The Washington times., 1906-01-05

season just closed have been summed
up by DR.. Edward II. Nichols and Dr.
Homer b. Smith. the two surgeons who
attended the Harvard football players
from September IL to November %, and
the list of injuries is something appall-
ing
1t shows 145 injuries to members of the
squad. who were incapacitated from
playing an aggregate OF 1867 days, be-
sides losing 175 days from college work.
The surgeons think that the number of
injuries last season were greater than in
any previous season. but have no rec
ords to support the statement. They
publish an article in the Boston Medical
and Surgical Journal, and in summing
up the matter say:
Many Of the players claim that many
of the injuries are dYOidable. This year
special precautions were taken to avoid
the occurrence OF injuries. Men who
we're known TO be candidates for the
squad were notified early in the summer
to begin 10 get into good physical condi-
ton before reporting for football IN the
middle of September. Inc scIlHiihdsc
was not begun as early this year as IS
usual. in order to harden the men up
as much as possible before the Vloiehl
work began, and special pads ana dIIiioI
were provided in sufficient quantities 10
protect the players as far as ppsslpie.
Despite Special Precautions.
..In spite of these special precautions,
il is claimed that the number of injuries
was excessive. II was not noticeable
that the injuries came Ia certain groups
In the early days of the practice the
number OF strained and ruptured mus
cles was very large. especially among
the heavy men, so that almost no one
of the heavy men escaped Then came
nerfod of sprains and bruises during the
early DAYS OF the scrimmage- Ihen
came a long list OF mixed casualties, and
it is true that the number of injuries
al the end was relatively small, al
though some were Of a severe character,
showing, apparently. a survival or the
nttest.
1T does appear that expert players DO
protect themselves from injury IN
measure. but one OF us. two weeks be-
fore the Yale game. made out list
Of twenty-five men from whom II was
certain the eleven which was TO play
against Yale would be chosen. Only one
man PLAYED ia the Yale game who was
not on that list. and he had previously
twice been injured. Among those twen-
tv-two men. at the time the list was
made out, there had occurred twenty
four Injuries such as are included IN
he .'rlc, although there were two men
who al that time had been uninlured
this yesr- a fracture OF the RIOS, a
fractured nose. and a disloCated semi
lunar cartilage. as well as other m
juries, occurred among those twenty =
Two, after that list was made out Oh
2 mo rHnfs or
thirty claimed to have received no III
jtiries prior TO 1896. II seems 10 US that
no skill is sufficient TO protect a man
who plays the game long enough.
Freqa.nt Conclusion of Brain.
Gases of conclusion were frequent,
both during practice and games. IN
fact. but two games were played during
the entire season in which a case Of
conclusion of the brain did not occur
There were several noticeable features
in these cases. Frequently. the fact
that a man had received n serious head
injury was noticed by the surgeon from
the side lines before it was recognized
bv the players. This was due 20 the
fact that player might. apparently,
automatically run through consider
able series of plays before his mates
noticed that he was mentally irrespon-
sible The mental state of the players
who had concusston was variable, some
being highly excitable and hysterical.
others merely confused. and in a few
cases knccaed completely unconscious.
..Thera we're 1s0 men altogether in the
football. squad. of whom fifty. at least,
DlaveG but a very short time, varying
irOTl fe-y days TO a week or two. or
the remaining 100 only seventy can be
said to represent the real playing
strength of the football squad. This
fact makes the proportion of injuries r =
ceived thig wear almost doubly as great
as would appear at first sight.
Last Year Not Unusual.
1T has been claimed that the number
of injuries received this year was un-
usually great. and more numerous than
in any preceding season. In the absence
of any available records of other sea-
sons this point cannot be determined
accurately, but in our opinion il is prob
able that this season is not markedly
worse than preceding ones We are
confirmed in this opinion by interviews
with other men who previously have had
medical charge OF the football squad.
THE injuries were received in various
ways; some in open play. some in the
drill of ''tackling the dunn
my" bu- a very great proportion oc-
Cured il. the bunch or pile" which
forms after a player running the ball is
tackled The surgeons very quickly get
in the way of watching every pile with
great interest and apprehension. The
exact proportion between the injuries re-
ceived in The open and in the pile. how