MIDDLE AND DISTANCE RUNNING 29 



facts, i. e., the manner in which they have been affected by their run- 

 ning; second as to their opinions, i. e., whether or not they consider 

 distance racing and cross-country running safe and valuable forms 

 of exercise. The facts to which they testify must be considered as 

 final; the opinions they express, even if not accepted as conclusive, 

 must be of greater value than opinions based merely upon theory, 

 for they are the incarnation of living experience, formed through 

 days, weeks and months of hard grueling work, through knowledge 

 of the manner in which their team mates bore the drudgery of train- 

 ing and the strain of contest, and shaped finally by their own physical 

 condition during the years which have elapsed since they ran. 



Injuries to the Heart. — In view of the general belief that run- 

 ning is apt to injure the heart, particular attention was given to this 

 phase of the question. Contrary to expectation, permanent injury 

 to the heart was found to be very rare, only three men testifying to 

 this effect and in these three cases the injury manifests itself only 

 in unusual exertion. Twelve others developed functional heart af- 

 fections, irregularity, palpitation, etc. Further correspondence with 

 these men shows that all of these functional irregularities have been 

 entirely cured. Ten of these fifteen men had what is known as " ath- 

 lete's heart," three of the cases persisting to this day, as stated above. 



Generally speaking, the term " athlete's heart " is very vaguely 

 comprehended. In medicine, it is defined as compensatory car- 

 diac hypertrophy' — that is to say, it defines a heart which although 

 it has become enlarged, still performs its functions perfectly. Such 

 a heart is normal in an athlete or in any man who performs vigor- 

 ous physical exercise, the fibers growing firmer and larger as the 

 demands upon the organ increase, just as a man's muscles grow 

 firmer and larger under a month's outing in the woods. In almost 

 every instance a heart of this type will shrink to approximately its 

 former size without injury to its tissues, after the exercise has been 

 discontinued. When, however, a man pushes his exercise too far, 

 his heart may develop valvular insufficiency, palpitation or other 

 functional irregularity, and I am inclined to believe that this is what 

 the average physician means when he tells a man that he has " ath- 

 lete's heart." This was so in most of the cases mentioned above, 

 nevertheless, all but three of the men have since been cured. "Ath- 

 lete's heart" is usually a temporary condition and permanent injury 

 from overwork is rarely found. In an experience with school boys in 

 all branches of athletics extending over a period of fifteen years, I have 

 met with but one case of true athlete's heart, and this boy's physician 

 told him that if he would abstain from violent exercise for six months 

 he would be entirely cured. This heart affection was brought about by 

 two years of hard training for the mile, beginning at an early age. 

 This case, together with the free expression of opinion from athletes to 



