The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-06-30
EX ER else FOR BABY.
"A PHYSICIANS VIEWS ON THIS VERY
IMPORTANT QUESTION.

4 Influence of Reprcsscd Activity on tho
Growth and Development of Infants.
This Authority Declares Positively Tor
Freedom OF Movement.
Infantile Athletics was the subject
Y of q paper road at q meeting of the sec
tion on pediatrics of tho New York
Academy of Medicine by DIR. Henry
Ling Taylor.
sWhen one considers the important
physiological effects of muscular activ-
ity," said DR.. Taylor, sit is apparent
4 that the human organism is imperfectly
adapted to q sluggish or sedenta1y ex-
istence. Medical practice, Mt least in
the cities. is largely made up of disor-
ders which arc distinctly traceable to
the neglect of proper exercise. PRINT
tive man, being obliged to hunt and
fight in order to exist, was of necessity
athletic, and now that the struggle has
III q measure been shifted from Drawn
to brain, men still find it advantageous
to train their muscles in sports and
games When the important relation of
muscular activity to nutrition, rcspira-
ton, circulation and elimination is re-
called, this wholesome instinct easily
finds its vindication. Every muscular
mass is in an important sense supple
mentary heart and supplementary
kidney. The lungs are never thorough
ly ventilated, except through vigorous
exercise. Moreover, the nervous and
muscular elements arc so intimately
related as to form practically but one
system. Education and progress come
through motor and sensory experience
that is, largely through muscular activ-
ity. Growth itself is influenced by exer-
else.
DR.. III. q. Boyer of the United States
Naval academy has shown that not only
do those cadets who take systematic
gymnastio training largely exceed those
who do not in average gain in weight,
lung capacity and strength, but that
their average gain i'll height during tho
four years is greater by over an inch.
The cadets range i'll ago from 16 to 81
years, and it is probable that appropri-
ate exercise would have similar if not
greater effect i'll children.
1t is even more true of the infant
than of the adult that the kind and de-
gree Of habitual muscular activity will
largely determine tho structure of the
body and the tone of the mind and char
acter. 1t is moro true because the in
FAINT is moro incomplete and moro plas-
tic. The newborn babe is, as it were,
but half made. Its organs are imma-
ture, its activities restricted, and they
will never attain full and harmonious
development except under the stimulus
of use. 1t is not without significance
that exercise is begun five months OF
moro before birth, and that tho infant
appears upon the scene with kick and
cry. Though among the most helpless
of NATURES children, the infant comes
with considerable training and some re-
markable muscular endowments, as, for
instance, the we'll known ability to sup
port itseif by grasping q horizontal rod.
In waking hours the small limbs prac-
tice constant and vigorous movements,
specifically aimed, but important in
producing tissue changes fundamental
to nutrition, rs we'll as in furnishing
sensory and motor experience necessary
to mental and bodily growth, develop
ment and power.
"At 8 months Of age the baby finds
its hands and begins to reach out for
and hold objects; Mt or 0 months it
creeps; at - or ii it walks, and so
progresses from simple to complex pur-