The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1873-05-17
THE HYGIENE OF EXERCISE.

Dr. Parkes says: A perfect state of
health implies that every organ has it's due
share of exercise. If this is deficient,
nutrition suffers, the organ lessons in size,
and, eventually, more or less degenerates.
If it be excessive, nutrition, at first appar-
emily vigorous, becomes at last abnormal,
and in many cases degeneration occurs
which is as complete as that which follows
the disuse of an organ. Every organ has
its special stimulus which excites its action,
and, if the stimulus is perfectly normal as
to quality and quantity, perfect health is
necessarily the result.
But the term exercise is usually employ
| ed in narrower sense, and expresses
merely the action of the voluntary mus
cles. This action, though not absolutely
essential to the exercise of other organs, is
yet highly important, and, indeed, in the
long run is really necessary for the perfect
exercise of all organs, with, perhaps, the
exception of the brain. Fer not only the
| circulation of the blood, but its formation
and destruction, are profoundly influenced
by the movement of the voluntary muscles
Without this muscular movement, health
must inevitably be lost, and it becomes
therefore, important to determine the
effects of Exercise, the amount which
should be taken, and the consequences of
deficiency or excess.
Excessive and badly arranged exertion
may lead to congestion of the lungs and
even hemoptysis bleeding from the lungsl.
Deficient Exercise, on the other hand, is
one of the causes which produce those
nutritional alterations in the lungs which
we class as tuberculous consumption.
BY exercise the muscles grow, become
harder, and respond more rapidly to Volt
ton. Their growth, however, has a limit;
and single muscle, or group of muscles,
if exercised to too great an extent, will,
after growing to great size, commence to
waste. But this seems not be the case when
| all the muscles of the body are exercised,
probably because no muscle can then be
| over-exercised. 1t seems to be a fact, how
ever, that prolonged exertion, without suffi-
cient rest, damages, to a certain extent, the
nutrition of the muscles, and they become
soft. AS their reparation only takes place
during rest, this is easily understood, and,
besides, there may be in such cases a gen.
eral want of nutrition throughout the
whole system.
The rules to be drawn from these facts
are, that all muscles, and not single groups,
should be brought into play, and that per-
iods of Exercise must be alternated, espe-
cially in early training, with long intervals
of rest.
| The appetite largely increases with Ex-
ercise, especially for meat and fat, but in
a less degree, it would appear, for the car
bo-hydrates [starchy and saccharine sub
stancesl. Digestion is more perfect, and
possibly larger development of force is
obtained from an equal quantity of food
than in a state of rest. Conversely def.
cient Exercise lessons both appetite and
digestive power. The circulation through
the liver is increased by Exercise, and the
abdominal circulation is carried on with
more vigor.
1t is thus seen that system of Exercise
which will bring ''all the muscles into
play, and not single groups
An Exercise in which the exertions are
"alternated with intervals of rest:''
And one of such a character as will ad.
NIT of measuring accurately "the amount
which should be taken, lis the ideal sys
tenn as hygienic agency.-7He HealM-hf
Company, No. 17s Broad,cay, New York
.B A we'll dressed traveller was recently
taken ill at Saginaw, Mich, and though the
doctor saw no cause for alarm, the patient
got low-spirited, thought he was going to
die, and requested the doctor to break the
| pawc to rir ri IN Pnp,a ,,bor, l,o 1or.