PHYSIOLOGY OF STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE. 191 



rapidly, eating indigestible food, constant and intemperate use of 

 alcoholic beverages, or excessive use of tobacco — disturb the normal 

 work of the liver. Hence, one of the first aims of the athlete should 

 be to keep this organ in the best possible condition. Any clogging 

 or disturbance of the functional duties of the liver prevents the 

 blood from being in a pure state. All parts of the body will show 

 distressing symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion if the little cells of 

 the liver have become diseased or useless through intemperate living 

 and ignorance of the specific duties belonging to each separate organ 

 of the human body. 



The changes which take place in the nerves and brain, the 

 changes in the irritability of the former, and the delicate relations 

 which the latter bears to all forms of muscular work, are of too 

 chemic and technic details to be dealt with in this paper. All 

 forms of violent exercise require that the brain and nervous system 

 should be in assured perfect health; that they possess all their 

 normal attributes. 



All neurologists have seen the unfortunate and distressing effects 

 of excessive and violent exercise in persons unfit by training or 

 nature for anything more than moderate exertion. The adolescent, 

 the neurotic, and those who have passed their vigorous days, should 

 exercise only under the advice of a physician. Let those who have 

 entered into the false and foolish idea that " century runs " are an 

 indication of prowess remember the ultimate sad consequences liable 

 to follow in a few years. These misguided individuals should under- 

 stand that to be an athlete for the time being does not mean that 

 they will be healthy. Athletes are healthy, not because they are 

 athletes, but because healthy individuals are athletes. For the 

 average man past five and forty golf offers the best and safest exer- 

 cise for the Anglo-Saxon. For those who imagine that this pedes- 

 trian and philologic game requires no mental effort, the statement 

 made by a caddie to Professor Sellar will be instructive. Wlion 

 this distinguished Hellenist made his first appearance on the golfing 

 green at St. Andrews, the mature caddie who accompanied him re- 

 marked, " Ye may be guid enough, professor, at teaching laddies 

 Greek, but gouf needs a heid." Festina lente is a good rule in most 

 of the concerns of life; it is absolutely indispensable in physical 

 exercise. 



the body. During this interval of mental and moral lycanthropy alcohol is consumed in 

 large quantities until the poison has been eliminated or counteracted by the alcohol. This 

 condition must not be confused with ordinary drunkenness, or the alcoholic condition ex- 

 hibited in habitual drinkers. (See Alcohol as a Secondary Factor in Dipsomania, by 

 William Lee Howard, M. D., Medicine, February, March, 1898.) 



