The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-03-15
WEAKNESS OF JAPANESE
Their Lack Of Endurance Dis
cussed by a Physician.

Their Lack OF Endurance Dis
cussed by a Physician.
POOR MUSCLES DUE TO A RICE DIET
Chief Nutrimcnt Of the Race Deem-
ed insufficient For Any Enduring
work-Defective Development and
Growth the Regular Type of JaDa-
uesc Physique Old Age Appears
Early-The Japs Snid to Quickly
Collapse In Crises.
In q letter to the editor Of the New
York Post .Sensei' writes as follows
O II tile lack of endurance Of the Japa-
nese:
A returned traveller, Ban YAH, re-
ports some wonderful muscular stunts
performed by servants Of the pack
horse class Of Japan as an evidence
Of physical endurance of the race.
Those jinrikisha and 'No-down' push
cart men, who take the place Of horses
in that enlightened country, have an
average length Of professional life OF
exactly five years, as determined 10y
the statistics Of 10000 patients whom
I attended. They died Of cardiac VEN
ticulal. dilatution or aortic ancurism,
diseases produced by o%vercxertion ev-
e%rywhere, but nowhere are they so
frequent as in Japan. Those mel OF
Japan have not the endurance of tissue
cell to withstand the bad effects OF
their excessive muscular work except
for a very short time. The percentage
there Of damage to the vascular cen-
tral system by o~vercxcrcise is w
times that Of ours.
Besides, the rice dict, constituting the
exclusive food Of the common herd, IS
especially to be held guilty OF Japa-
nese muscular weakness FOR any endur-
ing work. 1t not only by it's ingesting
mass destroys assimilating faculty for
other substances which should feed
muscular tissues, but 1t Is not itself ut
to furnish good Authorization or to re-
generate the blood adequately. The
trihcs of food which are Introduced
with the rice, such as cheese, beans
and fish, are insufficient, aud fat is al
together lacking in the national diet
table. Now, .infmuscular exercise there
is the greatest elimination Of urea by
the excrctions, especially OF the KID
neys and skin. An enormous amount,
as l have time and again determined
with Professor Sasaki in the labora-
tory, Is evolved by these human
steeds" of Japan after long trips on the
Ral]op. It comes from the broken down
muscular tissues. I have wondered
how nature could restore this loss and
finally concluded that she v did
completely. Pernicious diseases of an
annnlic kind are the consequence, put
the victim out Of his race, or long con-
tinuous dropsies supervene. The x
haustion Of such exercises is well
shown by the mutilated appearance OF
jlnrikisha mems backs and legs, where
they burn moxa on the tired flesh to
restore temporarily the muscles. The
endurance even Of those japanese is
limited.
Naturally in all Japanese fish and
rice eaters there is a predisposition to
weakness of the vascular system, due
to fatigue of the sAin exposed to the
hot, damp temperature Of the rainy
season, June, July and August, and by
the influence of facilitating agencies
Oriental RIGHTEOUSNESS, growth and in.
tellectual or physical overexertion be
You'd their natural capacity of mind
and muscle, not to mention the weak
ening effects of one or two hot baths
every day of their existence. To per
the last remnant Of positive vascular
pressure, which, with the extreme hu
midity of the air, requires such a strug
gle as is apt to end to the disadvan
tagc Of normal excretions. Much great
er vascular pressure is therefore neces
sary to maintain normal compensation
in those climates, without which equi
librium endurance is impossible. Thus
violent t~ransudation must occur, ant
pernicious symptoms are observed ear
lier in life than with us. The endur
ance of the evil physically is not Al
great as with us.
The Japanese is above everythin.
else, physically, a Malayan Chinaman
and nothing else. All his diseases o
nutrition must be referred to his beinl
a rice eating Monaghan. His Malayal
ancestors brought him only his mai
row thorax, the physical root of som
Of his shortcomings, an endowment b
has today, from those prehistoric ar
cestors. The influence Of other ma
lions as had intimate intercourse wit
Japan helped to form his physica
character.
With what avidity the Japanese az
proprlated the treasures Of Chimes
science! Like a porous mass, the
sucked in a deluge Of Chinese know
edge with impatient greed withou
even waiting for the impurities to Sc