Year: 1879

Risk of Athletic Work.


What risks, then, does the youth run
who puts in two, three, Or more years at
severe athletics, frequently, either when
practicing ''on time' or in his various
races, dong his very utmost, and coming
in at the end thoroughly exhausted, and |
with nothing left in him?' If, either by |
inheritance or years of vigorous exercise |
before his racing begins, he starts into it |
with q sound and strong body,is carefully |
and thoroughly trained for each contest,
tween his races, not racing every after
noon for fortnight, for instance, as in
the English ''bumping" race, and if the
distance covered is not greater than men
of his calibre have usually raced over
with impunity, he propably does not run
much risk of bodily injury or of shorten
ing his life. How one lacking one or
two Of these requirements Jared in sud-
den and severe test Of his strength and
endurance may be seen from the case of
one Of DR.. Morgan's patients, not uni
versity man: ''He was compelled
to carry a heavy sack of corn
for considerable distance without having
the opportunity Of taking rest On the way.
He was struggling to reach the end of his
journey, when he suddenly felt something
give way within his chest; he experienced
rush Of blood to the head, and fell
down insensible. One of the valves of
the left side of the heart was torn from
its attachment. Death approached
with rapid strides" The doctor hints
that this mans heart was not previously
healthy, speaks of a case of aneurism of
the heart was induced by the exertions of
boat-racc, but says intemperance' was
the cause, and asserts "unhesitatingly
that whenever by reason Of some violent
strain an accident occurs, either to the
heart itself or one Of its great vessels, that
heart was not at the time in perfectly
healthy state.' It may be said that men
who have been intemperate seldom turn
athletics, but one Of the fastest scullers
America has yet produced had, not a
great while before his best race been no.
toriously Incorporate; while the stroke
oar of a winning crew, in hard race
near New York City in 1877, had some
time before had delirium tremens. The
carrying Of the sack Of corn was probably
not harder work than is frequently done
IN a boatrace. The writer, once carried
one-hundred and -ffty-pound man on
his shoulders around the Delta at Cam
bridge, said to be a third of mile, and
forty yards, and did not find it as hard as
the last mile Of one or two stiff races, or
that he was ever the worse for it.


But how is one to know. that his heart
and lungs are free from defect, and that he
has strength and stay enough to: risk his
racing with impunity? His family
physician-or, sometimes better yet, any
physician who has made heart and lung
disorders a speciality can easily determ-
Inc the former, just as many physicians
did determine it in the war, and rejected
men from the army, or as the examining
physicians of the insurance companies de-
termine now, and admit or reject every
day. AS to the latter, long and careful
preparation; then racing over a short dis
tance, then over longer, until the
desired length can be done without dis
t1ess, and he finds that between efforts he
is none the worse for them-these will
aid him to a conclusion. If before any
youth could row or run a race he were
compelled to be examined as to his or
ganic fitness by some competent physi-
clan. and summarily rejected if there was
amy weakness; if, in addition, some per-
son equally qualified to supervise made
sure that before the contest was entered
an adequate preparation was had. it
would go far toward reducing the physical
risk to a minimum, if not quite doing
away with it. But SO long as half


grown, half developed youths can 60 into
hard rowing contests with no better quail
itication than just because they wish to,
and fellows plainly weaker even than they
can run helter-skelter in sharp and trying
foot-races, and against formidable antago-
nists, with great crowds to egg them on,
so long there unquestionably will be risks
tor the persons so injudicious. And this,
with the frequent destruction from ones
duties, and with one more thing, the only
partial development which any one sort
OF racing brings-for not yet has the
single exercise been discovered which
brings into play all or nearly all the
muscles of the body--these are probably
the chief, certainly among the chief, risks
one incurs IN turning athlete Not few
men have managed to safely pass each ;
but IT the experience of every athlete
could be frankly and fully told, there is
TOO much reason to think that the large
majority, however they may have
escaped the first, have If generally
tailed to avoid the other two And
if in the place Of these alluring but fre-
quently hazardous contests, daily vigor-
Gus work could be done which would let
the man stop when he was reasonably
tired, and before the risk begins, instead
OF keeping on to exhaustion, and if that
work could DE so chosen as to build in