The record-union., 1898-11-19
OF INT EREST TO CYCLISTS.
A PHYSICIAN WHO BELIEVES
IN CYCLING FOR WOMEN.
The Question of Various Exercises
Horseback Riding-Wa1k-
ing-How TO Ride.

ing-How TO Ride.
The following article is from the pen
of Mrs. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, M. u.
She is President Of the staff OF the
National Temperance Hospital, Profes-
sor of Obstetrics Northwestern Unlver-
sity Woman's Medical School, lecturer
in the Illinois Training School for
Nurses, consulting physician OF the
Chicago Womans Hospital, consulting
physician of the, Erring Women's Ref
uge, attending physician of Thompson
Hospital, President of the Chicago Ma
ternity Hospital, member of the Inter-
national Association of Obstetrics and
Gnyecology, A. L. G. NJ.
We give up the cyclist department
to the paper this week because of the
value Of the suggestions in it.
1 am a, convert; no prejudice could
have been stronger than was mine
against bicycling for women. The first
woman I ever saw on wheels had short
hair, wore boomers, chewed gum and
leaned forward in the position OF the
"scorcher." The total ensemble was to
me both ungraceful and disgraceful.
But the more / studied into the ques-
ton Of exercise per Sc, the more have
[ become convinced that UP to the pres
ent time nothing could take the place
of the bicycle-what may be the inyen-
tionS of the future no one can say.
The ideal exercise is one which brings
into play all the important muscles of
the body. Why is it important or neces-
sary that muscles should be made to
act2 It is the function of muscle to
| contract - the muscular is the
most contractile of all the It's
sues of the body - and if this
function is not performed fire.
quently and regularly the power is lost
or enfeebled. During the contractions
all the useless material in the muscle
is, roughly speaking squeezed out, also
the blood vessels and lymphatics are
emptied and refilled-the circulation
and respiration are quickened, and
much waste material finds it's way out
of the system through the processes of
expiration from the lungs and perspira-
| tion from the skin. Thus are internal
tcongestions relieved In congestion that
portion of the blood which should be at
the periphery of the body is using the
central organs or viscera as reservoirs,
filed with waste-the so-called sa1ka-
| loids and toxins. One of the first re-
suits of active exercise is to send the
blood bounding to the surface where it
| is, so to speak. drained or strained of
| its waste products; and the person ex-
ercising feels a buoyancy and sense of
well being, because his brain is sup
piled with clean instead of dirty blood.
L -1-& =
same end cannot be obtained by some
kind Of useful employment, real labor
why waste time and money on a BIZ
| cycle when there is so much work to
be done? Let US see why.
No occupation of which I know ex-
ercises all the muscles tremendously
wood chopping comes, perhaps, the
nearest to this ideal. And thus Mr..
Gladstone very scientifically preserved
his health and prolonged his life, to
say nothing of the. judicious care he
received from Mrs. Gladstone. But
even in wood chopping the muscles of
the back are unduly extended, while the
| anterior muscles are unduly fexed, un-
| less it We're possible to swing the ak
while the body is standing erect AT
all events, wood chopping can never
become universal, especially among wo-
men. Other occupations exercise one
set of muscles at the expense os the
| other, the 1aborers become stopped,
| one shoulder drops below the other
and, as the body grows old, we have
a hemiparesis- or paraparesis, accord
| ing as half the body longitudinaliy or
| horizontally has been used at the ex-
pense of the other half Another SER
ious objection is that nearly all labor
is performed indoors in foul, dust laden
| air.
1t has been urged by physicians that
housework for women might well take
the place of the bicycle-especially have
sweeping, busting and bedmaling been
urged. In my opinion brooms and
feather busters should be banished from
| every house-they merely transform
passive into active dust, to say moth
| ing of the germs they send flying into
| the air to be inhaled along with the
| dust. Dust, wherever it is, should be
wiped up. As to the dusty process of
bedmaking, even in the best regulated
homes, it can in no wise take the place
of the bicycle as a health giving exer-
else.
No class of people is in greater need
| of the benefits of the bicycle than is
the laboring class. Beside the harmo-
NOUS muscular development, it brings
something equally precious, viz: Diver
/ sion, pleasure, of whose value I shall
/ speak later. Instead, then, of convert
ing all the bicycle riders into laborers-
desirable as that surely would be. I
should convert all laborers into bicycle
riders, both for their own good and for
the good of their work.
Leaving the occupations, or manual
labor as all inadequate to develop a
perfect muscular system, let us review
some of the exercises that are sought
for health or amusement, or both
Probably among all these horseback
riding is the most popular. Physicians
are particularly fond of prescribing it
perhaps in the same way they prescribe
wine and a sea voya age-they sDund well
TO do, and patients generally like horses,
ships and wine. Some great physician
once said the best thing for the inside
of a man is the outside of a horse. Yes,
but the horse does the work-the riders
exercise is passive to a great extent 1t
is like being swung in a hammock or
taking a jolting Swedish movement out
in the open air. One gets tired from
riding and ones muscles become lame,
not from use but from cramped or
strained positions The blood is made
to circulate more freely and perspira-
tion is induced, but not from general
muscular contractions. In the case Of
women. the side-saddle enforces an un-
natural or abnormal relation Of the
hn ha7 ~ fho n 17cA fJ,e,