The physical examination and development of public school boys : based upon records of over 40,000 observations : a paper read before the Association on April 4th, 1899 / by Cecil Hawkins.

Hawkins, Cecil.

Date:: 1900

Credit: The physical examination and development of public school boys : based upon records of over 40,000 observations : a paper read before the Association on April 4th, 1899 / by Cecil Hawkins. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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$which 1 have worked ilirouj,diout. On the base line in the h^nire the numbers 10, 20 . . . refer to the niiinl^er of boys per cent, w’ho are below the height wliich i^i found uj)on the vertical scale opi)osite to the points where the vertic-al lines through the numbers 10, 20 . . . cross our curve »>f distribution. To draw the curve, we hrst observe that 21* of the boys are less than 01) in. in height. This is, roughly, 2 j)cr cent, of the whole number, so we make a dot on the horizontal line through 50, at a distance from the left eijual to 2 of the hundred parts into which our base line can be divided. Including these 21^ there are 11() whose height is less than 5S in., which is 7 per cent, of the whole number, so we j)ut a dot on the line through 5S, at a distance from the left e(|ual to 7 per cent, of our base line, and so on, 20 per cent, being below (>0 in., 40 j)er cent, below 02 in., Ac. (I have omitted fractions, and in actual practice 1 should not be satisfied with so rough an a})proximation as a mark at every 2 inches). When all the marks have been made, thej’ are joined hy a flowing curve, with the result shown in the diagram. Portions of the similar curves for boys of 14 and boys of 10 are also shown. Now, let us consider the Mean Poy. He is the boy whom the greatest number of other boys most closely resemble. He is the boy generally meant when people talk about the average boy. He is not precisely the same as the average boy, but their dimensions are so nearly alike that no great harm can be done by confusing them. He is the boy whose growth takes place ahuigthe line marked 50, so that he measures in. at 11, 1)25 in. at 15, and 1)5| in. at lb. This is my mean boy comi)uted from a large number of observations at various j)ublic schools, and Fig. 1 shows that he closely resembles Mr. Roberts’ average i)ublic school boy. Now, if we are to have only one standard boy, this mean boy must be the right one to take, since a larger number of boys can be readily compared with him than with any single boy whose growth takes place along one of the other vertical lines in our diagram ; but in all other respects any boy whose growth takes i)lace along one of the vertical lines is e(jually suitable as a standard, since he always keeps$