36 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 
train without racing. There seems to be no doubt in the minds of the 
athletes themselves as to the effects of their running. Over ninety per 
cent. claim to have derived permanent benefits, in many instances of 
inestimable value, and only four of the entire number testify to perma- 
nent injury. Some of the letters have a direct bearing on the subject 
of vitality, others relate to it indirectly ; one man writes: 
Cornell University is distinguished above all other institutions for the 
development of runners at the distances you mention. I am in touch with all 
the ’varsity distance men graduated in the last ten years, and there is not a 
case of physical debility in the whole lot. Most of them are much more alive 
than the average man. 
A famous distance runner whose feats astonished men a few years 
ago, writes: 
I have been running for over twenty-three years now, and feel in perfect 
physical condition. Have won races from seventy-five yards up, and have run 
over one hundred miles quite otten. My heart has been examined by specialists 
in London, Paris, Boston and other places, and all say that it is in perfect 
working shape. 
Another writes: 
My father, who is sixty-two years of age, and an old distance runner, can 
now run a quarter mile consistently under sixty seconds. He has not been ill 
since he was a young man, and is as hale and hearty as a man of thirty. 
A quarter mile in sixty seconds is beyond the ability of ninety-nine 
out of a hundred men whom you and I meet in the streets. The aver- 
age boy of eighteen years can not do it, but the trained runner can with 
ease. A form of exercise which develops and maintains in a man 
sixty-two years of age vigor enough to perform a feat beyond the 
strength of the average man of half his years and which brings forth 
testimony such as I have just quoted, has strong claims to favorable 
consideration. 
The Jinrickisha Man.—As bearing upon the general subject of 
distance running, I have endeavored to ascertain how the jinrickisha 
men of Japan and the dak or post runners of India have been affected 
by their arduous occupations. Although the work performed by the 
jinrickisha man differs widely in character from that demanded by 
the college athlete training for distance racing, there is a parallel if 
not similar demand upon the heart and lungs, and the effect should 
be similar in character, differing only in degree. The jinrickisha man 
performs infinitely harder work than the college athlete. Twenty, 
forty and even sixty miles a day is no unusual performance, and while 
he does not run as fast as the college man, he adds to the burden of 
his running—which ordinarily is hardly more than a fast jog—the 
strain of drawing a heavy weight, so that in all probability the cumu- 
lative effect upon the vital organs is not only equal to but much beyond 
hat of the college man. In addition to this, he is subjected to all 
