how *r*at phy '
changes In the style of girl known and ad
mired countrywide as the "Smith College
girl." They were compiled by Miss Eliza
beth Richards of the Department of Hygiene
and Physical Education, who sent this letter:
"Enclosed please find statistics compiled
for the last twenty years. These statistics
would tend to support the theory that the
average weight and height of college women
have increased during this time. I know
of no reason for this unless it is that the
women of to-day arc becoming more active
physically than heretofore, entering more
into athletics, etc."
The figures follow:
Class Number Wt. (lbs.) Height (cm)
190 3 300 121.44 160.52
190 4 335 117.78 161.58
190 5 262 118.48 161.46
190 6 309 118.54 161.73
190 7 307 121.15 161.81
190 8 403 119.96 160.88
190 9 406 122.33 161.54
191 0 469 119.25 160.12
191 1 445 121.76 160.73
191 2 494 120.49 154.75
191 3 501 121.9 161.18
1914.. 454 121.35 161.40
191 5 414 123.69 ' 162.09
191 6 480 125.41 160.56
191 7 ." 498 124.56 161.57
191 8 545 123.71 161.72
191 9 526 123.06 161.78
192 0 642 124.78 161/63
192 1 646 121.40 162.90
192 2 730 124 163.3
192 3 479 124.52 162.9
192 4 504 125.6 162.6
Girl Scouts See Improvement
In Stature and Stamina
While no statistics of a formal kind are
kept by the various officers who direct the
activities of the Girl Scouts, these persons
are willing to go on record that the modern
girl Is bigger, stronger and possessed of
more stamina than her predecessors of the
time when the Scouts were a novelty or an
experiment. That is not so' many years ago,
but long enough to base a general statement
on. And this is what one scout leader had to
say on the subject:
"A number of the first girls I saw en
rolled were undersized, pale and even
anaemic in appearance. Only a few of them
had ever had any athletic training and the
majority did not know what exercise was.
A 'hike' for these girls was a nightmare to
think of before it occurred and a bit of hard
work when it came off instead of a pleasure.
"That was the first summer. Next year
the sume girls presented a much improved
appearance. They had learned how to keep
in physical trim through the winter by what
they did in summer. So they came to the
summer outings robust and with buoyant
spirits. Nothing in prospect frightened
them; they welcomed all plans with enthu
siasm.
Only a Few Girls Not Fit
At Opening of the Outdoor Year
"Of course there are always a few girls
at the opening of the outdoor season who do
not look and are not fit. But we have
learned to discriminate and we work up
towards health and strength gradually.
Nearly all new members coming to us now
have learned something about the care and
dlvelopment of their bodies, so we have fine
material to work on from the start.
"One reason for believing that the Girl
Scouts will not lag far behind the Boy Scouts
in strength and endurance is found in this
fact, they are pretty good specimens when
they join. Either the friend who has inter
ested them in the Girl Scout movement has
shown an applicant something about how to
take care of herself and strengthen hex
muscles or else ar elder sister, herself a
scout, has taught her whait she knows her
self. Thus the early training is made
easier.
"It cannot be but that these girls will
show better chest measures and more inches
of height than the girl who leads a seden
tary life, the girl who never walks except
when she has to and who never takes any
real physical exercise of other kinds. The
athletic girl is now in vogue and that will
have effect on the general stature. Yes, 1
believe that the next generation will be even
bigger and capable of more endurance than
the present, but T don't go so far as to say
that our gilds will reproduce the Amazon
type."
World Mastery Now Lies in the "Dew of Death"
Continued from Fir.it I'ape.
wood Arsenal, one of the most vuluable war
plants In existence in the United States
to-day.
"Give the Chemical Warfare Service 2
per cent, of the appropriation for the army,
and, if the navy de-ires it, 1 per cent, of
the navy appropriation, and we believe that
we can do as much to guarantee American
success in war as could be had with 25 per
cent, spent in any other way.
"We have developed two new gases that
may play a tremendous part In warfare,
tine is a new cloud gas, transmitted from
toxic smoke candle- The old type of cloud
gus required the burying of cylinders In
deep trenches, requiring the work of ninny
Men for many days in order to prepare au
attack. Tills method Is obsolete. The mod
ern method Is to heat a solid. The solid
gas, contained In a simple holder re
sembling a squat, old-fashioned lantern, is
released when a fuse Is lighted. It Is safe
anil fool proof. It may lie crushed, mashed
or punctured with bullets without harm
being done to the person holding It. These
candles may be very light or very heavy.
They are so small n*. to Up carried In a
knapsack or so large us to require the
efforts of many men. They are thus suited
to the navy, the Air Service, the cavalry,
infantry or special gas troops. Cloud gas
attacks are highly ofli<-iont nud by the new
method can be launched at any time, day
or night, that the wind is right.
"The other new thing is n liquid gas, the
effect of which Is to cause hums thnt are
severe and difficult to heal. If three drops
of this gas he absorbed Into the skin It
will cause death In most cases, while lessor
quantities down to a tenth of a drop will
put every man touched in the hospital. This
gas and Hie common mustard gfl?. which
burns the skin, can l>o sprinkled from air
planes in practically unlimited quantities.
Entire fields, forests, ramps ami railroad
centres can l>e deluged with this Dew of
Death, To work within an area so sprin
kled men must lie thoroughly protected by
masks, |?y gas proof clothing and by gloves,
all of which, at the very best, would keep
out gas only a few hours. Even if cloth
ing be found that would keep It out Indefi
nitely, consider the enormous burden of
tranaportatlon, of physical effort and of
mental strain required merely to live In
such an area, let alone work and fight.
When men must don masks for working or
fighting their efficiency Is reduced, nnd here
again the value of gas In warfare is a
telling thing.
"Mustard gas, which is heavy and always
hangs low upon the ground, makes trenches
and dugouts dangerous. It burns any soft
tissue nnd moisture heightens Its effect! It
'caused more casualties In the past war
than any other gas. putting more Ihnn
110,000 American soldiers in the hospital.
High explosives will not destroy lit. It can
be sprinkled from airplanes or fired In
shells or bombs. To breathe it is like
breathing flames. It can he pined in steel
drums and released by electrical connec
tion. It may he useful some day in de
fending the I'annmn Canal and our own
seneonst. If the British had had 5.000
tons of It in 1018 they would have stopped
the Oerninn drive In the first five miles.
"Dyphenal-chlorarslnft, made of carbolic
acid, chlorine and arsenic, is fired In shells
or-nsejl in cakes In concentrated form. In
high concentration it Is deamy. In low
concentration It causes severe coughing,
pains In the chest nnd vomiting. The ef
fects of It simulate pneumonia. It pene
trates all save the very latent types of
protective SMsks, nnd a drop or two of the
-luff Upon a man's clothing will put him
out of action. In defence It could he
launched In cloittf form against nn enemy
when the wind was right, or It could ha
fired In shells when the wind was adverse.
"Chlor-Hcetophenone, carbolic acid and
acetic add Is a tear pas. Nearness to the
mere edge of Its smoke causes blindness
from excessive tear.s. It poes Into shells
and is spread by heat. This is the pas that
will he used in the future to break up mobs
anil It should be a tremendous asset to
every police department. Mobs are helpless
when they can't see. We are at work now
upon a substance even more powerful than
the tear pas developed by the war. At all
times we conduct a warfare nmonp our
selves In the Chemical Warfare Service.
We do our best to find a pas that cannot
he stopped by our most modern masks and
clothing. When we find that we Invent
new masks and new clothing, then look for
a more penetrative pas. It Is like the old
contest of the burplar and the safe manu
facturer.
"Phosgene Is a liquid pas that volatile*
almost instantly, it irritates the limps
very severely and produces symptoms that
are familiar to doctors in pneumonia cases.
In trenfinp sufferers Hie same methods arc
used, Indeed, as are used in treatinp pneu
monia patients.
"Lewisite, a new pas. discovered by Pro
fessor Lewis of Northwestern University,
tesomhles mustard pas. hut Is more power
ful In burning qualities. It volatlllr.es even
more quickly. We are Just heplnnlnp to
produce It and It will undoubtedly piny a
larpe part In the next war.
"Brombenayl-cynnlde, liquid nnd another
form of tear pas, Is very persistent and
volatilises us slowly as inustnril gas. It
forces the wenring of masks without much
expenditure of ammunition.
"These are some of the principal pases
that we are constantly experimenting with,
end about which we know enough already
to he certain of the dreadful weapons they
will he In future wars. What we are after
i? a pas that will he colorless, tasteless,
odorless, that will kill# Instantly whole
musses ol' men and without the slightest
warning of its coming. If that, gas Is found,
and 1 itelieve we sluill find it, it is Impos
sible to see how an army could stand
against it. With that gas conveyed In
motor truck cylinders resembling the oil
trucks of common use. no fleet could even
a|i|>roi<i'h near to our coast, no army neiir
our borders. Imagine its possibilities In
offensive warfare! Even with the smnll
soda Water cylinders they used, the Ger
mans were able to semi gas fifteen or
twenty miles.
"Chemical Warfare Service and poison
gases have great and valuable uses in peace.
We are working with the farmer and the
fruit grower, as well as with the army and
the navy. We my preparing plans and
methods to eradicate plagues by destroying
rats and other Carriers. We are looking
for a method to attack the boll weevil. We
are working on gnsos to kill the insect pests
of fruit trees and to attack locusts In the
Philippines. We have made mnnv discov
eries in our chemical laboratories iliatwill
aid agriculture and Industry.
"It Is all a natural develpment carried
on by man's ingenuity under stress. In
the beginning wars were won by the side
that had the greatest amount of brawn.
The slaving of Goliath by David Is the first
recorded Instance of the use of science In
a conflict. The stampeding of Hannibal's
death-dealing elephants with flaring tar
dipped arrows was another example of an
Inrlovatlon In war. The first use of gun
powder revolutionized warfare and com
pleted the rout of the steel clad knight that
was begun at Crecy by the English long
bowmen. And the first use of gas in the
world war would probably have ended the
conflict In 1915 if the Germans bad but
taken advantage of tho situation their gas
attack created.
?'Chemical warfare l? a terrible thing,
but It Is here, and here to stay. The day
may cwtnr when the preservation of Amerl*
can liberty ma^ depend upon iu"