[Reprint from The Medical Woman's Journal, November, 1921) 
TH.~ ~~~t''.o.~·.~QµE(;f;.WOMEN 
: ; :·,:: •• : : (,,:Secon~ ?'fot_e) ;.·. :­
.: 1~rciELiA:DUEL 'M:osHiR: M.D. 
Leland Stanford Junior University, California 
[The following flgurt>s and tlata collt-cted by 
Dr. .:\losher in connection with her work at Leland 
Stanford l'nh'er~ity are of much inh•rest to those who 
are watch Jng the mt>ntal and l'hysleal del-·eJopmf'nt of 

the rac...J 
T
HE popular belief that women are in­creasing in size has, apparently, re­ceived some confirmation from the study of 4,023 women who entered Stan­ford University during the past thirty years.* This study has been limited to the entrance physical examinations, a limi­tation which minimizes the influence of the college work; the number of graduate students included in these cases is probably too small to have had any great amount of influence. Every available record has been used which gave age, weight, and height of the women at their entrance physical examinations. 
The romantic story of the founding of Stanford University gave its opening in 1891 a very wide publicity and attracted students, not only from California and .the neighboring States, but also from the Mid­dle "'est and from the far East, both North and South. Even· State in the Union, with the exception· of Delaware and North Carolina, has sent its daitghters to Stan­ford University. The distribution of the birthplaces .in the thirty years considered 
*Mosher, Clelia Duel, "Concerning the Size of Women," Preliminary Note in California State Journal of Medicine, Feb. 1921. The main part of this preliminary note is presented here together with certain revi~ions and additions. 
is surprisingly uniform. California, with 1,502 native-born 'Stllii˘nts,:ttln,t1";ibtltes only about 35 percent of:L~to~.riitntber con­sidered in ~hi~ study. If we ~miFihe Cali­
fornians ~~~~cvns:~~t -~~ t~e>'~uJIIPi;r from the ofhel' o'Ha""ifu: St<{{~:;, WJ;.' ,Y,(ij }3.1, while 132 were born in the New Ehgfa::td States·; the Middle Atlantic group provided 
242 and the Mountain States 292; the East North Central States are represented by 672 and the West by 682. The South shows a smaller number, 42 from the East and 68 from the West-South Central States. 
The foreign born number 132. They are rather evenly distributed through the three decades, and show no marked deviation from the average height of their respective years. Many of the foreign-born students are Canadians who have lived a good part of their lives in the United States; others are foreign-born daughters of American missionaries and engineers, who were by chance living in foreign lands ; or in some cases there are American college men's children born abroad while their fathers and mothers were in residence in foreign universities. In any case, the numbers are too small to influence materially the aver­age height for any given year. Thus it would seem that these Stanford women are a fair sample of American college women rather than a localized group. 
Table I shows by States* the ·dis­tribution of the birthplaces of 4,023 Stan­ford women, and also shows the number in each group of States. 
The curves for the Californians and non-Californians both show the upward trend of weight and height and the down­ward trend of the age curves. 
*It is unfortunate that the records made it impossible to separate the numbers of women coming from North and South Dakota; these were therefore considered together. 
TABLE I. PLACE OF BIRTH BY STATES OF 4023 STANFORD WOMEN 
New England States-132 
Connecticut •........26 N.ew Hampshire 8 Maine .............32 Rhode Island . . . . . . • 5 Massachusetts ......52 Vermont • . . • . . . . • • • • 9 
Middle Atlantic States-~42 New Jersey ........25 Pennsylvania •..... 80 New York .........137 
South Atlantic States--42 District of Columbia 13 South Carolina.. • . . . 3 Florida . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Virginia • . • . . • . • . • . 6 Georgia . . . . . . . . . . . 5 West Virginia. . . . . . 5 .Maryland • . . . . . . . • . 7 
East North Central States--672 Illinois .....••.....256 Ohio ......••..•...123 Indiana ...........120 Wiisconsin ......... 96 l\fichigan . . . . . . . . . . 77 
West North Central States--682 Iowa ..............242 l\fissouri ..........100 Kansas ............111 Nebraska •......... 87 Minnesota' ......... 92 NQ. and So. Dakota. 50 
East South Central States-43 Alabama . . . . . . . . . . • 5 Mississippi . . . . . . . . . 6 Kentucky . . . . . . . . . 21 Tenn.essee . . . . . • . • • 11 
West South Central States--68 Arkansas ...........14 Oklahoma . . . . . . . • . 6 Louisiana •. . . . . . . . • 7 Texas ............. 41 
Mountain States-292 Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Nevada ............ ·38 Colorado •.......... 97 New 1\Iexico........ 11 Idaho . . • . . . . . . . . . . 24 Utah . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 40 Montana .....•.•.• 47 Wyoming ...•...... 14 
Pacific State&-1633 California .........1'502 Washington 53 Oregon ....... ~... 78 
Alaska-2 
Hawaii-10 
Foreign Born-132 
Birthplace Unknown-73 

The grouping of these cases in four age periods does not obliterate these curves, ,, but shows the same general directions. 
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The accuracy of these results is still fur­ther augmented by the fact that the inves­tigator made the physical examinations in 1893-4-5; from 1911 to 1918; and part of the examinations in 1910, 1919 and 1920-21. These years contain 1945 of the total 4,023 cases included in this study, and are· dis­tributed in the first and second· decades as well as in the third. Certain· of the re­maining records were made by examiners trained by the investigator, thus minimiz­ing th~ element of error introduced by the personal equation in measuring. The curve constructed from the writer's own meas­urements shows the same upward trend for height as in the curve· based on all of the cases for the thirty years. 
The stadiometer found in all gymnasium examining rooms has been used for all of the measurements. The method of deter­mining the height has been as follows: The woman stands with heels touching the rod, and with the chin kept level; she is then asked to make herself as tall as possible, being sure that the feet are kept on the ground. Two or three or even more readings are usually. made, and the highest of these is recorded. The danger of error is found to be greatest in the tall girls, who so often carry their heads for­ward in their effort to minimize their height. Since the number of tall women is apparently increasing, the probability of minimizing the average height of the modern woman is thereby increased, un­less special attention is given to securing the maximum measureme.nt in these cases. 
The examinations are usually concen­trated in the first days of the semester or quarter, but are always made during all hours of the working day. Thus it would seem fair to disregard the diurnal changes as having any very material influence on the results. 
A statistical study has been made of the probable ~rrors of the average heights for the years 1891-2, 1893-4, 1916-17, 1917­18, and for 1893-4 compa,red with 1916-17. All of the measurements of this last pair were made by the writer. This study shows that the average heights are based upon series which more than satisfy statis­tical requirements, and that the difference in heights in the contrasted pairs is so many times greater than the probable error of the difference as to afford statis­tical assurance of validity. 
Thus far the cause of the obvious error in the average height for the year 1903-4 has not been found. It has, however, been ascertained that all of the measurements for that year were made by the same person. Re-examinations by the examiner who had made most of the examinations for a period of years both before and after 1903-4 were found in two cases. Both of these re-measurements were much smaller-2.6 cm. in one case and 0.6 cm. in the other. 
The variation in numbers of records in the different years has been influenced by several factors. In the early years physi­cal examination was required only of women who elected work in physical train­ing. The inference that these women were exceptionally vigorous suggests an added value for the conclusions in that the first measurements are probably of the best. developed and most physically active women of that period. 
In 1917-18 compulsory physical trammg for two years was required of all under­gradua,te women before being granted their degrees. This requirement brought a somewhat increased number of women to the gymnasium for physical examina­tion, an increase which is reflected in the 
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number of cases recorded in Table II for 1917-18 and also in 1918-19. 
With the growth in the work of the University Public Health Committee, be­ginning in 1902-3, the anthropometric em­phasis in the examining room was rather rapidly replaced by an increased attention to the individual hygiene of the entering worn.en. This materially influenced the completeness of the measurement records in certain years, and is reflected more or less in the number of cases complete enough for this study. In 1912-13 only 91 records of height were made. This was due to the fact that the director was, like the physical examiners in other col­leges, overbusy, and so cut out every pos­sible measurement in order to secure ·extra time with these entering women for the seemingly more vital problems in their hy­giene. Although the number of cases in the year 1912-13 is therefore smaller, the average for the year would seem to be based on a fairly representative series of cases, since it proves to be exactly the same as that of the year before and that of the year following. 
A general survey of all available data suggests· that two great factors are con­cerned in th'ese results: (a) the change in fashion, making possible the wearing of 
· clothing which interferes less with the hygiene .of the woman; (b) the increased physical activity which has been brought about (1) by the change in dress, (2) by the development of physical training and sports in the secondary schools as well as in our colleges, (3) by the change in the conventional attitude toward these activi­ties for women. The close relation be­tween the physical changes in women and these causes will be discussed in a later paper. 
TABLE II.t AVERAGE HEIGHT OF 4,023 
STANFORD UNIVERSITY WOl\IEN IN 
YEAR GROUPS 

1891-92 to 1920-21, Inclusive 

University No.of Average HeightYear Cases in Inches 
1891-2 1892-3 1893-4 1894-5 1895-6 1896-7 . 1897-8 1898-9 1899-1900 1900-1 1901-2' 1902-3 1903-4 1904-5 1905-6 1906-7 1907-8 1908-9 1909-10 1910-11 1911-12 1912-13 1913-14 1914-15 1915-16 1916-17 1917-18 1918-19 1919-20 1920-21 
I 
I 
I 
I 
I 

I 
I 

I 
I 

I 
1

I 
I 
I 

I 
I 
I 
94 
91 
89 
124 
108 
127 
124 
124 
117 
118 
104 
150 
102 
39 
78 158 180 
63 133 193 131 
91 146 168 178 170 238 276 157 152 
62.4 63.2 63.0 63.3 63.0 63.4 63.2 63.2 63;5 63.4 63.8 6!>.8 64.9 62.9 63.5 63.8 63.6 63.5 63.9 63.6 63.8 63.7 63.7 63.9 63.7 64.0 64.2 63.8 63.6 63.9* 
t Some of the averages in this table differ slightly from those published in the original preliminary note, owing to certain clerical er­rors which unfortunately escaped correction be­fore publication. 
*Examinations of women entering during the first and second quarters only. 
To b~ well within the limits of safety we may disregard the average height for the first recorded year, since the abrupt change (62.4) for 1891-2 to the average for the succeeding years is so great as to excite some susp1c10n of its accuracy, es­pecially as we have no data showing the relation of this low average to the aver­ages of the years preceding. 
\Ve may therefore conclude, pending further investigation, that, as illustrated by the changes recorded in 4,023 women entering Stanford University during the 
TABLE III. AVERAGE HEIGHT OF 4,023 
UNIVERSITY WOMEN BY TEN-YEAR 
PERIODS. (From Table II.) 

Years in 10-Year II No. of IAverage Height 
Periods I Cases j in Inches 

________!_____: 
I 
1891-2 to 1900-1 I 1116 (inclusive) 1901-2 to 1910-11 1200_
I 
(inclusive) 1911-12 to 1920-21 1707
I 
(inclusive) 	I 
I 

63.2 
63.6 
63.8 
past thirty years, the average height of the college women of today has increased from one to one and two-tenth inches. 
There is also a definite increase in the average weight. The detailed data of this part of the investigation will be presented in a later paper, together with the evi­dence which shows that this increase in weight and height has occurred in spite of the fact that the average age of the women entering Stanford University has grown less. The racial as well as eco­nomic importance of these changes, 'vhich point to a more fully deYeloped and more periectly functioning type of woman, can hardly be overestimated. 
8