Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-09-15
EFFECTS OF CITY LIFE.
The Arm and Leg-User and Exercise
for GOut.

me arm ana Leg-User and Exercise
for GOut.
If there is one general physical differ
ence between the country-bred and the
city-bred men, it lies in the size and
strength of the muscles Of the shoulder
and arm. 1t is almost impossible for a
man to live in the country without using
the arms far more than the average city
man. The use of the arm has, in both
men and women, an important bearing on
the general health, since it increases the
capacity of the chest, and thereby the sur
face of lung-tissue where the blood is
spread out in thin-walled vessels through
which the oxygen and carbonic acid easily
pass in opposite directions, serving thus the
double purpose of feeding the body more
abundantly, and of removing a constantly
accommodating waste production.
This richer blood is again driven with
greater force by increased heart and arterial
action through its circuit The vital organs
are better nourished, and the power to
produce work is increased. Few will deny
that well-nourished body can be trained
to do more and better mental work than
the same organism in feeble state. Walk
ing on an even surface, the only variety of
physical exercise which most business and
professional men get in town is well known
to be poor substitute for arm exertion.
The reason spartially plain, since walking
is almost automatic and involuntary. The
walking mechanism is set in motion as we
would turn an hour-glass, and requires
little attention, much less volition and
separate discharges of force from the brain
surface with each muscular contraction, as
in the case with the great majority of arm
movements.
The arm-user is higher animal than
the leg-user. Arm-motions are more
nearly associated with mental action than
leg movements. A mans lower limbs
merely carry his higher centers to his
food or work. The latter must be exc
cuted with his arms and hands, A third
way in which arm-exercise benefits the or
ganism is through the nervous system.
Whether this is due to an increased sup
ply of richer, purer blood, OF whether the
continual discharge Of motor impulses in
some way stores up another variety of
force, we do not know. One thing is GER
tain, the victim of neurasthenia is very
seldom an individual who daily uses his
arms for muscular work; with this the
limit of hurtful mental work is seldom
reached. 1t seems evident that arm rather
than leg movements are essential to in
creased productive power. If these are
neglected the man, as social factor, de-
generates and falls prey to his stronger
fellowman, in the race for supremacy and
productiveness 1t may be remarked that
American govt, that condition of the
blood which causes our English cousins
pain in the feet, and Americans universal
pains and increased irritability, has one
sovereign remedy so simple that few will
take it, and this is daily systematic arm
exercise. 1t is natures sedative, for which
she charges nothing the next day, but
gives us sleep instead of insomnia, and
cheerfulness in place of discomfort.
a man may walk in an hour four miles,
on a city sidewalk, and reach his desk
tired, exhausted of force and better only
for the open air and slight increase of
the circulation. Had he spent half that
time in well-ordered gymnasium, using
chest and rowing-weights, and, after
sponge bath, if he had gone by rapid
transit to his Office, he would have found
his work of very different color easier
to do, and taking less time to perform it.
The view for some time held by Hartwell
of the Johns-Hopkins University, Sargent
of Harvard and others, that arm exercise
prevents, or does away with, nervous irrit-
ability, and at the same time increases the
absolute capacity for mental work, has not
been sufficiently urged or accepted. The
remedy for this state of things is to cause
every man and woman to realize the i'm
portance of arm exercise. Make ii COM
pulsory in schools, and popular after
leaving school. II ones occupation does
not require it in itself, muscular exertion
of some kind ought to be taken daily, with
the same regularity as food and sleep, for
all three are necessary to the fullest de-
velopment of our powers.-Popular Science
MONTHLY.