SPORT AND HEALTH 63 



with those who, Hke most readers of this 

 book, have some other occupation besides 

 sport to attend to. The writer cannot pre- 

 tend, of course, to anv scientific knowledge 

 of the laws of health in relation to exercise, 

 more than is within the reach of ordinary 

 people. Yet he has had a long experience, 

 and has almost always had to combine work 

 and play. The suggestions which follow are 

 those which are derived from practical ex- 

 perience. It may be laid down in the first 

 instance as a self-evident proposition that the 

 amount of mental and bodily energy which is 

 possessed by any given individual is a limited 

 quantity, which moreover is not constant, but 

 varies from time to time with the conditions of 

 life or the state of health. We must, then, 

 adjust our expenditure, and to use a well- 

 known metaphor, according to our credit 

 balance at the bank. An overdraft has to 

 be met at some time or other. 



One of the reasons why sport, and more 

 particularly those riding and driving sports of 

 which I am now writino-, are sometimes in- 

 jurious, is that men rush into them without 

 sufficient preparation and without being '' fit " 

 to undertake them. No man out of condition, 

 however skilled an oar he might be, would 

 undertake to row in a boat-race without 



