The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1883-03-02
ssMg Personal EXPERIENCE ~ VALL.
ING.

seMR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE ~ VALL.
A few months ago was engaged in
some Investigations concerning tho
modes Of training employed by profes.
sional acrebats and gymnasts in eduea-
ting children TO take part in their PER-
Torrance, with view 10 elueidAIing n
certain point OF considerable medical
interest Gin no way connected with the
present queation). and learned inci-
dentally that, since the precaution ol
net has been insisted upon for the pre-
vention Of accident in lofty tunbling,
many gymnasts now make "terTifo
descent" or "aerial dive" special fca.
ture Of their entertainment. Drops of
sixty, eighty or 100 feet sheer, OF even
mere, arc not uncommon. A member
Of the Hanlon-volta troupe has dived
from height Of no less than 120 feet
above the net, where circumstances
have permitted Of it, and declares that
not only Is hs free from all inconven-
ience in the descent, which is made
head foremost, but that be would be
willing 10 fall from q much greater ele-
vation, due extension Of The capacity,
elasticity, etc, Of the net being provi-
ded. The extraordinary "spill" made
by one Of the Hanlon-Lees, formerly
belonging to the above troupe, in the
third act Of 40 Voyage an Suisse
will be remembered by most of your
readers, though il is remarkable rather
for the arrest than tho duration Of mo-
tion. On being assured By the propri.
etor Of some newly-invented mechanism,
applied to q novel feat Of aerial gymnas
tics which had been taken up to the
roof Of building TO inspect, that there
vas no danger, made experiment Of q
descent Of about City feet. Sixty feet
was the extent Of the fall claimed by
the gymnast himself, bot / imagined
that this would include tho elevation of
the highest point of the arc obtained by
the oscillation Of his trapeze, az we'll as
the depression caused BY bis weight
upon the net, and therefore calculate il
to have been about ten or twelve feet
less from the situation Of my body, as /
hung at arms length from p:otionless
bar With my legs drawn up in . sitting
posture, to the point where impinged
fiat on my back upon the cushions. /
was conscious Of no physical embarrass-
nent while coming down, though i
must csnfess that my mind was too
much occupied with the possibilities
contingent on arrival to admit of any
very accurate analysis of my respiratory
sensation in transit. The idea that the
act Of falling "Stops the breath" so that
the person who falls is dead before he
reaches the ground, Is q very common
one, and it would be interesting to
know the testimony, If any exists, on
which it is based. Nobody complains
of s1ffocating in violent agitation Of the
air, such as that produced by hurri-
cane travelling at the rate Of 100 miles
an hour. OF course, asphyxiation means
more than an impediment to breathing,
and man falling from great height
might attain speed exceeding 100 miles
per hour; but am not acquainted
with the records Of any post-mortem
examinations wnich bear out the as
phyxiation theory. No matter what
other LESSONS are found, the indications
OF this ought to be patent enough.
Even more conclusive, to my mind, than
the cases advanced in disproof by your
contemporary are those innumerable of
people Who have fallen from lofty places,
and, though sustaining fatal injury,
have not expired Immediately. Nor
must it be forgotten that nervous shock
alone may have suficed to kill where
no physical LESSONS fsuch gravity as to
account for death can be detected.--
Arthur 5stradttng, IN tie London Field.