484 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXIX. No. 743 



sounder, more self reliant and more effi- 

 cient. 



R. Tait McKenzie 

 Univeesity or Pennsylvania 



ON THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF 



MODERATE MUSCULAR ACTIVITY 



AND OF STRAIN '^ 



Practical efforts, both in Europe and 

 America, to solve the problem of physical 

 training in schools and colleges have pro- 

 ceeded along two different lines, which are 

 roughly typified in Europe by the English 

 system, on the one hand, and the Swedish 

 and German systems, on the other. In the 

 former, athletic efforts may be said to play 

 a predominant role; in the latter, they are 

 strictly subordinated in the endeavor to 

 reach the masses. Similarly, the practise 

 ia America differs considerably. In some 

 colleges the great stress is laid upon ath- 

 letics; in others athletic activities are en- 

 tirely separate from instruction in phys- 

 ical training for the student body as a 

 whole. But these are the extremes, for in 

 the majority of cases the organization of 

 the work combines, or seeks to combine, 

 both. Perhaps it will be conducive to 

 clearer thinking if we define at the outset 

 the difference between the two extremes. 



In those cases where athletics are under 

 separate organization and control, it is the 

 aim of the department of physical train- 

 ing to secure for each individual student 

 the proper basis of health for his work in 

 school or college and also to educate him 

 in the truest sense of that word for the 

 proper hygienic conduct of his subsequent 

 life. Physical training is not regarded as 

 an end in itself, but as an essential means 



^ An address delivered in a symposium on " The 

 Regulation of Physical Instruction in Schools and 

 Colleges, from the Standpoint of Hygiene " before 

 Section K (Physiology and Experimental Medi- 

 cine) of the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, Baltimore, December 20, 

 1908. 



toward the equipment of the individual for 

 the work in which he may engage. The 

 effort is, furthermore, made to do this eco- 

 nomically as regards both time and effort. 



The athletic ideal is entirely different. 

 It does constitute at the time an end in 

 itself; its primary purpose is not the culti- 

 vation of health, but of excelling some one 

 else. It brings into play the elements of 

 competition and championship. The ath- 

 letic team of a school or college represents 

 the best which the institution can do in 

 that line of effort. Sacrifices of time, of 

 convenience, and, generally, to some ex- 

 tent at least, of scholarship, are regarded 

 as proper, if needed to secure the immedi- 

 ate end in view. Physical risks must be 

 taken if necessary, risks which may end 

 in permanent injury, and even in death, 

 in order that one's college shall prove 

 itself superior to some other college. 



There are thus, these two ideals which 

 come into practical work of physical train- 

 ing. It is of course not necessary that we 

 adopt one to the exclusion of the other; 

 but these ideals profoundly influence the 

 practical measures adopted, and it is es- 

 sential that we approach the solution of 

 our problem from the right point of view. 

 It should be added that, in giving each its 

 due weight, other considerations than the 

 strictly hygienic must enter into our de- 

 cision. First, there is the question 

 whether a given plan of action reaches the 

 masses and is effective with them from the 

 standpoint of physical training; and there 

 is also the question whether we do not 

 need to cultivate those moral qualities of 

 group loyalty, of subordination of self to 

 the interest of the whole, and of the will- 

 ingness to make the supreme effort for a 

 common cause, which is perhaps the very 

 soul of modern school and college athletics. 

 These are questions on which obviously 

 the physiologist has not the last word, 



