Durango semi-weekly herald. (Durango, Colo.) 1899-1907, 1906-07-23
THE POISON OF FATIGUE

ihat ureu man Is really poisoned
by the accumulated waste products OF
ais own muscular activity is a theory
hat is now familiar and has been
widely accepted by psychologists.
iuch of the recent progress In ex-
claiming this condition Is due to a
}erman investigator, Weichardt, who
maintains that the product RESPONSE
ole for the trouble is definite toxin
kin, for example, to that which pro-
Juices diphtheria. II this is SO, there
must be corresponding antitoxin
hat will counterfeit its effects, and it
hould also be possible to become i'm
nune to 1t, In fact, this is exactly
he condition OF an athlete in train
ng," in Weichardt's view Says an
EDITORIAL writer in the Medical Record
New York. June 20
Among the most puzzling prob
ems with which psychology has had
o deal has been the question of mus
lie fatigue. 1t has long been assum-
Sd that during this process of dimin-
.shing irritability which we know as
.atigue, substances are produced
which exerted poisonous influence
ipon the muscle tissue. This opinion
8 based upon the facts that tired
MUSCLE can be restored almost COM
3letely by being flushed out, through
It's own vessels, with salt solution;
md that fatigue can be rapidly pro-
!uced in normal muscle by injec-
lion into 1t Of the extractives obtain
ed from muscles already fatigued.
we're was not known, but it was sup
posed that they we're definite pro-
iucts of metabolism; and sarcolactic
lcid. creatin, creatinin, with various
other proteid derivatives. have been
ield responsible.
This was. crudely stated, the poe
'ition taken by psychologists until
1904, when Weichardt came forward
with a startling hypothesis. He stat
I'd that he believed fatigue
o be due to definite
ioxin, analogous entirely to
,r to poisons Of the ricin and abrin
ype, and against which specific
,ntitoxin could be produced. To him
he previously accepted views did not
seem satisfactorily to explain the phe-
Iomena observed during the training
u athletes or soldiers, in which pro-
longed and disciplined exercise makes
i possible for individuals to support
easily an amount of work which would
prove exhausting or fatal to the un-
trained. Increased work, under any
circumstances, means increased meta
oolism, and consequently more rap
ID accumulation of its products. 1t is
therefore entirely reasonable on these
grounds to doubt the existing opinion
IN the subject. Weichardt believed
that the explanation of these phenom-
ena OF training must lie In the pos
session by the athlete Of a specific
anubody' which neutralizes the ia.
tigue toxin as 1t Is formed"
With this idea before him WEIGH.
irdt experimental with the muscle.
Juice OF guinea pigs fatigued by fore
lns them to pull against great resist
ance, and he found that, after the
waste products previously held re-
sponsibie for fatigue had been remov-
ed, the residue followed, in most re.
epects, the laws governing other tox.
ms. Says the writer:
BY its injection into animals
Weichardt could produce, by small
doses, death. accompanied by all the
symptoms observed in the original
animals during the process of me-
chanical firing. The temperature in
both cases acted fdentically; at first
rising, then rapidly falling. and con-
tinutnG to do so until death. The
substance was very sensitive to heat
Its toxicity being destroyed by an ex-
posture to Sc degrees c., and in solu-
ton 1t became effectual after only
few hours standing, unless kept at
extremely low temperatures. Finally
II was possible by the treatment of
horses with this material, to produce
an antibody In the serum of these an
imsls which neutralized the action of
the toxin
"Weichardt has gone further in his
work to determine the more intimate
nature OF the toxin, question which
cannot be well followed here A d.
rect result Of his observations upon
animals undergoing extreme fatigue,
the influence upon the temperature,
might already be put to practical use,
In that an individual undergoing the
physical strain of an athletic contest
or forced march would seem to have
entered Into period Of danger as
soon as his temperature had begun to
sink below normal.
The new paths Of theory as to the
etlology Of many clinical conditions
marked by great physical depression.
and the therapeutic conclusions to be
deduced therefrom, tempting as they
are. cannot be entered upon until
here has been further confirmation
II the attractive theory Of the fatigue
nxin.' Literary Digest