The Biological Engineers: Health Creation and Promotion in the United States, 1880--1920 (2013)
Mazza, Kate (Author)
New York, City University of
Burke, Martin J.
Edition Details: Advisor: Burke, Martin J.
Physical Details: 436 pp.
Language: English
At the turn of the twentieth century the emerging field of professionals called "biological engineers" proposed individualized, prescribed physical training and health guidance based on physical examinations. They wanted to apply higher standards of health to people of all classes because they recognized that the college-educated as well as the unskilled, the immigrant as well as the native born, adults as well as children were subject to physical ailments and neurasthenia. Urbanization, the division of labor and intensive schooling contributed to these health problems for the majority of Americans of all classes. Dr. Dudley Sargent's system of physical training aimed to institutionalize biological engineering at schools and colleges. As Physical Director of Harvard University, he conducted anthropometric measurements and medical examinations to prescribe exercise on pulley-weight machines of his own creation. His system was suitable for most people, in contrast to competitive sports, which were increasingly popular on the college campus. However, Sargent's system was too costly and time-consuming for most public primary and high schools. To fill the void in health supervision, biological engineers supported school hygiene initiatives. While first focused on the school environment, by the early 1900s school hygiene programs shifted to examine children for communicable disease and "remediable defects." These programs were popular and widespread, but the endeavor never proved to be as organized, as standardized or as thorough and extensive as they wanted. Negative reactions from the subjects of the programs, internal conflicts and a lack of unified opinions weakened the field. Additionally, there were tremendous difficulties in applying such a comprehensive program on a large scale. Even as physical training and hygiene laws were passed in many states, by the late 1910s physical education became demedicalized, the biological engineering vision became diluted and the role was fragmented into other specializations.
...MoreDescription Cited in ProQuest Diss. & Thes. . ProQuest Doc. ID 1315219694.
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