RG 121 M85S cop. 1 MOSHER SCHEMA TOG RAM NEW METHOD OF GRAPHICALLY RECORDING POSTURE AND CHANGES IN THE CONTOUR OF THE BODY THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Sj> [Reprinted from SCHOOL AND SOCIETY, Vol. 1, No. 18, Pages 642-645, May 1, 1915] THE SCHEMATOGRAM A NEW METHOD OF GRAPHICALLY RECORDING POSTURE AND CHANGES IN THE CON- TOURS OF THE BODY No one making the physical examinations for admission of women to a college or uni- versity can fail to feel the need of some rapid method of making a graphic record of the pos- ture and other conditions of the body. The uneven shoulders and hips, the droop- ing heads, the winged scapulae, the flat chests, and the exaggerated supra- and infra-clavic- ular hollows need correction. The woman too often is unconscious of these and other de- partures from the normal, the only direction of her attention being the nagging of her family about standing up straight and putting shoulders back. Too often, if she has given any regard to these reiterated home directions, it is to bring about other postural defects equally undesirable. When the girl sees how these existing defects detract from her good appearance, she is sufficiently interested so that with her cooperation and the aid of her gymnasium work, the correction is only a matter of time. Thus not only many of the unlovely figures of middle age are avoided, but a menace to her good health at a later period is also removed. There is no question, however, that we are not making physical training of as much help as it should be made to the individual 'woman. We have taken over the methods in use for men and applied them with such limitations as the traditional handicaps of sex may have sug- gested, without inquiring very extensively into the real effects of what we are doing. To ac- complish any reform we must have more exact [083 methods of work. The anthropometric meth- ods used for many years are gradually falling into disuse. These, certainly, laying their main emphasis on the size of muscles, have little relation to the personal hygiene of the individual woman. A functional index which shall be a rapid and accurate measure of the effect of the physical training work on the particular woman is needed. Posture, which is so closely associated with the perfect function- ing of the body, should be one of the condi- tions on which this index is based. The instruments making use of the panto- graph principle have met this need only in small part. For the study of posture we must have a graphic method which will record the whole figure; the record must be made rapidly and be inexpensive enough to use in every examination. The instruments which I have seen, making use of the pantograph principle, do not meet all of these requirements. Photog- raphy is objectionable for two reasons: the possible identification of the individual woman by any one into whose hands the record may fall makes it permissible only in very rare cases; the cost is prohibitive for any extensive use. The schematograph here described is a step towards putting question of posture on a more accurate working basis. The schematograph (from trj^/ia, tchema, form, shape, ya/a^w, grapho, I write) is an in- strument devised by the writer and Professor E. P. Lesley, of the mechanical engineering department of the Leland Stanford Junior University. The one in use in Roble Gym- nasium was constructed in the university mechanician shop under the supervision of Professor Lesley. This apparatus consists of a reflecting camera, Fig. C. Instead of the ground glass of the ordinary camera there is placed a clear glass. Upon this clear glass is laid a piece of 3 thin tracing paper or cloth. The image is thrown upon this paper and outlined or fully drawn with a pencil or pen : the schematogram (ypdfjLfM, gramma, thing written). The top of the schematograph camera carry- ing the clear glass plate is movable. Two dowel pins at diagonally opposite corners of the camera are arranged to fit into suitably located holes in the movable top. The change in position of the top of the schematograph makes it possible to record the image on any portion of the paper without moving the paper on the glass. It is a simple device which works rapidly and satisfactorily. Although the schematograph top is made with a pos- sibility of movement in four directions, only the lateral movements have been used in the posture work. The center of the figure, or that part of the figure of which it is desired to make a schema- togram, is placed directly in front of the lens. The image is, therefore, always projected to the center of the camera, thus giving the maximum of light and clearness of definition. In order to have a bright image that can be easily outlined, it is necessary to use a com- Tracing Paper-. /Id/usfcrble Frame SCHEMATOGRAPH LONGITUDINAL SECTION FIG. C. paratively large lens. One with a four-inch aperture has been found suitable. In use the camera will be placed in a dark room or screened with dark cloth. The sub- ject for study (posture, spinal curvature, etc.) is placed in a strong light before a dark screen (Fig. A) or behind a light screen (Fig. 5). In the former case the picture upon the tracing paper is that of the subject; in the latter case the picture is of the shadow of the subject. Schematogrvrph-*. ' Piaffe Black Screen -\ )-> B Schematograrph-j ThinLight Screen-* FIGS. A AND B. The strong light may be a 1,000-watt nitrogen-filled Tungsten lamp; "the photo- light" with a clear lamp could be used. The work with the figure placed before the black screen has been so satisfactory that it has not seemed necessary to install the expensive light for the shadow work. The screen which makes the background is seven feet high and four feet broad. There are two movable panels nearly the full size of the screen. These button into the frame work. The removable white panel has only been used as a reflecting surface to increase the light on a dark day. On the black panel are stretched two white wires at right angles to each other, thus dividing the black screen into four equal sections. These lines should al- ways be drawn on the tracing paper before the subject is placed for the making of her schema- togram. This does away with loss of time in trying to place the tracing paper with very great exactness on the schematograph. The lines make it possible to place the schema- togram over a sheet of cross-section paper to study the variations in the two sides of the body, to superimpose a second schematogram over the first and see the changes with the minimum of error. After considerable experi- mentation, Keuffel and Esser Colonna Tracing paper 195 T, which comes in rolls 36 inches wide, was found most satisfactory. This was cut to order into sheets 8J X H inches to fit the top of the schematograph. The paper is held in place by a spring clip at each end. / It is possible to record on a single sheet of paper a schematogram of the front, the back, and a profile of the figure. The figure in the schematogram is about eight inches in height as I have usually made it. The image, of course, is reversed in the schematogram. The use of this particular paper enables one to turn the paper over and have the image equally clear on the opposite side, thus correcting this error. The key number and any other data should of course be put on the back of the sheet as it is placed on the schematograph, to ensure the using of the schematogram with this reversal of the image corrected. The floor in the examining room has been marked with brass nails at distances of two feet apart, so that the screen may be accu- rately placed and the distance recorded without loss of time. The instruments may be used with the screen placed from six feet from the lens to twenty or more. In practise I have 6 found ten or twelve feet most satisfactory, as a rule. When another schematogram is made at a later date the lines on the black panel will ensure the correct relation of the two records. If it is desired, the schematogram may be traced on a piece of cross-section paper, the second record being superimposed on the first, a tracing in another color of ink showing the relation between the first and second record. To make these tracings from the original schematograms, a box, containing one or more electric lights and a reflector with a plain glass top and spring clips similar to those used in the schematograph top, is desirable. The placing of the schematograph in a closet, open at the top for ventilation, with an opening in the wall just large enough for the lens, has a distinct advantage. The examiner using the instrument is in a separate room and thus the personal reserve of the woman is respected. By this graphic record the exact condition of any individual student can be indicated to the instructor who is to carry on the practical work, without subjecting the student to an additional examination by this instructor. The definition of the image is so clear that not only the outline of the figure may be made, but the positions of the breasts, the prominence of the collar bones, the supra- and intraclavicular hollows may be made. In a very thin woman even the costal angle or the line of the spine has been clear 'enough to record without resort to markings of the skin to show the position. By making a series of schematograms at intervals we may, at minimum cost of less than two cents each and an expenditure of time of only from one and one half to two and one half minutes, exclusive of dressing and un- dressing, record the effect of our physical-train- ing work on the individual woman. In addi- tion to this, by the study of the schematograms of groups of students doing different forms of exercise, may we not hope to arrive at some estimate of the comparative value of these different kinds of physical training? The immediate use of the schematogram supplemented by the use of a mirror impresses upon the student her departure from a correct posture. The demonstration of what should be done to correct this, the relating of the habit or habits which are bringing about these conditions, induce an interest and cooperation on the part of the student not otherwise readily obtained. It is not necessary to talk about spinal curvature, which is of course present, but of the habit of carrying the books on one arm, or the habit of standing on one foot, which is bringing about this detraction from the otherwise good appearance of the girl. We can thus avoid the undue emphasis on any patho- logical condition which unduly alarms and depresses the young woman by filling her mind with the idea that she is in any way defective. Spinal curvature connotes to her the need of surgical interference, while carrying her books on the other arm, standing on both feet sug- gests something that she herself may help to correct. She is left in the latter case hopeful and ready to cooperate with the instructor. This instrument may be used not only by the medical examiners for admission to col- leges and gymnasiums, but a farther possible field of usefulness for it may be found in the offices of certain physicians and surgeons. Whenever a graphic record of the contours and other conditions of the body will be of serv- ice, the schematograph provides a rapid, inex- pensive and accurate means of making such a record. It requires no special knowledge of drawing, although facility in the use of pen or pencil will make the work more rapid. Accuracy in recording the image thrown on 8 the tracing paper and a knowledge of what it is desired to record, are all that is needed. The ideal physical training for women based on a clear perception of its being labo- ratory work in personal hygiene must have its success or failure measured by its effect on the individual woman. The schematograph here described promises to be of some help in estab- lishing a more accurate relation between the work in physical training and its effect on the individual. CLELIA DUEL MOSHEB STANFORD UNIVERSITY, February 15, 1915 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 10 URL MAR Form L9-Series 4939 PLEASf DO NOT REMOVE THIS BOOK CARDS AU1BRARY0/C CTi ro i: University Research Library