OCR Text |
Show cation appears Is inclined to think, that hi condemnation Is too sweeping. Says tho editor; "We feel inclined to ask whether, if there were definite evidence of 'permanent 'per-manent injury' to and 'wreckage' of boys' lives, wo should not have had an expression of opinion from the meJI-cal meJI-cal officers of public schools which would have prevented the continuance of the practice. A race or wrestle for sport Is like a race or struggle for life. Tho body is spent to the utmost, the consumption of oxygen temporarily becomes greater than the supply, and lactic acid and other products of Incomplete In-complete oxidation polfon the heart and muscles. But the body has been evolved and Is built to stand such strains In the struggle for existence: It recovers, as a rule, quickly from Its temporary intoxication by fatigue products. The healthy boy Is far less likely to push himself to the extreme of exhaustion than the man. The schoolboy, as a rule, is in better training train-ing than .the city week-end athlete (over 19). who is handicapped by long hours of office work and indulgence in tobacco; there is a great deal of talk about the athlete's heart, but very Ht-tlo Ht-tlo definite proof 'that permanent cardiac car-diac trouble is produced by overindulgence overindul-gence In athletics per 6e. In tho typo of athletes who suffer from heart trouble, syphilis and Indulgence In alcohol al-cohol and tobacco have to be reckoned with. Disorders of cardiac action produced pro-duced by excessive effort In the untrained un-trained state quiet down and entirely disappear with rest and abstention from tobacco, and leave, we believe, the heart not one whit the worse. From pathologists we can gain no definite de-finite evidence that the hearts of atn-letes atn-letes are enlarged beyond that degreo which Is the natural response to the InrrpsspH work renulred of it. The navy and the blacksmith carry out daily for manv years the severest toll, while the athlete's period of strain is usually short .... Wo fall to see any reason for stopping boys running run-ning cross-country races so long as they are fit and enjoy it, and the distances dis-tances arc of moderate length. Tho practice which requires severe criticism criti-cism Is that of compelling all boys alike to run these races. If the hoys are left to themselves, only those constitutionally con-stitutionally fit for such exercises will take to it. The others will stand aside. If cumpulsory games and runs are enforced, there ought to be strict medical inspection, so that none of the unfit and untrained may be compelled com-pelled to do muscular work beyond their powers. The training and development devel-opment of the boys' physique should be as important a part of the schoolmaster's school-master's charge as the training of mind and character. In this respect reform is urgently wanted, but we can not sec any reason for frightening all boys of cross-country runs, and setting up the idea that it is safe to indulge in such runs after 19. and not before. Boys should be taught to run, notT to win or break records, but to improe their physique and Increase their enjonient of life. A return to the true spirit of sport is what is required." DANGEROUS ATHLETICS. The London Medical Journal warns young boys against competing in Marathon races and a New York paper pa-per says: Of late, troops of boys, of all sizes and ages, clad In more or less gauzy raiment, have been seen puffing along the public roads, In various stages of exhaustion. Upon inquiry, the observer obser-ver learns that he Is witnessing a "Marathon race." This term, once descriptive of a foot race from Marathon Mara-thon to Athens, Greece, in fancied imitation of the feat of the messenger who bore to the Attic capital the news of the famous victory over the Persians, Per-sians, seems now to be applied to any foot race over highroads. Running in the open air is good exercl9e. but it should not be Indulged in to the point of exhaustion; and physicians are warning teachers and parents against this kind of competition. Long crosscountry cross-country chases, "hare-and-hounds." and the like, are open to the same objection. ob-jection. In England a letter on tho subject has been published by Sir Lauder Brunton, Sir Thomas Barlow, Drs. Goodhart and Hale White, and Sir Alfred Al-fred Frlpp, all eminent authorities, in answer to an injulry by Mr. J. Herbert Her-bert Farmer, an old football captain. The signers of the letter, as reproduced repro-duced in The British Medical Journal, as follows: "Wo have no hesitation in sayin that we consider school and cross" country races exceeding one mile in distance are wholly unsuitable for boys under the age of 19, as the continued con-tinued strain Involved Is apt to cause permanent injury to the heart and othr organs." The farmer states that the publication publica-tion of this statement may "save many a boy from physical wreckage In his youth or later years." but the editor of the journal in which the commuBi- |