The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1901-10-30
BENEFITS OF EXERCISE
\New Theory of Physical Train
ing by Professor Hough.
SOME INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS

They Were Made Mt the Massacbu-
seus institute of PechnoIogy-Ef-
fects of Muscular Exercise ON 9th
er orguns-The Need of Recesses In
schools.
Professor Theodore Hough Of the
Massachusetts, Institute of Technology
has been making some interesting ex-
periments which go to show how mus
cular exercise favorably affects other
organs of the body than those which
Ore Immediately concerned. From Pro
<essor Hough's conclusions IL appears
that the value of muscular exercise has
never been fully appreciated by physi-
ologsts. The life of the body, he points
out, is contained in tiny cells scattered
all through it which receive uourish-
ment, throw off waste and may be said
TO live independent lives of their own.
These cells exist i'm the skin. in the
muscles, in the glands ana in tissn
as well as in the blood, and their activi-
ty means bodily health and vigor. If,
ON the other hand. the cells are injured
or starved or become slothful In their
action the whole machinery Of the body
- disorganized and the system must
pay the penalty. The blood brings nour-
ishment TO the cells and carries away
the waste products of their activity,
but the same offices are also performed
to measurable extent by the lymph,
and the particular point made by Pro
fessor Hough is that many cells lie at
-spch a distance from the nearest blood
vessels that they are chiefly dependent
upon the lymph for their nutrition.
While psychologists have recognized the
waste carrying power Of lymph, they
have neglected in their textbooks 10
give it proper credit as a medium of nu-
triton.
Without going too deeply into the
technical side of the subject, recent
investigations seem TO show conclu-
sively two things-Grst, that muscular
exercise has pumping effect through
the contraction and expansion Of the
muscles themselves that directly slim
Aulates the now Of lymph, and, second,
that such exercise, inasmuch as it
causes deeper breathing, indirectly in
creases the circulation of lymph
through the whole body, since deep
breathing produces greater suction in
the chief lymphatic channels.
In other words, it is claimed that
muscular exercise and the deeper
breathing which follows it have a
more general favorable effect than
could result from the mere quickening
of the circulation of the blood OF from
the more thorough ventilation of the
lungs. This effect Is achieved 10y the
uuickening of the circulation Of the
lymph. so that more nourishment Is
carried 10 the living cells, whether In
the muscles. IN the skin. In the brain
tddneys, liver or glands, thus assuring
a'universal activity, which is neces
sGry for the best physical well being
II thus follows that n mans brain Is
actually stronger for example, If hC
exercises his legs or TINT he can digest
more food If he takes q dumbbell ex
ercise. 1t is not necessary, says Pro
fessor Hough, that the exercise should
be excessive or long continued. Ere
Ouent short recesses, for example, IL
Which children may engage In active
play, are urged as a necessary part Of
their physical training. In regard Il
the objections that have been made L
the recess on the ground that it give
one pupil an opportunity to exert q ba'
moral influence on others, Professo
Hough adds: "This is survival O.
that asceticism which once supposed
that the mind thrives best when th'
body is neglected and despised. Th
danger of an immoral life is rather eE
hanced by denying the living cells o
the body their normal healthy environ
ment and so their chance of norma
hpalthy growth"