STRAIN AND OVER-ACTION OF THE HEART. 23 



player for seven years, but has played ball since a boy. For 

 the last few years has not been in as good health as usual, 

 being at times a dyspeptic, and subject to biliousness — also to 

 a winter cough, for which he spent a winter in the South. 

 There is, however, no organic disease of the lungs discernible, 

 though the facts mentioned may account for the cough, the 

 shooting pains on the left side of the chest, the palpitation and 

 shortness of breath noticed occasionally after running, but 

 never lasting more than a few minutes — nor, indeed, appearing 

 until resting after the match. The chest is well developed ; 

 the pulse 84 ; the respirations are 22 in the minute. The 

 impulse of the heart is felt in two intercostal spaces, is of 

 rather more than average force ; so is the first sound heavier 

 than usual, the second sound is distinct, but all are still 

 within normal range, as is the well-marked percussion dul- 

 ness of the cardiac region. 



A. C. A., age 22; height 6 feet 2| inches; weight 206 

 pounds, with a full chest, measuring 36 inches ; a splendid 

 specimen of a man. He plays right field or third base, and 

 has been a professional player for four years, but has been 

 devoted to ball since boyhood. Never feels short of breath, 

 even after a long match, and is always in perfect health. Tlie 

 pulse is 72 ; the respirations are 18 in the minute. There is 

 nothing about the impulse, the sounds, or the size of the heart 

 requiring comment. The pulse at the wrist does not seem so 

 strong as the distinct cardiac impulse would implj'. 



From the statements made you will draw then this conclu- 

 sion, that as regards the effect on the circulation, all active, 

 even violent exercise, is only injui'ious when too steadily per- 

 severed in ; and that it is the intermitting which protects, and 

 which is the cause why these exercises and pastimes are less 

 productive of cardiac afiection than the hurrying and impeding 

 of the circulation, occasioned less palpably, but more con- 

 stantly, by certain occupations. Of course, in persons in ad- 



