The San Francisco call., 1896-02-15
ABUSE OF THE BICYCLE.
DR.. Abrams Says Women Have
an Esthetic Right to
Wear Pants.
Doctors Who Ride the Bike Advocate
the Practice; Those Who Do
Not, Oppose 1t.


"The Use and Abuse of the Bicycle" wa.
the topic and DR.. Albert Abrams the
speake at the popular lecture at the Cooper
Medical College last evening.
DR.. Abrams said:
It Is apposite on st. Valentines eve to talk o
the object of ones love therefore / think it An
Reed has said that the chief question of the
day is, CHOW to dodge the bicycle" l have
been asked to pronounce the name of the popu.
lar means of locomotion, and / replied that ii
was harmless. That is my attitude toward the
use OF the bicycle. / mean to cure you of the
abuse of the wheel, for only the good Lord can
cure of the use of it. Indeed, it is fully appre-
ciated that the greatest danger from the BIZ
cycle is to the pedestrian rather than the rider.
Here the lecturer explained that the
proper pronunciation of the mooted word
is with the long "y." Continuing, he
said that generation ago divine would
have been excommunicated if he had
mounted the wheel.
Wheeling is too healthful and too time
saving an exercise to be made light of, SO
long as a bicycist keeps his feet where they
belong-on the pedals. Coasting Is the perni-
cious phase of riding. The policemen in
tice. The symposium on 'tSpinal Meningitis
the Result of Cvcling' recently published
proved that the physicians who ride advocate
the practice, and those who walk oppose
it. 1t is a fact, however, that the vibration
generated by the exercise is beneficial.
We hear good deal about the "bicycle
face" Don't trouble about that. 1t is said OF
Anglo-Saxons that they take their pleasures
sadly. If bicyclist's face does not wear the
smiling yaeuity that passes in society for
amiability, he looks himself at any rate. The
serious expression he wears is the reflection of
his thoughts about his neighbor who knows
not the bicycle. II is well he wears something
in these days of dress reform.
DR.. Abrams thought the "bicycle FOOT
was an imaginary ill. He continued:
Cycling viii make the thin fat and the fat
thin. 1t promotes outdoor exercise, which,
physicians cOncede, cures half the ills to which
flesh and especially nervous flesh is heir to.
1t is a tonic most constitutions need. The
popular rest cure is, in most cases, a misappli-
cation OF law of nature. Nervous prostrates
need moderate exercise instead OF rest.
A good rule is to dismount and walk up hill
when riding is likely to be irksome.
Care in the selection of q saddle in the choice
of the right posture will remove the danger of
injury to the frame.
The bicycle hump is by no means necessary
result of the exercise. AS we'll criticise horse
back riding because of the unnatural posttl re-
OF the jockey in riding.
cases of heart trouble, as for instance fatty de-
generation.
And now we come to the absorbing topic of
woman and the bicycle If the new woman
let us accord her a royal welcome. DR.. Roose-
yelt has disposed of the vexed question in the
following sententious manner bicycling is
sometimes, but not for all women all the
time."
DR.. Abrams claimed that women have
not only a historic and hygienic, but
esthetic right to wear pants.
Referring to the strong remedial effect
of exercise in the open air the professor
said:
In Chicago, that city of busy men and rest.
less women, there are 35 900 persons addicted
to hypodermic injections OF opium or other
overwrought life. Yet the testimony of phy.
sicians is that the number is being very much
reduced through the prevalence Of cycling
friends find that cycling is.a better cure for
insomnia than opium.
The next lecture of the course will be on
Friday, the 18th inst, when DR.. Cheney
will talk about 1.-THE Rights of Babies