PAPERS OF GENERAL INTEREST 59 



GAINING AND LOSING POWER 



Casper L. Redfield, Chicago, III. 



A man goes into a gymnasium and takes up physical 

 training. The first day he gets tired very quickly. The 

 second day is the same, and the third day and the fourth 

 day. But if he continues, there soon comes a day when he 

 can exercise longer and harder without becoming so tired. 

 And if he keeps on day after day, and month after month, 

 he finds he continually gains in his capability of with- 

 standing severe exercise without weariness. 



When a man who has been leading an active life changes 

 to a sedentaiy one he finds, after a few months, that he 

 has lost something of that eiiergj^ vim, pep, which he 

 had before, and that he tires more quickly than when he 

 was active. If his sedentary life continues year after 

 year, he finds that his pln'sical powers continually de- 

 cline. 



What is this thing which is gained by exercise and lost 

 by idleness? Wliat are the conditions under which there 

 is a change from gain to loss or the reverse ? How long 

 will gain in powers continue to follow exercise and loss 

 of powers follow idleness ? What are the limits of gain 

 and loss? Can an animal by continual exercise become 

 more powerful than any ancestor ? To how many differ- 

 ent organs does this kind of gain or loss apply? 



The object here is to bring together some of the facts 

 which will help to furnish answers to these questions. 

 The facts bearing upon this matter are to be found in 

 many and diverse places, but we will consider only such 

 as lend themselves most readily to scientific exactness, or 

 are most convenient for illustration. 



Of all animals, the trotting horse has been more regu- 

 larly and continuously trained for the purpose of pro- 

 ducing physical development than any other, and the 

 mile track and stop watch furnish scientifically exact 

 means for measuring the gain coming from exercise. It 

 is universally recognized that powers continue to develop 

 during growth, but it is generally believed, and some- 

 times stated, that such development ceases when the ani- 



