New-York tribune., 1871-08-24
RENFORTH.

"RcnfOrth's death was caused by apoplexy"
Such is the brief explanation offered by the
Associated Press reporter at st. John OF tho
shocking event which will render the inter
national boat race on the Kennebecasis moro
celebrated in the history of athletic sports
than even the contest OF the English ana
American universities on the Thames. But
every one feels that in giving medical name
to the sudden collapse Of vital power which
struck down the athlete in the midst OF his
contest, we have not explained the cause OF
the catastrophe,-we have only described, not
accounted for it. Renforth was sturdy fellow
of superb muscular development, the picture
of rugged health and animal endurance. AL
most any average observer, asked to select
from all the men in st. John yesterday the
one who seemed in least danger of sudden
death, would probably have picked out Rem
forth. Nature had given him frame with the
toughness aud endurance Of iron. Vigorous
bodily exercise had developed his natural
powers to the fullest extent possible. lie
wasted no vital energy in the vtiated atmos-
phere of the shop or the study; and ii the
careful processes of training" can produce a
thoroughly cultivated physical organization,
such an organization ought to have been his.
And vet in the test-moment Renforth proved
TO be the weakest of the eight men who took
part in the contest.
This revives the question so much discussed
at various times, and so forcibly put by
Wjlkie Collins in Man and Wife," whether
we have not carried the mania for athletic
sports so far as to make them serious
public danger, and especially whether
special and terrible danger is not involved
in the practice of training. A man - In con-
"ditionn is really man as much out OF
condition as an apparently healthy human
being can possibly be. The natural balance
of his powers is disturbed. Certain forces are
hindered from action, while certain others are
| lashed into excitement, Everybody knows
that not even the most vigorous athlete can
| be kept permanently in training. If the pro-
cess is continued too long, the tension gives
way, and the man breaks down. He has been
under the influence of stimulation, and stimu-
latiOn, whether of body or brain, isl followed
| by its inevitable reaction. No one Is capable
of enduring this succession of action and re-
sistauce with absolute impunity and it is not
too much to say that the tendency of training
is always to shorten life. But few suspect
that to some organzatiOns-and those often
the most rugged-training is almost certain
death. Men forget that strength does not live
exclusively in the muscles, and while they are
| cultvating the biceps they may be draining &
| the principle of life out of heart, nerves, and
| brain. Build up muscular force at the expense
of vital force, and paralysis entire or partial,
is the inevitable result. This is probably what
Renforth had been doing for several years,
and an acute physician who had watched him
| and studied his constitution might have fore
told long ago just how this race would end
His story is only repetition of that of
Geofirey Delamayn. We have not yet been
threatened by the danger which seems immi-
nent in London, of estimating the cultivation
Of the body as something practically more
valuable than the cultivation of the mind; on
the contrary, we should be the better for a
still more general diffusion of the taste for
innocent out-of-dOOr exercises and especially
for sports on the water. But the danger OF
training is one against which we ought to be
upon our guard. College lads want watching
on this score and college authorities will do
well to give the matter more careful study
than they seem ever TO have bestowed upon
it, If the truth were known, it might appear
that more constitutions have been ruined,
nerves shattered, vital energies destroyed, by
over-devotion 10 the boat-race than to books.