i88 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



capital must not be expended at a greater rate than it can be re- 

 placed; if it is expended at a greater rate, fatigue commences, and 

 a continuance of this expenditure results in physical bankruptcy. 

 The muscle is continually undergoing change of material. The 

 minute substances which make up the muscle, and whose very ac- 

 tions keep it alive, are being continually cast off, fresh substances 

 taking their place. The cast-off material is the fatigue poison. 

 Without muscle rest this dead, poisonous detritus can not be re- 

 placed fast enough by the new products, and the result is an im- 

 poverished capital of potential elements. This does not apply only 

 to the muscle in active use up to this point, but to all muscles of 

 the body. 



The energy products of food are delivered up to the muscle by 

 the blood, and this fluid picks up and carries away the cast-off dead 

 substances of the muscle. " If the working muscle has taken ma- 

 terial from the blood, this material is lost to all the rest; and if the 

 working muscle has given off to the blood poisonous material, this is 

 added to the other parts " (Lombard; Howell's Physiology). These 

 latter, the fatigue products, are only gradually eliminated from the 

 blood. It will now be recognized that to keep on the right side of 

 the danger line in exercise the muscle must have short intervals of 

 rest. Nature so well understood the proneness of man not to heed 

 advice that she placed the action of one muscle beyond his control. 

 This muscle is so internally constructed and adjusted that it has its 

 regular jDcriods of rest, and only in disorder of the body can its 

 expenditure be raised beyond its means. This muscle, the heart, 

 though making contractions at the rate of seventy-two times a 

 minute, is able to continue its work without fatigue throughout the 

 life of the individual. Each contraction of this muscle is followed 

 by an interval of rest, during which the cells recuperate. Push con- 

 tinually the heart beats to a very rapid rate and we approach the 

 danger point at which the fatigue products can not be replaced by 

 fresh cells; the intervals of rest are not sufficient. The same con- 

 dition exists in every muscle. It is in the extreme rapid exercise, 

 such as sprinting and certain phases of bicycle racing, that we often 

 see either immediate or ultimate collapse followed by irremediable 

 loss of health. 



It should be impressed upon all young persons that during life 

 each member of the body, in the very act of living, produces poison 

 to itself. When this poison accumulates faster than it can be elimi- 

 nated, which always occurs unless the muscle has an interval of rest, 

 then will come fatigue, which is only another expression for toxic 

 infection. If the muscle is given an interval of rest, so that the 

 cell can give off its waste product to keep pace with the new produc- 



