308 
For reasons which seemed to his professional judgment 
sufficient, he took the side of the alarmists, and pro- 
nounced an opinion, strongly expressed, against boat- 
racing as now practised. These letters were answered 
with more or less ability by votaries of the oar, men then 
actively engaged in rowing, or who had recently been so. 
The controversy lasted for some time, and at last rather 
died ott, or was allowed to drop, than brought to any 
satisfactory conclusion by the arguments or proofs ad- 
vanced on either side. By the opponents of boat-racing 
the case was opened rather unguardedly by statements 
requiring a stronger array of facts than could be brought 
to support them when the call for proofs was made ; by 
its defenders was met by the somewhat blunt rejoinder, 
“ You don’t know anything about it ; you never lifted an oar 
in your life.” The former forgetting that there is nothing 
so difficult to overcome as enthusiasm, esprit de corps, and, 
perhaps, prejudice ; the latter forgetting that the effects 
of certain modes of exertion on certain organs and tissues 
of the human body may be sagely divined by a skilful 
and experienced physician or surgeon, without his ever 
having in his own person practically undergone such 
exertion. 
As we have said, the argument dropped rather than was 
brought to any satisfactory conclusion, and if each side 
did not claim the victory, each stoutly denied that the 
other had won. Unto this day do we hear alarms sounded 
with reference to these races, again does paterfamilias 
feel nervous qualms at the intelligence that his son has 
betaken himself to the river. Again do non-rowing men 
console themselves for the want of river distinctions by 
the thought of their exemption from its risks and Jiabili- 
ties, and again do rowing men enjoy the ec/a¢ of having 
greatly dared for the reputation of their Colleges and Uni- 
versity, with the secret conviction and comfort that the 
dangers they have run have been very slight indeed. 
It was to close this open question for ever, and settle 
once for all this standing dispute which has many scien- 
tific aspects of great interest, that Dr. Morgan under- 
took the present work, recognising evidently to the full 
the standpoint selected by the disputants in the contro- 
versy, the one, their practical knowledge as experi- 
enced oarsmen, the other, his theoretical knowledge as 
a scientific surgeon; for, as the author informs us, his 
qualifications for the task are twofold :— 
“As a physician to a large hospital, I have necessarily 
enjoyed large opportunities of gaining an insight into the 
laws which regulate our health, while my rowing experi- 
ence began at Shrewsbury (where I spent many a pleasant 
hour on the Severn), and was matured at University Col- 
lege, Oxford, where I was for three years Captain of the 
John +, a boat which has often played a prominent part 
in the struggles on the Isis, and which has served as the 
training school for no fewer than ten of the crews which 
during the last thirty years have won the University Fours.” 
These qualifications certainly seem adequate to the 
task, and the plan pursued by Dr. Morgan also seems the 
best possible, albeit entailing enormous labour on, and 
demanding vast patience from, him. This plan was 
simply to institute a strict and exhaustive search after all 
the men who have rowed in these inter- University contests ; 
to track them, as it were, to whatever part of the world | 
they may have gone: this done, to get their own written 
NATURE 
| [Mar. 27, 1873 - 
testimony, if alive, and that of their friends, if dead, as 
to whether the part they played in these contests entailed 
any after evil results upon their constitutions and frames, 
and (if any) their nature and extent. 
Considering that more than forty years have elapsed 
since the commencement of these friendly contests, and 
that between the years 1829-1869 twenty-six races have 
been rowed, giving for the crews of both Universities, and 
allowing for men who have rowed in more than one race, 
the gross number of 294 men, the task was a formidable 
one; but, we must add, has been as ably conducted to its 
conclusion as it was resolutely undertaken. The author ~ 
has ascertained that out of these 294 men 245 are still 
living—39 having died: the time of their death and the 
ailment of which they died are carefully given by the 
author, and to this point we will return. He next tabu- 
lates the following results elicited by his inquiries :— 
Benefited by rowing 2 115 c- 
Uninjured a - 162 
Injured a Fe 4 17 
The denefits derived are somewhat vaguely stated, as 
indeed was to be expected when almost the only benefits 
that could be reasonably derived from such pursuits would 
be of a general nature; such as increase of strength and 
stamina, increase of energy to undertake, increase of 
power to undergo, physical exertion ; increase of fortitude 
to encounter and to submit to trials and privations and 
disappointments. A goodly list of benefits when criti- 
cally examined. The uninjured are those who in their 
replies to the author’s queries state wegativz/y the 
results of rowing upon their constitutions and ‘rames ; 
or, in the author’s language, who merely say in general 
terms “that they never felt any inconvenience from row- 
ing ;” while the zzjured are they who state with less or 
more distinctness that their exertions proved harmful, 
We must confess that this last item in the bill, the 17 
injured, is at first sight a little startling, and so it must, 
we think, have appeared to the author, for he very carefully 
and minutely examines the cases so recorded, and some, 
we think, successfully dismisses as unreal ; while others, 
we fear it must be candidly avowed, must remain as dond 
fide instances of injury. But is this a matter to be won- 
dered at when the number of men who had been so 
engaged is taken into consideration? Is there any other 
pastime or pursuit in which grown men can take part, 
such as draws forth at the same time their bodily power 
and keenest emulations, which will yield a smaller per- 
centage of evil? Would the hunting-field, would the 
foot-ball field, or even the cricket-field, if closely scruti- 
nised ? 
The author tells us that during his inquiries on this 
subject he has written over two thousand letters. We 
can well believe it, knowing how unwilling many men are 
to reply to personal inquiries, and specially so when the 
inquirer asks after personal ailments. He has not however 
done himself justice in not giving us in his book a speci- 
men of his letters addressed to his scattered correspon- 
dents ; for in all cases of dispute, and contested evidence, 
it is always a matter of objection if the question as put 
indicates or leads up to the sort of answer desired ; and 
when, as has been already said, scepticism on one side 
and esprit de corfs on the other so strongly prevails, 
doubts may be entertained of the accuracy of some of 
