Arizona republican., 1906-01-14
A PROFESSIONAL VIEW.
What Surgeons Say of the Effects of
 Football.

The professional study of the liar 1 ward football team made by its at l tending surgeons during the past sea son, is a noteworthy contribution to l the football discussion. The doctors who have signed this calm and scien- 1 tific statement cannot be charged with sensationalism, or with a lack of sym pathy with athletics. One of them was an athlete of note in his time. Being surgeons of standing and experience, | they are not to be made hystericaI by | little bloodshed or broken bone or i two. Yet as a result of their study they find that the number. severity and permanence of injuries received 1 by football men 'are much greater than generally is credited or believed" :" and that the percentage of injuries is 'incomparably greater than in any other of the major sports" requires the constant attendance of two trained surgeons, and is much too great for any mere sport. Naturally, they de- mand a radical modification of the game.
 It is rumored in Cambridge that when Dr. Nichols, the senior surgeon, announces his intention to publish the surgical results of the season. he was besought by prominent Harvard men
 
 death of the game. Whether this was a correct prognOsis or not, time will show In our opinion. there are ethi- cal and scholastic reasons enough for the abolition of football, quite aside from this question of the physical haz- ard involved. But everybody interest ed cannot fail to be astonished at pr. Nichols findings, whether he be a Harvard oYerseer or merely an advo-
 
 injuries, serious enough to be noted by the surgeons, were received by the players, of whom seventy played throughout the season. For a couple of days or for a week there were 15O registered candidates, but most of these dropped out speedily; hence, in pr. Nichols opinion, the proportion of injuries was almost double what appears at first sight. In other words, it may be deduced that nearly every one of the regular players received two injuries requiring prompt surgical at tendance. Two weeks before the Yale game, one of the doctors made out list of twenty players from whom it was certain that the players against Yale would be drawn. These twenty two players had been injured twenty four times before this list was made out. A twenty-third, who did get into the game, had been twice injured. In the two weeks remaining. despite the most careful nursing, three serious in juries and a number of minor ones oc- cured.
 These Harvard surgeons are there 1 fore convinced that, no matter how skilled a player is. he is certain in the long run to be injured. Their injuries at the outset of the season showed that only thirty out of 150 candidates claimed to have received no previous 1 injuries. and there is reason to believe that absolutely accurate returns by players would have reduced this figure considerably. The game, furthermore, makes the players dangerously indif- ferent to bodily welfare, with the result that only those survive whose nerves do not readily respond to pain. As a | result. the Harvard doctors declare that the game does not develop the best type of men physically, but re- suits in the prominence of men of weight without corresponding nervous energy. No less than nineteen serious conclusions of the brain were noted in this season of seven or eight weeks, only two games being played in which at least one case did not occur. All results in serious loss of memory, and made possible the hemorrhage of the brain which actually afflicted the cap tain of the team, who if Boston dis patches are correct. must revise his whole plan of life, and indefinitely re- main under careful medical super vision.-New York Evening Post.
 -O- The enjoyment a woman gets out of having her daughter go to a parry is