Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-21
THE POISON OF FATIGUE.
Toxic Influence Of Accumulated
Waste Products.

| From the Literary Digest.
| That tired man is really poisoned by
! the accumulated waste products OF his own
| muscular activity is theory that is now
| familiar and has been widely accepted by
| Psychologists. Much of the recent progress
| in explaining this condition is due to
German investigator. Weichardt. who main
tains that the product responsible for the
trouble Is definite toxin akin, for example,
| to that which produces diphtheria. If this
| Is so, there must be corresponding anti
! toxin that will counteract its effects and it
| should also be possible to become immune
| to it In fact, this is exactly the condition
! OF athlete in training" in Weichardts
view. Says editorial writer in The Medi-
| cal Record:
| Among the most puzzlifg problems with
which physiology has had to deal has been
| the question of muscle fatigue. 1t has long
been assumed that during this process of
diminishing rr. ability which we know
fatigue. substances are produced which ex-
erted a poisonous influence upon the muscle
tissue. This opinion Is based upon the facts
that tired muscle can be restored almost
completely by being flushed out, through
its own vessels, with salt solution; and that
fatigue can be rapidly produced in a normal
muscle by injection into 1t OF the extrec-
tives obtained from muscles already Ia
tigued Exactly what these toxic substances
were was not known. but 1t was supposed
that they were definite products of metabol-
with various other proteid derivatives. have
been held responsible
This was, crudely stated. the position
taken by psychologists until 1904. when
Weichardt came forward with startling
hypothesis. He stated that he belived ia
tigue to be due to definite toxin. analogous
entirely to the toxins of tetanus and diph-
iberia or to poisons of the ricin and abrin
type and against which specific antitoxin
could be produced. To him the previously
accepted views did not seem satisfactorily
to explain the phenomena observed OUTING
the training of athletes or OF soialers. IN
which prolonged and disciplined exercise
makes 1t possible for individuals TO support
easily an amount of work winch would
prove exhaustipg or even fatai TO the uh-
trained. Increased work, under any CIT
cumstances, means increased metabolism'
and consequently more rapid aecumula-
ton of it's products. 1t is. therefore, entire
Iy reasonable on these grounds TO doubt
the existing opinion on the subject WEIGH
ardt believed that the explanation OF THESE
phenomena of training must lie In the
possession by the athlete of a specihc anti,
body which neutralizes the fatigue TOXIN
as soon as 1t Is formed.
with this idea before ham, Weichardt ex-
perimented with the nIuscie-Juice OF guinea
pigs fatigued by forcing them 10 pun
eainst resistance and he found that, after
the waste products previously held response
BILE for fatigue had been removed the resi-
due followed, in most respects. the laws
governing other toxins. Says the writer:
"F,v its infection into animals Weichardt
could produce, by small doses, rapid Ia
tigue: by large doses. death, accoinpaIieo
by all the symptoms observed In the orlgi-
nal animals during process of mechanical
firing The temperature in both cases acted
identcaIly; at first rising, then rapidly IAN
ing and continuing to do so until death-
The substance was very sensitive TO neat,
its toxicity being destroyed by an exposure
to Sc degrees c., and in solution II became
ineffectual after only few hours standing,
unless kept at extremely low temperatures
Finally, 1t was possible, by the treatment OF
horses with this material. to produce an
antfbody In the serum or these aniinaIs
which neutralized the action OF ehe
toxin
..Vreichardt has gone further In his work
70 determine the more intimate nature or the
TORN a question which cannot wen De loi-
loved here direct result OF ms
observations upon animals undergoing ex
tren,s fatigue the influence upon the .eIn
nerature. might already be put TO pracucal
rss In that an individual undergoing the
nbvsical strain of an athletic contest or a
forcad march would seem to nave entered
into a period of danger as soon as MS tenn
narafure had begun to sink below normal
siFhe new paths of theory as TO the e.iei-
npv OF many ciiricals conditions marked py =
rTeat physical depression. and the thera-
ne,,sie conclusions to be deduced therefrom,
femnt,ux as they are. cannot be entered
nnon until there has been further coHfirma-
ton of the attractive theory of the fatigue
t.vt IN