Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1895-09-06
CURSE TO HUMANITY,
BICYCLE RIDING A PHYSICAL
EARTHQUAKE.
Opinion of Leading DoctOrs-They
Agree That the JOlting of the
Wheel Leads to Disease of the
spine and Heart Trouble.

y
land, Cal, a few days ago from the
effects of bicycle riding has started a
discussion among San Francisco physi.
clans with regard to the effects OF
cycling upon the human syotom. As
result OF the discussion half dozen
of the most prominent doctors in the
city have united in branding the BIZ
cycle as curse to humanity. Here
is what DIR. James Simpson says of the
wheel:
People are killing themselves be-
cause of the bicycle craze. Wheeling
may some day become a legitimate
exercise, but do not see what benefit
person derives from it. I'm attend
ing three patients now who hurt them
selves falling off wheels, and others
who are suffering from complaints
due to cycling. No good ever comes
from wheeling. 1t is all nonsense,
and / would not allow any of my
children to ride. Pm talking now
both as a parent and doctor. The
wheel is injurious, no matter what
they say to the contrary.
"My daughter in New York wrote
to me some time ago that she had q
wheel and was learning to use it. l
at once replied that had too much
love and regard for child OF mine to
allow her on a wheel. She had
learned to ride, but gave it up At my
request. don't like the bicycle, in
the first place, and am utterly opposed
to overriding the thing. No wonder
the Oakland young man died. The
continuous bending and humping in
jured those soft cushions or tissues
between the vertebrae until they were
finally destroyed. If people must
ride consider the high handles the
best, providing the wheel is used in
moderation. But it does not benefit
any one"
DIR. r. Beverly Cole said he did not
know much about the bicycle, but was
familiar with the complaint known as
railroad spine" Il have no doubt"
he said, "but that the effects of the
wheel are equally as bad. Some years
ago the railroad spine attracted con-
siderable attention in Great Britain
and on the continent. The railway
carriages there are lighter than ours,
and consequently the jol,ing is
greater. 1t is the constant jar OF the
spinal cord in its easement that
causes the trouble.
"If such disease can arise from the
jolting of railway car, it is much
more likely to result, / should think.
from the humping of a bicycle.
Every revolution of the wheel is ac-
companied by a jar which shakes the
entire system. The bending posture
does not tend to that complaint. In
fact, it is more likely to result from
the upright, because the whole
length of the spine is subjected to the
jolt. Moderate exercise on the wheel
will injure no one.
The trouble with the new craze is
that it is carried to where there is no
reason or sense in either man or
woman. And the craze will eventual
ly lead to new and complicated dis
eases in both sexes unless moderation
is speedily observed"
DIR. Tennison Deane says that until
the bicycle seat is differently con-
structed the railroad spine" will con.
tinue to menace wheelmen. As it is
now arranged the saddle throws the
weight of the body upon small
space, which, coupled with the jolting
and the unnatural position Oi the
body, leads to fatalities.
DR.. Evelyn likens bicycle riding
unto a physical earthquake. The
spine is subject to constantly recur-
ring tremblers, which eventually de-
stroy the tissues and result in the
railroad spine. The higher handles
combine heart trouble with the jolting
of the back and the end comes more
quickly.
| In his article on what to avoid in
cycling. printed in the August number
OF the North american Review, Sir
Benjamin Ward Richardson, a we'll
known English medical authority,
writes that excessive cycling is dan.
gerous because of its effects on the
heart, the motion Of which he has
known to be raised from so to 200
beats a minute by the exercise. He
thinks, too, there is tendency 10 de-
velop the lower limbs at the expense
of the upper.
There is little doubt of the correct
ness of these observations, and they
are the most trustworthy because Sir
Benjamin is himself cyclist con-
vinced of the benefit OF the exercise
when moderately INDUCED.
His conclusions are supported by
DR.. Reilly, OF the Chicago Board ol
Health, who declares that as a result
| of excessive bicycling the deaths from