Athletic Sports (extract)

Physical Characteristicsof the Athlete T h e h e i g h t , weight, and physical proportions of such a man are those that all men who have at­ tained their growth would possess but for the influence of climate, heredity, nurture, and a mul­ titude of accidental causes that have as­ sisted or interfered with nature's plan of development. These causes, operating on a grand scale, have given us the forms " i.There is a perfect form or type of man, and the ten­ dency of the race is to attain this t yP e - Fizure .6 b. " 2. The order of growth is ^ description l pnge ^ regular toward this type. " 3. The variations from this type follow a definite law, the law of accidental causes. " 4. The line formed by these variations, when arranged in groups, receding on either side of their mean, is the curve well known to mathematicians as thebinomial; itwas first applied by Newton and Pascal to questions of astronomy and physics, but it is applicable to all the qualities of man which can be repre­ sented by numbers. " 5. The more numerous the data obtained by actual meas­ urements, supposing them .to be made with reasonable careand without bias, the more nearly accurate is the mean result, and the more closely does it correspond with that obtained bycalcu­ lation."— Statistics, Medical and Anthropological, of the Provost- Marshal-GeneraVs Bureau, Washington, D.C. 97