The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-06-08
HpALrH ON THE wHEE1.
An Eminent French Doctor Recommends
the "Bike."

the "Bilke'
The woman who bicycles is just now
the cause of great deal of talk, chiefly,
1t Is to be feared. in spite of the
Seriousness" that is a Characteristic of
the day, distinctly frivolous in it's ten,
dency, and very much based upon pet
ticoats." Can 1t be that there Is some>
thing inherently ridiculous in the idea
of much physical exercise for women? or
is 1t merely that she is invading a par
ticularly masculine form of amusement
True, Punch has looked with a kindly
eye on the costume, and his damsel ar
rayed in a bicycling suit was a very be-
witching person. indeed, but perhaps that
was simply because she only meant to
wear 1t in working her sewing machine.
Anyway, when La Femme ct la Bi.
cyclette' is seen on the title page Of
the Nouvelle Revue for May 1 the
reader feels at once she can trust to
the lively Gaul for a jocular treatment
of the subject. And here she will be
disappointed. No one could be more thor
oughly in earnest than DR.. Just Cham
pionlere, de PAcademie de Medicine, in
his most grave and weighty and scientific
account of his latest discovery, that
bicycling Is the cure for every i'll that
female flesh is heir to.
No woman's suffragist could explain
more carefully that what makes for ths
better development Of women is for the
good Of the race; perhaps no champion
of the "cause" could have displayed such
patience and moderation in demonstrate
ing that the speedlest way for her to
gain complete equality, muscular, intel
lectual and moral, with man %, ye
New WomanD is by constant exercise on
the bicycle. But so dispassionate is the
French man of science that it cannot be
denied he uses arguments in his plead
ing for the concession of the bicyclette
to women that will hardly be palatable
to either the new or the eternal" type
of the feminine.
To begin with, in explaining why he
deems 1t necessary to devote twenty-four
pages of the Nouvelle Revue to what,
according to many, is only freak of the
most temporary nature, he tells us that
the bicyclette for women has really a
vogue, and one that will endure, which
last assertion he supports by stating that
ladies will of course be ardent in
adopting a sport" they can share with
| their male friends, and one that offers
them the supreme interest of a costume
| yet to be devised which shall be en-
tirely suitable, while 1t must be a modi-
| fication of the male attire so dear to the
hearts of women. After this somewhat
French opinion of the sort of dressmak-
| erly attraction bicycling has, and will
| continue to have for women, he gives a
beautifully new reason for encouraging
! them by every bait possible to adopt it.
Always keeping in view the benefit to
the race in general by perfecting ne fe-
male form and intellect, we are told that
! it is time we should begin to correct an
error our civilization has long been re-
| sponsible for in the treatment of women,
who have been spoilt by an over indulg-
ence most detrimental to their true we'll
being Setting aside the working classes,
the women of the day suffer from in
sufficient exercise and a too stimulating
diet. AS soon as girl is grown up she
is kept from every form of violent eXer,
else, and her life is generally one of
| physical repose. The result is she has
less vitality than her toiling sisters OF
the working class, whose food is of the
plainest. He makes an exception in favor
| of English and American girls and the
girls of Northern Europe, but regrets that
even they often give up outdoor exercise
by the time they are 30. His idea is
that horse exercise, either as women now
ride or astride, is on the whole, not very
suitable for women, and he really finds
great deal to prove that the ideal fol
them is bicycling. With a frankness that
might be supposed to be British rather
than French, he remarks that few women
walk really well, and that often, even
if they manage In doing SO to satisfactor-
lily balance the body, the effect is spoilt
on the highways by a lamentable indecis-
ion at the crossings. Now the bicycle
while it develops the muscles of the
body, often traverses thoroughfareS
| where where distances must be nicely
calculated, and the rider is thus traine
in eye and hand, and becomes a better
judge of possibilities in walking. Dr.
Championiere allows that at the pres nj
stage of things the field for comparisons
Is limited; but he has taken every oppor'
tunity for observation, and has found In
all cases that the development of muscle
is here accompanied by very marked i'm
/ provement in respiration. And 1t is com
fortlng to have a critical Frenchman's
assurance that beauty of form, rathel
than being forfeited by it, is enhanced
and that that much-dreaded consequence
a round back, is an impossibility. Short
ness of breath and a tendency Il
obesity he considers the two worst re-
suits of the modern womans mode OF
life and here the bicycle is invaluable
| He even cites an instance of a lady Of
| unusual feebleness of breathing and gen
eral health who, after three years regu'
lar exercise on 1t, gained a vigor be-
yond that of her strongest contemporar
ies
One curious thing he notes is that Il
is not a practice that has been enthu
siastically adopted by young girls, it,
devotees, on the contrary, being mostly
quite formed women, generally verginG
on 30, and often much older. All tht
same, he thinks that the earlier 1t i:
begun the better, and advocates it al
the sport de famille" par excellence.
Last, but not least, it should Interest
every male who has the good of hi!
womenkind and his own comfort at hear
to hear that the virtues in which tn,
feminine part of the population are
most deficient acn best be acquired while
Drawing the elements and taking whole
some share of the ups and downs of life
on a bicycle. The French doctor ha!
noticed that women seldom read maps
well, are not good at making ou
j routes, and even lack power to grasp The
general features of a landscape; also thai
they are sadly wanting in discipline
some kinds of courage and patience. How
bicycling will supply all thes qualitie!
it is possible to imagine for oneself; or, l.
not we must refer the reader to DR.. Jus
Championnierre, who clearly demon
strates that training for the intellect ant
morals can be got from the bicycle jus
as much as for the muscles or tn,