40 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



When one recalls the distances covered in the six-day go-as-you- 

 please contests in vogue in this country some years ago, there is nothing 

 incredible in this. If men of this day can average over a hundred 

 miles a day for six days, what is there incredible in one of a race trained 

 from childhood covering three hundred miles in three days? The 

 interesting fact, in view of the scope of this article, is that the Kahars, 

 trained from childhood to be distance runners, lived to be old men; 

 that they were not only able to stand the strain of running great dis- 

 tances under a heavy load, but thrived under it. 



I remember years ago of hearing that the post runners of India 

 died at about the age of forty as a result of their exertions, but I have 

 been unable to find any foundation for such a statement. Positive 

 information in regard to the mortality of Indian post runners is un- 

 available, as they are relatively very few in number and of inferior 

 caste, so that they are not mentioned as a caste in health statistics. 

 Mr. John Cornwall, late postmaster general in the United Provinces, 

 India, writes, that the Indian mail runners cover fifteen to eighteen 

 miles a day, that there is never any difficulty in getting men to under- 

 take the duties and that he never heard of them succumbing at the early 

 age of forty. The rumor may, he says, have arisen from " the arrange- 

 ment that Sowcars (bankers or money dealers) and Bunyas (merchants 

 and traders) made in pre-mutiny days, to obtain early information as 

 to the markets, rates of exchange, etc. They employed private per- 

 sons, trained runners, to outstrip the regular mail carriers and convey 

 information up country from trade centers. It was no uncommon 

 thing, fifty years ago to see these messengers " arriving with messages 

 sealed up in quills, and with their leg sinews swollen and strained from 

 their exertions," but there is no definite and authoritative statement 

 that their lives were shortened by their work. 



Conclusions. — It seems to be an open question whether cross-country 

 racing is safe for any but men of exceptional strength with the proba- 

 bilities in the negative. It is evident that distance racing of any kind 

 is attended with a certain amount of risk, which, however, can be re- 

 duced to a minimum by proper training. There is nothing in the 

 testimony given by the athletes to show that distance running depletes 

 vitality. As a matter of fact the presumptive weight of evidence is to 

 the contrary. The facts revealed concerning the jinrickisha men and 

 the Kahar runner emphasize this conclusion. If, notwithstanding his 

 irregular diet, excessive use of liquors, exposure to the elements, etc., the 

 jinrickisha man can live to a reasonable age; if, as shown by Mr. Har- 

 vey's testimony, Kahar runners live to be old men notwithstanding 

 their extraordinary feats of endurance, we may safely conclude that the 

 infinitely milder work of the college man, usually done under the best 

 conditions, is not likely to injure him, and the evidence at hand appears 

 to establish this beyond reasonable doubt. But the number of injuries 



