Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 37, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1905 — ABUSE OF ATHLETICS. [ARTICLE]

ABUSE OF ATHLETICS.

•tattle ftallillMK Dors Not Jieoessnrily Improve the Health. Athletics may be good or evil and in the same manner as a two edged •word. The prime object in athletic.; is improvement of the general health. One (Writer has said that health, like bapsplaess, does not exist, lie said the ibody consists of a number of mechanisms which have the closest and most exact relations, and as they approxicnate to harmony there is health, but When disordered there is ill health. To obtain good health muscle building is not a necessity. One cannot Judge of the person’s health by the size *nd hardness of the muscles. The converse may he true. To obtain health one must not be in * perfectly trained condition owing to the effects of severe training on the nervous system. There is no evidence to prove that •ihlctics and muscle building improve the constitution. One should always keep in mind the that built up or hypertrophied vmt?>v' c * las a tendency to degenerate. The hwjv ' being a muscular organ, 'ttanVintbis r,7' ,U “ 1K ' y ' , , , In regard to the uT° ral sule f , the <lllOßllOll. it remains to he nrw ' C(l ,llat .athletics per se corrupt tlie ‘ ,/ Dr, F. It Stnrgls is confident that au. letles improve the morals of a eommuJQity. Although the evidence for and athletics, is contradictory, the .-subject may be summed up by i stating that athletics are beneficial - when properly and judiciously applied land every Injurious when the precauabove mentioned are ignored or carelessly regarded. -Medical Record.