A permanent record of the physical condition of Squad A was made on February 1 by a series of motion pictures. After a few weeks or months the personal impression of the appearance or action of a group of men becomes very indefinite, but a motion picture gives a permanent record of the exact occurrences and condition at the time of taking the picture. In all the pictures it was arranged that one of us should indicate the speed of action by swinging an Indian club to the beat of a metronome timed in seconds. Thus on the projection of the pictures one could see instantly whether the movement was abnormally rapid or abnormally slow. By timing the reproduction to correspond to the movement of the Indian club, the actual time of the movements of the subjects could be determined. This method of recording the rhythm of movement has been very successful, although special projection conditions are necessary. These motion pictures showed the men (1) in four typical gymnastic exercises, (2) "chinning the bar," and (3) diving from a springboard. After the men had dressed and eaten dinner, they returned to the gymnasium for an arm-holding contest to determine their physical endurance.

For the motion pictures in the morning, the men put on black swimming jockey straps and assembled in the gymnasium under the leadership of Mr. Greyson C. Gardner (Gar), who had been teaching gymnastics in the Springfield high school during the winter. The four typical gymnastic exercises involved considerable muscular activity. Possibly the most fatiguing and the longest continued was that designated in gymnasium parlance as "arm flexions with stride jumps." The men went through this exercise at a very rapid tempo, accomplishing 17 jumps in 18 seconds. Two sections of film were made for these four exercises, the second section showing an exact duplicate of the series of exercises performed for the first section of film. After the test for "chinning the bar," which will be discussed in detail later, the subjects went to the natatorium and first dived in succession from the springboard, then at a signal dived together into the water. Undoubtedly the men were somewhat stimulated in these tests by their novelty. They certainly showed vim and spirit which seemed almost impossible with a group of men who had been on a restricted diet for so long a time. It has been the consensus of opinion of the many scientists who have seen the projection of these films that the men neither looked nor reacted as if underfed.

After a long period of extremely low diet it is necessary to know the effect upon not only the metabolism, pulse-rate, blood pressure, and other measurable physiological factors, but to secure, so far as possible, relevant evidence regarding endurance. Much of this evidence must depend upon introspection and upon the comments of the associates of the men in college. Such evidence has already been commented upon in extenso. Although the neuro-muscular tests reported earlier gave information as to the capacity for work under special conditions, and the pedometer records and personal activity records of the men also provided a reasonably accurate index of the total activities of the day, further direct evidence regarding the endurance and the capacity of these men for more or less prolonged effort seemed desirable.

Certain information as to the physical endurance of the men in Squad A at the end of 4 months of low diet was secured in the motion pictures of the "chinning the bar" tests. In these, the 11 men were lined up along a bar about 8 feet from the ground and at a signal were required to jump to the bar, catch it, and chin themselves as many times as they could. They were allowed to choose their own tempo in this exercise. The exact time that the men hung on the bar was subsequently obtained by running off the film and using the metronome beats to determine the time in seconds. The number of pull-ups was counted for each man, who also made a statement as to his previous best record. Table 198 shows the number of pull-ups for each man, the length of time that the men were hanging on the bar, and the previous best performance of the men. The men thus exercised the arm muscles practically to the limit of endurance.

Table 198. - Results Of "Chinning The Bar" Test, Feb. 1,1918 - Squad A

The length of time suspended on the bar is of itself a test of endurance, and possibly we should have timed this alone without the chinning.1 The average number of pull-ups (11) is certainly not a discreditable performance for the whole squad, although the competitive element was in part lacking. Each man was supposed to do his best, but as some men were recognized as trained athletes and others were not, keen competition hardly entered into the performance, save, perhaps in the case of Mon and Pea, who remained suspended a much longer time than the others.

With reference to the best previous performance, Vea showed a falling off of two-thirds. That this is a fair criterion hardly seems possible, as the best previous performance was undoubtedly preceded by special or general athletic training for the contest. It is not without significance that the best performance of the squad was made by Gar, who reports the record of 22 as probably his best.

The "chinnihg-the-bar" test, while strongly indicative of endurance capacity, can hardly be suggested as an endurance test capable of general use and particularly for comparison purposes.

A satisfactory test for endurance that meets the requirements of all critics does not as yet exist. In his study of the effect of excessive mastication of food,2 Professor Fisher, of New Haven, made an extensive series of experiments in which he employed certain simple tests designed to show the degree of endurance.

Among other tests of endurance, Professor Fisher employed that of holding the arms horizontally at the level of the shoulders, with palms of hands down, and reported the results obtained with a group of flesh-eaters and a second group of flesh-abstainers. One of us, P. R., was a member of the second group of subjects. It seemed desirable to apply essentially this type of endurance test to the members of Squad A. Professor Fisher kindly wrote us at length regarding the conditions that should be met in a test of this kind, and due consideration was given his suggestions. The final plan was to have the men hold the arms, palms down, at the level of the shoulders, but pointing forward at an angle of about 45°, the idea being that if they were held directly out from the body and in opposite directions the head would have to be turned from side to side to see that the arms were being held in position; if they were extended directly in front, the arms would hamper respiration. If they were extended in front, at an angle of 45°, they would be easily visible, and otherwise the position would be more comfortable than the first two mentioned.

1Marsh, Psychol. Rev., 1916. 23, p. 437.

2Fisher. Yale Med. Journ., 1907, 13, p. 205; also Trans. Conn. Acad. Arts and Sciences, 1907, 13, p. 376.

This form of test was considerably criticized in our discussion previous to its use, and it is only fair to state that as finally employed it did not meet the full approval of any of us, and was particularly criticized by P. R. who had participated in the earlier test. The members of Squad A were favorable to engaging in this competition test. It was not forced upon them.