Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



SPORT, HEALTH 

 THE OLYMPIC IDEA. 



There are many million devotees of the " God of 

 the open air/' and the Century's article on " The 

 Olympic Idea : Its Origin, Foundation, and Progress," 

 comes at a timely juncture. The author is William 

 Milligan Sloane, Senior Member of the International 

 Olympic Committee. The originator of the Olympic 

 Idea and of the International Olympic Committee was 

 a young Frenchman, M. Pierre de Coubertin, who 

 some thirty years ago began to study outdoor life in 

 England and America. He travelled extensively, 

 published several books on the subject, and in his 

 own land was the organiser of clubs for cultivating 

 the more strenuous, inspiriting, and daring sports 

 which had hitherto been neglected. On June 23rd, 

 1894, M. de Coubertin summoned a meeting at the 

 Sorbonne, at which the delegates were representative, 

 selected chiefly from his wide personal acquaintance 

 in different countries. The outcome of their delibera- 

 tions was the revival of the Olympic contests. 



Mr. Sloane observes that : " Primarily sport must 

 be the medium of international conciliation. There 

 can be no rivalry without some friction, but rivalry 

 in sport .should and must be the most generous of 

 all rivalries — a contest in magnanimity. The 

 contestants and their friends at any given Olympiad 

 might not number more than a, few hundred; but 

 supposing there were only a hundred from each of the 

 contesting nations, and that forty nations were repre- 

 sented. This assembling together is no unimportant 

 agency for reciprocal acquaintance. That *^everal 

 thousand strangers are temporarily the guests at any 

 national capital makes for present fellowship and 

 future friendship. The common interest in the com- 

 petitions and daily intercourse at other times, the 

 appreciation of representative' delegations, tend 

 naturally to sweep away the cobwebs of international 

 suspicion and distrust. 



" How far the Olympic Idea may go is not yet 

 determined. Its definition for present use is suffi- 

 ciently fi.xed on the lines of its first appearance ; first, 

 to create and strengthen the bonds of friendship, such 

 as ought to exist among all civilised nations, by 

 frequent, peaceful intercourse ; secondly, to purify 

 sjjort, abolish selfish and underhand methods in the 

 struggle (or athletic supremacy, secure fair play for 

 all, even the weakest, and, as far as possible, make 

 the coiUesl and not the victory the joy of the 

 young." 



AND HOLIDAY. 



THE STADIUM AT ATHENS. 



In the July issue of the Architectural Revieiu Mr. 

 Lionel B. Budden concludes his article on " Modern 

 Athens." 



Writing of the Pan-Athcnaic Stadion, he describes 

 it as a building having no influence upon the archi- 

 tecture of other buildings, yet it is profoundly indi- 

 cative of the spirit animating many. The athletic 

 theatre across the Ilissos, in which the first of the 

 modern series of Olympic Games was held, was origi- 

 nally built under Lykourgos, 330 B.C., in the usual 

 Greek fashion, on the sides of a depression between 

 two hills. In 140 B.C. it was renewed in marble by 

 Herodes Atticus. Its final reconstruction, 1895-1905, 

 in the same material, was undertaken at the expense 

 of Averoff, a wealthy Athenian tobacco merchant. 

 This last restoration was carried out in strict con- 

 formity with e.xtant remains, under the supervision 

 of Hansen, of Vienna, who worked on the amended 

 basis of a plan originally drafted by General Metaxas. 

 The clean workmanship and carefully preserved sim- 

 plicity of the scheme, adds the writer, are. above 

 criticism ; and if the resolution of the major and sub- 

 sidiary portions of the screen colonnade could have 

 been more successfully managed, its general effect and 

 appropriateness would more than atone for the error. 



THE JEW'S IMMUNITY FROM 

 DISEASE. 



In the study of immunity from disease by Professor 

 J. A. Lindsay, in the Eugenics Review for July, he 

 says : — 



The Jew suffers less than the average of the populations 

 amongst whom he lives from .alcoholism, venereal dise.ise=^, ami 

 ill some cases from prevailing epidLMiiic diseases. He is not 

 prone to suicide. His percentage of illegitimacy and of still- 

 iiirlhs is relatively low. In modern times he enjoys some 

 degree of innnunity from leprosy, which apparonily prevailed 

 extensively amongst Jews in ancient limes. Il must he horiiu 

 in mind, however, that the leprosy of the Old Testament 

 probably include<l several diseases, such as psoriasis, vililigo 

 and scaly eczema as well as true leprosy. On ihe other side of 

 the account, the Jew suffers more than the average from 

 diabetes, hremorrhoids, nervous diseases in general, especially 

 blindness and colour-blindness, the deaf and dumb defect and 

 insanity. The Jewish death-rate under live years of age is 

 much below the gi'neral average. Tuberculosis is a doubtful 

 case. It has been aflirmed on good autliorily that the Jewish 

 tubercular rate is relalively hiw, while the ni.jsl recent observa- 

 tions point to the contrary cjntlusion. The point is an ini- 

 porlant one, and it is to be regretted that the evidence is si. 

 conflicting. Pneumonia is saiil to be relatively infrec|uei: 

 amongst Jews, but 1 cannot fnid any delinite data on tlii- 

 subjcct. 



