The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-27
MARCHING EXPERIMENTS.

! Nature calls attention to an import
 ant investigation into the physiological
 effect on soldiers of route marching. Needless to say, the experiments were undertaken in Germany, one of the au-
 thors being Professor Zuntz of Berlin,
 the other Dr. Schumberg of Hanover,
 an authority on military medical sub
 jects; for it is the habit of that coun-
 try to submit questions to experimental
 tests in the hands of competent inves- tigators, instead of making use of red
 tape, or the rough-and-rea process
 of sacrificing few lives. The volumin-
 ous description of these experiments
 has been carefully summarized, and We
 gather than their aim was to ascertain
 the effect produced by marching under
 conditions more or less severe on the
 various organs and functions of the
 body
 Five members of the Kaiser Wilhelm
 Academic, the Cadet School for medical
 students designed for service in that de-
 partment of the army, volunteered for
 the experiments. They would be favor
 able subjects, not only in regard to phy
 gard to physical condition, but also be-
 cause their special education would
 make them quick to notice any unusual
 symptoms in themselves. During the
 four months from May to July they
 marched at frequent intervals, dis
 tance of about fifteen and half miles,
 without altering the route or the pace.
 Usually, they started at seven, occa- sionally at five in the morning, halting
 once for ten minutes and another time half an hour for breakfast, and they wore the usual service uniform and ac- coutrements-in fact, the only material alteration in the conditions was in the amount of weight carried. At first this was light; then the knapsacks were loaded up to forty-eight and progress sively to sixty-eight pounds. Then they sought to ascertain-continuing a set of experiments already undertaken by German War Office Commission-the limit of weight which a soldier could carry without interfering with his ca pacity for effective fighting at the end of a days march.
 Several of the results ascertained' would be intellgible only to experts; but the more important can be readily understood. Some proved that the Illdl CleI Dl lIlc IODu DScOlIiGS d very lHl- f portant matter when heavy marching is undertaken, for then, as a result of changes, the consumption of . carbohydrates is greater than the or dinary rations can supply which leaves the fat of the body as the only energy material. So, if men are to be kept in good condition, one day of rest should follow three of heavy to enable the body to make up for the loss in feeding on itself The effect of the experiments on the ex- cretory process was healthful, and the nervous system appears to have been The general condition of the men improved they got rid of su- oerf1uous fat, and so lost weight, the amount ranging from three to nearly eight pounds
 The most important and significant effects were those connected with the heart. Its action was noted in the Usual way-by the sphygmograph-an he curve produced was found to vary form with the amount of weight car jed, When that was considerable, then he hearts action evidently became abnormal, and, besides the significant 'hange in the shape of the curve, the pulse increased to 140 or even 150 beats minute. The investigators attribute hese effects to fatigue in the cardiac muscle, and conclude from them that 'ixty eight pounds is the heaviest weight which can be carried without isk of doing permanent damge to the I leart. They also ascertained that the fight side of the heart became some what dilated, leading to stagnation in ( he venous circula tion. This was mo- iced in only about half the observa- ions when the light weight was carried, ut it increased to fully S7 per cent. { with the heaviest one. Thus the well nown disordered action of the heart I mich is frequent consequence of mil | .ary training, and the cause of con- ; iderable amount of invaliding in the 'ritish army, is explained. A summary these investigations put in plain En- fish should find place in official andbook for the army We may be ure that they will not be pigeon holed I the German War Ohice.-London tandard.