New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-03-18

1t is time to look at both sides of the walking
mania, that is if mania can have two sides at ALL
"A well-known physician" of Boston writes to
The journal of that city rather savagely about one
walking exh bltiOn which he has seen. 1t was that
of Miss Lulu Bloomer-peasing, but probably
pseudonym-who was dragged off her couch every
ten minutes 10 walk her quarter mile" The Doctor
reports that she In " wretched state OF weak
ness that her trainer had to support her; deathy
pale was her face; idiotically expressiOnless were
her eyes; extreme exhaustion was indicated by
every motion. No wonder the good physician was
in passion about it, and wrote his communication
at once. The hall, he says, was ill-yentilated;
the atmosphere absolutely sitting; and the sight
generally sickening But the authorities bestirred
themselves they sent the City Doctor down to in
vestigate; and they think of stopping such sense
less displays altogether Over in Newark, on Sun
day. there a similar exhibition, the poor woman
falling into dead faint and being obliged to aban-
don the undertaking. This is not by any means the
first instance Of the kind and we shall have Others.
unless the pedestrian mania is quoted, especially
among women. Walking is very good thing but
a person who undertakes lOng-distance match
against time, without the necessary physical
stamina will be sure to fail and to get into all sorts
of trouble, either physical or pecuuiary.
couple of thousand years hence the jewellers on
this planet will have ample data upon which to
base Judgment as to whether or no they have
fallen into physical degeneracy The records will
show Just how fast and far we could walk
and run, and how long could keep
it up. The coming athlete will know exactly
the speed at which we could row, how far we could
lump how heavy a dunb-bell we could put up and
how much we weighed and measured after we had
| 1t, I,..ft raoA
international walk for the Ashley belt, with
the full accounts of what the contestants
eat and how they looked and behaved
will, therefore, be contributions to the
general run of knowledge upon which posterty will
set no small value How much wOuld give to
know the exact length OF the stadium over which
the Olympic races were given and the time of all the
winners, to quarter seconds, during the thousand
years over which the record was kept! How heavy
was the discus and just how far did the champions
hurl itf What locks" and "boltS" were affected
by the we'll creased wrestlers who the wreaths.
How did the winners train and what was their size
and their weight The records are all too
meagre to help form a satisfying estimate OF the
strength or endurance supcness or skill of the
choice specimens of ancient manhood. We are GER
tainly more considerable our treatment Of poster
ity, and if posterity does the fair thing it will
thank for it.
American astronomers will doubtless scan the
suns disc very closely Tomorrow in order to detect
any trace of the intra-mercurial planet which ac-
cording to the Astr0aOmsche NGchrschtea will prob
ably pass across it on the 10Th inst. The OOserva-
tions of Professors Watson and Swift during the
solareclipse last year, have shown that at least two
or three of these small bodies do really exist.
No one has yet, however, been able to pre-
dict their transits. Shortly before his death, lie
Verrer the grea French astronomer, asked the sci
eptic world TO look out for the transit of Vulcan,
but though careful watch was kept both in this
country and in Europe, on the days named, nothing
was discovered 1t is doubtful if observers will be
more fortunate tomorrow, since little is known
of these diminutiye planets, that predictions of
their transits are mere guesses. But this very I'M
certainty clothes them with special interest to the
astronomer who is sure to neglect no opportunity
OF detecting them.
Mr. Blackburn, Of Kentucky, is the one man be-
fore the country who most cOnspcu0usly embOdies |
and represents i'll his person the Southern Idea
and the Ohio Idea-a combination for evil which Is
foreordained to be overwhelmed by an aroused |
people in 1880. Therefore Mr. Humans latest |
blunder in supporting Blackburn for Speaker is by
all odds his biggest one.
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