The influence upon health may be summed up very generally as follows: The maximum per cent of good health, 78·1, is reported at the time of entering college; during college-life this falls off to 74·9 per cent, to be followed by a rise to 77·9 per cent since graduation; fair health shows a gain from 2 to 8 per cent during college-life, followed by a decrease to 5 per cent since that time; while there was an actual decrease of 2 per cent during college-life of those having poor health, the figures being respectively 19·8 and 17·3 per cent, no appreciable change being shown for the years since graduation.
From the comparison tables it is further shown that 138, or 19·6 per cent, report a deterioration in health during college-life; 418, 59·3 per cent, no change; 149, 21·1 per cent, show an improvement. This result may be compared with the returns of the inquiries instituted by the Massachusetts Board among the working-girls of Boston, as follows: Of the 705 female college graduates, 138, or 19·58 per cent, show a deterioration in health during college-life, and of the 1,032 working-girls, 166, or 16·09 per cent, show a deterioration in health, during working-time, these figures indicating a greater loss of health, of 3·49 per cent, reported by the college graduates. For the 166 working-girls, whose health deteriorated, four had quite good health at the time of the investigation, 128 were in fair health, and 34 in poor health. Of the 138 college graduates whose health deteriorated, however, 42 report a decline in health from excellent to good, or a slight change only. Making allowances for this, there is a greater loss of health of 2·47 per cent reported by the working-girls of Boston.
Of the 705 reporting, 417, or 59 per cent, mention some disorder, and the total number of disorders reported is 865. The returns regarding the causation of disease, while not technical nor detailed enough for scientific value, are suggestive.
Of the 417 reporting disorders, 276 give the cause or causes of disorders, and for 111 no cause is reported. One hundred and thirty-five consider constitutional weakness to have been the cause of disorder; 81, bad sanitary conditions; 81, intellectual overwork; 73, emotional strain; and 47, physical accidents.
The average amount of exercise reported, considering the aversion of American women, especially the educated, to bodily exertion, may be considered fairly encouraging. The average distance walked per day is given at 2·5 miles, and the time spent in other exercise as 1·2 hour. Returns regarding the amount of college-study done by college-women would gain in interest if they could be put side by side with corresponding returns from their male companions: 4, or 0·57 per cent, studied but little while at college; 438, or 62·13 per cent, studied moderately; 64, or 9·08 per cent, between moderately and severely, and 199, or 28·22 per cent, severely.
Either the lazy students failed to report, or college-women have much to learn from the average male undergraduate about the science of laziness. The lonely four, who have the courage of their disposition, all come from one college, which it would be ungallant to specify. Statistics concerning worry show that the art of taking things easy is not yet mastered by our ambitious young women: 172, or 24·40 per cent, worried over their studies; 89, or 12·62 per cent, over personal affairs; 131, or 18·58 per cent, worried over both studies and affairs; while 313, or 44·40 per cent, worried over neither studies nor affairs.
These returns for the most part tell their own tale and point their own moral. They certainly bear out the conclusion drawn regarding the uninjurious effect of collegiate study. Their great defect is in their failure to show more definitely the conditions and surroundings of college-life. The physical, social, and moral environment should be carefully studied. It has long been a commonplace of vital science that intellectual pursuits for men per se are healthy. The question which needs solution is. What conditions prevent their being equally healthy for women, the exact part played by each factor, and how far it is removable? What parents as well as professional educators and college administrators wish to know is, what colleges have gymnasiums, and whether the exercise is compulsory; how many institutions have matrons, and how far their influence extends; how many have resident physicians. Do the young women live herded in halls, sheltered in cottages, or at home and at boarding-houses as convenience dictates? The number of hours of sleep taken should be exactly stated. The number of hours of study should be given, instead of the vague terms "moderate," etc. Instead of indefinite inquiries as to whether the student went into society much or little, exact inquiries into the various modes of spending the hours of social recreation should be made. These and many similar points, which would suggest themselves at once, may be considered trivial; but, if we accept the general conclusion of the report that the pursuit of collegiate education is not in itself harmful, the importance of studying the entire environment, physical and social, of the young student at once appears. Here, in fact, the problem of her education centers.
Turning from the general conclusion to the consideration of certain specific problems, we educe the following data for discussion:
By all odds the most important fact regarding the higher education of woman is, that we are educating wives and mothers. Few probably will regret this, but those few must still admit the fact in a society constituted like ours. This, then, is the heart of the situation, and, in view of it, the following statistics are suggestive:
Omitting Oberlin College, for reasons already given, 26 per cent of the graduates who report are married, the other 74 per cent single. The average number of years since graduation is, however, over six, and average age over twenty-seven.
