PHYSICAL TRAINING THE KEY TO HEALTH AND BEAUTY
The Ancient Greeks the Most Perfect Type of Beauty; the Cause of
the Inferior Physique of American Women; the Physical Training of
the Japanese Women; Improved Physique as the Result of Physical
Training; Increasing Stature and Improved Physique of American
Men; Report of the Royal Commission of Great Britain on Physical
Training; Physical Training Among the Ancients; the Influence
of Physical Training on the Health and Life of the Individual;
the Effect of Exercise on Brain Development and Character; the
Physiology and Pathology of Exercise; the Relative Proportions
of a Perfect Female Form; Table of Standard Weights for Women;
the Muscular System; the Benefits of Exercise; Passive Exercise;
Massage; the Balance and Carriage of the Body; Common Defects
in the Carriage of the Body; the Heart’s Need of Exercise; the
Gymnasium in the Campaign against Disease; Gymnastic versus
Athletic Training; Exercise after Eating; Effect of Brain Fatigue
on Body Fatigue, and vice versa; Marks for Physical Efficiency;
Advantages Derived from Athletic Sports; Ethical Value of Sports
for Women; Forms of Athletic Games Best Suited to Women.
Physical training is the key to all beauty of form and face as well
as grace of motion. Beauty without health is inconceivable.
The Greeks were the devotees of the beautiful, and they were the
most perfect embodiments of health and beauty the world has ever
seen. Their splendid physique was due to their outdoor life, physical
training, which began in childhood and youth, and was systematically
carried on throughout life, their public baths, and their athletics,
sports and national games. Beauty is the inevitable corollary of
health.
And the Greek artists bequeathed to all future generations a legacy
of untold value, using the men and women of the golden age of Greece
as the prototypes for the most beautiful statues which the world
has ever seen, proving that through the perfect development of the
muscular system alone can an ideal type of beauty be attained, and
these statues also show that the women of that day were the physical
compeers of the men.
The greatest attention to the physical development of her citizens
was given in Sparta. Girls and young women were subjected to a
similar, though less severe, training than men and boys. It included
running, leaping, wrestling, and throwing the lance; these formed the
favorite contests in the national games. Xenophon says: “The Spartans
are the healthiest of all the Greeks, and among them are found the
finest men and the handsomest women in Greece.” The women of the
Teutonic tribes frequently accompanied their husbands to war, and
exhibited instances of the most daring bravery.
History, as well as these magnificent legacies in marble and on
canvas, teaches us that no greater fallacy could be imagined
than that “we are women, and therefore weak.” On the contrary,
“We are weak, because it never entered into our thoughts that we
might be strong,” and it has been repeatedly proved that physical
deterioration can be overcome by exercise, and that the same means
greatly increases the mental capacity.
In savage races women are the equal, if not the superior, of the men,
and woman’s smallness of stature, physical inferiority, and lessened
powers of endurance must be attributed to the customs of civilized
society carried on for hundreds of years.
=The Cause of the Inferior Physique of American Women.=—The majority
of American girls and women of the present day have undeveloped
muscles, a bad carriage, an impaired digestion, and are without skill
in outdoor games, and unable to ride, row, or swim.
From the measurements of twelve hundred boys and girls, Professor
Sargent ascertained that at the age of fifteen years boys are
three-quarters of an inch taller than girls, but that the mean
height in the two sexes is the same, and that, taking the sum of
the measurements of the head, chest, waist, legs, and arms, the mean
total was equal in boys and girls. The sum of these measurements is
regarded as indicative of the strength of the individual, but that,
as a matter of fact, it was found that the girls did not compare
favorably with the boys in point of strength. In capacity of lungs
the girls were seventy cubic inches behind the boys, and that, in
strength of the expiratory muscles, the weakest boy was stronger than
the average girl. In strength of back, leg, chest, and arms, the
showing of the girls was a little better, though considerably below
what it should have been.
At twenty years of age the man was found to be five inches taller
and twenty pounds heavier. The superiority of the male in strength
was now much more apparent than at an earlier age. He now presented
ninety cubic inches greater lung capacity and one hundred and
forty-three pounds, greater strength of legs, while the muscular
power of the arms and chest was more than double that of woman. The
charts showed that women were physically inferior to men in almost
every particular.
Dr. Sargent then goes on to say, “The principal characteristics
of general form that distinguish civilized women from men are
smaller muscles, sloping shoulders, broader hips, and shorter
legs. The smaller muscles and the shorter legs may be said to be
embryonic, while the superior breadth of the hips indicates a greater
evolutionary advancement in this part of the body than has taken
place in man. The constricted waist must be regarded as a deformity
artificially produced. When the hips are large in the male or female,
the waist will naturally be larger if the muscles which connect the
trunk with the pelvis have nothing to constrict them. Since the hips
of women are much wider than those of men, we should expect to find
the waist proportionately larger in women than in men.
In close antithesis to these observations of Dr. Sargent’s on the
physical inferiority of American women to men, it is both interesting
and instructive to note those of Dr. Hancock in his work on
“Physical Training for Women by Japanese Methods.”
=The Physical Training of the Japanese Women.=—A Japanese woman is
usually the peer of a man of her own race who is of the same age
and height, especially when weights are about equal. This is due to
the fact that the Japanese women exercise in much the same way that
the men do, and devote fully as much time in the endeavor to gain
strength.
In the Japanese system of bodily training, known as jiu-jitsu, it
is considered advisable in the initial stages to have boy and girl
contestants as nearly equal in age and height as possible. The girls
enter the arena upon equal terms with the boys, and have proved
their fitness to do so. Grown men and women practise together; other
conditions being equal, the women show an equal amount of strength
with the men.
The back of the average Anglo-Saxon woman is generally the weakest
part of her body, while the normal Japanese woman satisfies the
artist’s ideals as well as the surgeon’s. The average Japanese
woman of to-day shows a figure as perfectly molded, and of as true
proportions, as the women of ancient Greece were able to display.
First of all, the Japanese women are taught that life is impossible
without a sufficient supply of fresh air. This internal cleansing
with air is deemed of more importance than the bath which follows
soon after. That the Japanese woman is a deep breather is shown by
the firm muscles that stand out on the abdomen.
Consumption is a rare disease in Japan; even winter coughs are of
rare occurrence. The Japanese look upon full, deep breathing as being
the most vital function in life; food is not so important, although
it is necessary. The best exercises are of little importance when the
breathing which accompanies them is not properly done.
=Improved Physique as the Result of Physical Training.=—Dr. Mary
Taylor Bissell, formerly the medical director of the New York
Berkeley Ladies Athletic Club, and one of the pioneers in the
systematic physical training for women, gave as the result of her
experience there, “The gain of twelve months’ exercise in the
gymnasium is, for the chest two inches, stature two inches, and an
increase of 30 per cent. in the lung capacity; many of the strength
tests were doubled, the spine became erect and the arm vigorous, and
the girl gained for herself the consciousness of controlling her own
body instead of having it control her.”
=Increasing Stature and Improved Physique of American Men.=—Dr.
Born’s measurements of Yale athletes and students suggest the
inference that American men are becoming physically greater than any
other known race. Comparing averages in 1903 and 1908, it appears
that Yale men are one inch and a half taller than their predecessors
of five years ago; they are twenty-seven pounds heavier, broader
chested, and have an increased lung capacity of seventy-two cubic
inches.
The measurements of Harvard students, published last fall by Dr.
Sargent, corroborate Dr. Born’s deductions, that American college men
have larger and more vigorous bodies than their fathers.
Dr. Sargent’s association of vigorous brains with strong bodies
is borne out by Professor W. T. Porter’s examination of 30,000
school-children in St. Louis in 1893, and by subsequent observations
made by other men.
It is the opinion of Dr. Crampton, director of physical training in
the New York city schools, that this improved physique in American
men, observed in the universities, is not in a small measure due
to the fact that within the last five years athletics have been
introduced into the public schools, so that there are now hundreds of
teams of baseball, football, basket-ball, and track athletics, where
there was only one before, so that already the colleges are reporting
that the young men entering them are bigger than they were ten years
ago.
Professor Phillips of Amherst thinks that the young women are
certainly one inch taller and five pounds heavier than they were
ten years ago. This improved physique of Americans he attributes,
like Dr. Crampton, to the fact that the American boy has now come
in for his heritage of athletic sports, and he makes a strong plea
for “adult play”—that every man and woman should have as good an
opportunity as boys and girls to get out on an open space and play
baseball, football, hockey, run, jump, and have a good time.
To show the importance which Great Britain places on physical
training for boys and girls the following report of the Royal
Commission of that country for 1903 is given under the caption “A
National System of Physical Training.”
=Report of Royal Commission of Great Britain on Physical
Training.=—“(1) Physical training should be regarded as of equal
importance with mental training.
“(2) During school life physical training is quite as important for
girls as for boys.
“(3) Systematic physical training is necessary both for country and
town children.
“The daily walk to school is exercise, but not exercise which
develops the body as a whole, or counteracts the liability to stoop,
to be round-shouldered, or to be slovenly in gait. Moreover, all
children during school life must spend many hours with but little
change of position, the effects of which can only be corrected by
systematic physical exercise.
“It should aim at the healthy development of the body, as well as
of the mind, by the regular development of all the muscles, the
quickening of the intelligence and activity, and the formation of the
habits of prompt obedience, precision, smartness, and discipline. The
exercises should not be for mere display or entertainment, but each
should have its particular purpose and value to develop all parts of
the body.
“A certain amount of physical exercise once a day or oftener
is preferable to even a greater amount, at longer or irregular
intervals.
“Games are very useful and ought to be encouraged, but they cannot be
played by all children, and usually the weaker ones go to the wall;
that is, those most needing systematic development are excluded.
Games affording opportunities for violent exercise are useful for
the development of reserve strength, and form an admirable field for
the cultivation of social and public spirit. We strongly favor their
organization and development at all schools.
“For boys, in addition to the regular games, country runs, leaping
and dancing the Highland Fling; for girls, skipping and hockey. For
both, swimming is strongly advised.”
=Physical Training Among the Ancients.=—Greek culture regarded the
individual as valuable in and for himself, and sought to promote
first of all his full and free development. The idea was symmetry and
balance of parts, and, to attain complete and harmonious manhood,
mind and body were trained together.
Games played an important part in the life of the Athenians, and
their importance in the education of children was early recognized.
From the age of seven to sixteen it is probable that one-half of
the day of the Athenian boy was spent in intellectual and the other
half in physical education. The aim of the Athenian education was
to produce men, independent but respectful, freedom loving but law
abiding, healthy in mind and body, clear in thought, ready in action,
and devoted to their families, their fatherland, and their gods.
Gymnastics included everything relating to the culture of the body.
The culmination of the Athenian education was dancing. As a
supplement to gymnastic culture, it toned down the ardent exercise of
the gymnasium and the over-energy of muscular development to the ease
and grace which was the Athenian ideal.
_The Romans._—The early Romans possessed some traits in common with
the Spartans. They were intensely practical and interested in those
things whose usefulness was apparent. Education should fit a man for
his work in the world.
A Roman structure, quite as characteristic as the Greek gymnasium,
was the public bath or therma, found not only in Rome, but in every
important provincial town in the days of the empire. Both made
provision for exercise and contained a system of baths, but in the
thermæ the baths occupied the greater part of the space, and the
rooms and courts for exercise were smaller and fewer.
=The Influence of Physical Training on the Health and Life of
the Individual.=—If we believe, with Spencer, that “Education is
preparation for complete living,” we must appreciate that good
carriage, bodily control, physical judgment, will power, and courage
are an important part of the equipment of every man and woman. These
qualities are intimately associated with motor coördination, and they
are best developed through physical training.
The power of self-preservation, by which the individual is enabled
to handle his body easily under all conditions, and so escape
physical injury and death, depends upon physical judgment of time and
distance, and the ability to run, jump, vault, climb, and swim. These
are all fundamental exercises.
The love of play and the ability to play a number of games contribute
very largely to health and happiness. The play habit must be acquired
in youth or it will never be developed.
The best qualities of mind and character can only be obtained through
physical experience and physical struggle. With stalwart physique
comes a vigorous type of womanhood, physical courage; with flabby
muscles there is apt to result flabby thinking and flabby acting,
superficiality, and inefficiency. Next to hunger the most dominant
instinct is the play instinct.
=The Effect of Exercise on Brain Development and Character.=—The
growing interest in preventive medicine, and the very great
popularity of the opportunities afforded for athletic training,
attest to the value which people are beginning to place upon health
as an asset in their social, domestic, business, and professional
lives.
But it is not generally or sufficiently understood just how great is
the effect of physical training on the development of the brain or
upon the mental activities. With a strong, vigorous action of the
heart there is a feeling of courage and general exaltation, whereas
with a weak heart and enfeebled circulation, fear and impaired mental
activity predominate.
The manner in which the organic functions are performed not only
determine the health of the body, but the temperament and character
as well. There is a conservation of energy in the fashioning of the
will—only part of the energy is expended in the outward effort,
while the rest goes to lay the foundation of a future will, so that
exercise builds up faculty and conduct character.
We cannot perform an act voluntarily unless we know what we are going
to do, and we cannot know exactly what we are going to do until we
have learned to do it. The very simplest movement brings about a
change in the organic structure of the brain, and this change leads
to more complex movements and further improvement in brain structure.
Most skilled movements give more exercise to the central nervous
system than to the muscles. Movements calling for a high degree of
skill, correlation of the different senses, sense discrimination,
fine coördinations, and a rapid and responsible exercise of judgment,
all tend, through the action of the association fibers, to a high
degree of brain development.
An essential feature of exercise is that a part of it at least shall
afford amusement, diversion, and recreation to the overwearied
and harassed brain. Hence, the necessity to introduce dancing,
field sports, etc. By these means industrial efficiency, communal
morality, and social consciousness are promoted. Public amusements
of a proper sort are a public necessity.
The great menace to the city is the limited opportunities for
healthful play, and over one-third of the population of the
United States live in towns. The physical side of the question is
the largest, for it involves health, and consequently poise and
self-control. It involves a legitimate occupation of surplus energy
and its wise direction, and it also involves companionship.
The great object of physical training is then to secure the most
perfect development of the body, with the corresponding development
of the brain, so that the highest physical and mental efficiency of
the individual may be attained.
The possession of a large reserve of muscle and nerve force, ready
to be used in any emergency, gives confidence to the individual,
increases the spirit of taking the initiative and undertaking grave
responsibilities that come into the life of every woman, especially
those who are engaged in the business or professional world, and the
building up of this necessary reserve force is one of the inestimable
advantages of a gymnastic and athletic training.
=The Physiology and Pathology of Exercise.=—Exercise is divided into
active or voluntary and passive.
Passive exercise does not require any exertion of the will power.
Massage increases the local nutrition of the parts, stimulates the
nerves, and is restful, rather than exhausting, to the overwrought
brain and wearied nerves.
Active exercise is further divided into exercise of effort and
exercise of endurance. Under exercise of effort are classed all
gymnastic feats. The primary object of a gymnastic training or
education is to produce a symmetric development of the entire body,
while, on the other hand, the training necessary to execute gymnastic
feats produces an overdevelopment of one part of the body at the
expense of the rest, as is seen in the arm of the blacksmith and the
leg of the danseuse. All exercises of effort, whether of strength,
skill, or speed, demand and cultivate mental concentration, a rapid
response of the muscle to the orders of the will, develop the power
to accomplish complicated coördinations, and the knowledge of how
these difficult movements may be performed with the least expenditure
of nerve and muscle force. Exercising a muscle develops it up to
its physiologic capacity, but if a muscle is habitually overworked,
pathologic results occur, and instead of a quick, sharp contraction
of the muscle, the contractions will be weak and uncertain, and, if
carried too far, the muscle may eventually atrophy from overwork.
Exercises of endurance include walking, running, swimming, and
rowing—the range of movement in these is much more limited than
in exercises of effort. In these, each movement is well within
the individual’s powers, yet, by increasing the rapidity of the
movements, or by their prolonged continuance, the total amount
of muscular work accomplished may be very great. Normally, the
contraction and relaxation of the muscles are comparatively slow,
so that the poisonous waste matter producing fatigue is continually
being removed from the tissues, and not allowed to accumulate;
whereas, in exercises of effort, there is no time allowed for the
scavengers to work, and fatigue of the most active muscles sets in
rapidly.
Fatigue may appear in several forms, depending on the character of
the exercise which produced it. When the exercise is sufficiently
active, the amount of waste matter thrown into the circulation is
greater than can be eliminated by the lungs; breathlessness and
palpitation of the heart result; so soon as the equilibrium between
waste production and elimination is established, the individual
is said to have gotten his second wind. Or, again, a slow pace,
too long kept up, will produce exhaustion, so that the products of
tissue waste accumulate, the beat of the heart is fast, irregular and
weak, the nervous system becomes stupefied, and the muscles fail,
to respond to the normal physiologic stimulus. This is a form of
fatigue not infrequently found among zealous housewives, in which the
demands made upon the nervous system by continual and carking family
cares, added to the very strenuous work of the household, exhausts
both nervous and muscular systems.
Recovery from this form of fatigue takes a much longer time than
the preceding. The individual is too tired to sleep, the night is
troubled by disturbed dreams, there is a soreness and stiffness of
the muscles and joints which remain for some days. There may be an
actual rise in temperature, and the urine passed has a high specific
gravity, with sometimes even albumin.
If, now, this overwork is continued over prolonged periods of time,
without allowing sufficient time for the necessary recuperation,
there follows a slow and profound exhaustion, which is much more
difficult to overcome. In this condition the temperature becomes
subnormal, the weight decreases, the skin and muscles become flabby,
and the skin is pale, the eyes are dull and listless, and the
individual is without ambition to rouse herself from her lethargy.
During a contraction each muscle-cell shortens and thickens, giving
off some of its substance into the lymph-space which surrounds it,
and absorbing food, consisting of carbohydrates and oxygen, from the
surrounding plasma. Exercise improves nutrition by the rhythmic,
automatic massage caused by the contraction and relaxation of the
muscles on the vessels which they contain, while warmth favors the
elimination of waste matter.
It has been proved by Hawk, of the University of Pennsylvania, in
his experiments on the blood-count of an athlete in training, that
various forms of active muscular exercise produce an average increase
of 16.8 per cent. in the number of red corpuscles. When exercise
is long-continued, the rate of increase lessens, and, further, the
number may be decreased in greatly prolonged violent exercise. The
explanation of this is that a large number of cells lie inactive
in various tissues of the body until they are brought into the
circulation by muscular exercise.
[Illustration: PLATE III
Senegalese woman. (From Stratz, after Dr. Rykens, in Shufeldt’s
“Studies of the Human Form.”)]
Athletic training has been called “mainly heart training.” Exercises
of endurance do not require supreme efforts, but they do accelerate
the action of the heart and lungs, and the aggregate of work done is
very much greater than in exercises of strength, but the exercise
must be sufficiently active to provide for the free circulation of
lymph, which is carried on mainly through the massage of muscular
contraction.
If a walk be so listless that there is not sufficient movement of the
muscles to overcome the pernicious influence of gravity acting on
the column of blood contained in the veins of the abdomen, thighs,
and legs, the vessel-walls may become permanently overstretched and
varicose. The exercise must be sufficiently active for the muscular
contractions to empty the lymph-spaces and hasten the circulation. It
usually raises the general bodily, as well as the local, temperature
of the parts, and so facilitates the removal of the waste-products.
The acquirement of skill lies in the training of the nerve rather
than the muscle. A simple movement requires only a nerve impulse to
the acting muscle, while a complicated movement requires a wave of
impulses to the accessory and antagonistic groups of muscles which
control and steady the movement. It is easy to see how, in the first
efforts to perform complicated movements, the contractions of the
muscles will be jerky and inaccurate, many useless muscles will be
employed, and the expenditure of nervous energy will be out of all
proportion to the result, and these first attempts at new feats of
skill rapidly exhaust the attention. This is well illustrated in the
first efforts of a child learning to walk.
Exercises of strength and skill train that alertness of mind so
essential in ordinary life. They shorten the period between thought
and action, producing what is known as “presence of mind.”
=The Relative Proportions of a Perfect Female Form.=—The relative
proportions of a perfect female form, as deduced by modern sculptors
from the Greek statues, are as follows: With a height of five feet
five inches, the weight should be one hundred and thirty-eight
pounds. The woman should, with the arms extended, measure from tip
to tip of the middle finger, five feet five inches; that is, exactly
her own height. The length of the hand should be one-tenth, the foot
one-seventh, and the diameter of the chest one-fifth that of the
height. The distance from the perineum to the ground should measure
the same as from the perineum to the top of the head. The knee should
be exactly midway between the perineum and the heel. The distance
from the elbow to the little finger should be the same as the
distance from the elbow to the middle of the chest. The measurement
from the top of the head to the chin should be the same as the length
of the foot, and there should be the same distance between the chin
and the armpits. A woman of this height should measure twenty-nine
inches around the waist, thirty-four inches around the bust, if taken
under the arms, and forty-three inches if measured over them. The
upper arm should measure thirteen inches and the wrist six inches.
The calf of the leg should measure fourteen and one-half inches, the
thigh twenty-five inches, and the ankle eight inches.
The table on page 297, compiled by Dr. Weisse, the Medical
Statistician of the New York Life Insurance Company, “A Table of
Standard Weights for Women,” is based on the average weights of
over 58,000 insured women, and is given to show the normal relation
between the height and weight. A point of extreme interest in the
table, and one that is not generally recognized, is the variation in
weight, independent of the height, at different ages.
[Illustration: PLATE IV
Juno.]
[Illustration: PLATE V
Venus de Capua.]
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————
Ages | 15-19| 20-24| 25-29| 30-34| 35-39
Heights | | | | |
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————
4’-11” | 111 | 113 | 115 | 117 | 119
5’-0” | 113 | 114 | 117 | 119 | 122
5’-1” | 115 | 116 | 118 | 121 | 124
5’-2” | 117 | 118 | 120 | 123 | 127
5’-3” | 120 | 122 | 124 | 127 | 131
5’-4” | 123 | 125 | 127 | 130 | 134
5’-5” | 125 | 128 | 131 | 135 | 139
5’-6” | 128 | 132 | 135 | 139 | 143
5’-7” | 132 | 135 | 139 | 143 | 147
5’-8” | 136 | 140 | 143 | 147 | 151
5’-9” | 140 | 144 | 147 | 151 | 155
5’-10” | 144 | 147 | 151 | 155 | 159
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————
Combined | | | | |
Heights | 123 | 126 | 129 | 132 | 136
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+——————
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+————————
Ages | 45-49| 50-54| 55-59| 60-64|Combined
Heights | | | | | Ages
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+————————
4’-11” | 125 | 128 | 128 | 126 | 118
5’-0” | 128 | 130 | 131 | 129 | 120
5’-1” | 131 | 133 | 134 | 132 | 122
5’-2” | 134 | 137 | 137 | 136 | 125
5’-3” | 138 | 141 | 141 | 140 | 128
5’-4” | 142 | 145 | 145 | 144 | 131
5’-5” | 147 | 149 | 149 | 148 | 135
5’-6” | 151 | 153 | 153 | 152 | 139
5’-7” | 154 | 157 | 156 | 155 | 143
5’-8” | 158 | 161 | 161 | 160 | 147
5’-9” | 163 | 166 | 166 | 165 | 151
5’-10” | 167 | 170 | 170 | 169 | 155
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+————————
Combined | | | | |
Heights | 142 | 145 | 144 | 142 | 133
—————————+——————+——————+——————+——————+————————
Dr. Weisse found the average height of women to be five feet four
inches, and the average weight one hundred and thirty-three pounds,
and that the average male height was three inches greater than that
of the female.
Women should range in weight from one and eight-tenths to two and
two-thirds pounds to each inch in height. In order to determine your
own factor in this respect divide your weight in pounds by your
height in inches. Any weight above two and one-half pounds to the
inch in stature may be considered as excessive, inasmuch as it adds
nothing to one’s mental or physical efficiency, and is frequently the
forerunner of obesity, the remedy for which is to live on a selected
diet and to burn up more through exercise.
In an ideal condition there is a sufficient quantity of fat to
give a pleasing rotundity of outline. In women the tendency is
for fat to accumulate, especially after forty years of age, about
the waist, abdomen, and upper part of the thighs. In addition to
the unsightliness which this gives to the figure, it is often the
indication of the fatty degeneration of the muscles, and the heart
is liable to become involved, and fatty degeneration of the heart is
one of the frequent causes of death. The lack of use of the muscles
in these regions of the body, which is caused by wearing corsets, is
the reason for the accumulation of fat here. It can be reduced by the
proper exercises and regulated diet.
[Illustration: PLATE VI
Venus de Medici.]
[Illustration: PLATE VII
Venus de Milo.]
=The Muscular System.=—The bony skeleton forms simply the framework
of the body, and, while it determines the general outlines and height
for the most part, the weight and general size of the body depend
upon the muscular development and the amount of adipose tissue. The
bones are not only padded about with muscles, but the muscles are
inserted into the bony sheaths in such a way that a development of
the muscles causes a development of the bones as well. Again, the
stature is increased by the erect position of the spinal column, and
this can only be attained by great strength of the muscles which
hold the spine erect. The inequalities of the muscles are filled
out with adipose tissue, giving a pleasing contour to the face and
figure.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.—The skeleton (Lewis).]
There are some five hundred muscles in the human body; these muscles
vary in size and form, according to their situations in the body and
the functions which they are called on to perform.
Nearly all the muscles in the body are arranged in two different or
antagonistic sets, and are placed on the opposite sides of the part,
so that in acting—that is, by their contractions or shortening—they
move the limb in opposite directions, and it is by the alternate
contraction, or shortening and relaxation of the two sets of muscles,
that the movements of the body are accomplished. The muscles which
bend the joints are called flexors, while those that extend the
joints are called extensors, so that in order to perform their work,
which is that of contraction, the muscles must exert enough force
to elongate the opposing muscles, overcome the tonicity of the
antagonizing muscles, and lift the weight of that portion of the limb
into which they are inserted. It is by the action of the muscles that
the body is held upright.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.—Muscular fibers, highly magnified.]
[Illustration:
Fig. 23.—Different directions of fibers in the three layers of
abdominal muscles.
]
_Action of the Muscles of the Abdomen._—The trunk is maintained from
falling backward by the action of those huge muscles on its anterior
surface. The space between the pelvis and the thorax is called the
abdominal cavity. Its walls are almost wholly composed of muscles.
There are several important facts to be noted about these muscles.
First, that they extend from the brim of the pelvis, into which they
are inserted, to the ribs and breast bone, to which the other ends
of these muscles are attached; that there are three layers of these
muscles; and, lastly, that the fibers of the different layers run
in different directions, so that they cross each other, as shown
in the figure. The reënforcement of the layers, the arrangement of
their fibers, and the manner in which they dovetail into the adjacent
groups of fibers give a structure of the greatest possible strength.
[Illustration: Fig. 24.—Muscles of the anterior surface of the trunk
(left side, superficial; right side, deep).]
_Action of the Muscles of the Back._—The trunk is kept from falling
forward by the action of the muscles of the back. These are arranged
in six layers. The cut shows the direction of the fibers. The first,
or outside layer, consists of the trapezius and latissimus dorsi, or,
in other words, the broad muscle of the back. On the one side these
muscles are attached to the spines of the vertebræ; the sharp ridge
which is felt in the middle of the back, and the broad attachment to
the pelvis afford a firm base of support. There are other muscles
which run parallel with the spinal column, whose function it is to
hold the spinal column erect.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.—Muscles of the posterior surface of the trunk
(left side, superficial; right side, deep).]
Standing erect calls into action almost all the muscles of the lower
extremities, trunk, and neck. So long as the line of gravity falls
within the line of the feet, the muscular effort required is so
slight that it is little more than the tonicity contained in all
living muscle. The greater the displacement of the line of gravity,
the greater the muscular effort required to maintain the equilibrium
of the body.
_Muscular Energy._—The muscles of the body, even when at rest,
are under a slight degree of tension. When stimulated, the muscle
contracts—that is, it becomes shorter and thicker. A muscle can only
remain in a state of contraction for a few seconds, because the force
of the muscular fibers is more or less exhausted during contraction.
The more rapid the contractions, the sooner does fatigue manifest
itself.
Like the steam engine, the muscles of the body, in performing their
work, produce heat and motion. The fuel which supplies this force
is taken into the body in the shape of food; it is prepared for use
in the intestinal tract, and from there carried by the blood, to be
stored up in the muscles and various tissues as latent force. The
muscles contain one-fourth of all the blood in the body.
_Heat Production._—By watching a muscle when contracting, we see
that there is not only a change of shape, but a dilatation of its
blood-vessels, that is, more blood passes through a muscle when it
is contracting than when it is at rest, and this increased flow
continues for some little time after the contraction has ceased;
there is also a rise of temperature. Nearly three-fourths of the
heat developed in the body is produced in the muscles at the actual
moment of muscular contraction. Hence, we learn that the whole body
is heated by muscular exercise; the even temperature of the various
parts is maintained through the circulation of the blood. This
combustion, going on throughout the entire economy, is the source
of all force or energy in the body. In every movement, every breath
taken, in the change even of a muscle of expression or the conception
of a passing fancy, combustion has occurred and potential force has
been liberated.
_Muscular Fatigue._—The fatigue produced by muscular contraction may
be due to the consumption of the readily available material present
in the muscle, to the consumption of the supply of oxygen, or to the
presence of the products of combustion, and, if Weichardt’s theory is
correct, to these must be added the presence of a definite “fatigue
toxin.”
During repose the internal changes of the tissue manufacture new
explosive material out of the comparatively raw material already
present in the fiber, and the directly hurtful products of the act
of combustion are either carried off, or undergo changes by which
they are converted into comparatively inert bodies. A stream of fresh
blood may exert its restorative influence, not only by quickening
both of these events, but also by carrying off the immediate
waste-products, while, at the same time, it brings new raw material.
Every movement of the body depends as much upon the proper
coördination of the muscles for its accuracy, grace, and force as
upon the strength of their contraction, and while the fatigue, of
which we are conscious in our own bodies after prolonged or unusual
exertion, arises partly from the exhaustion of the motor nerves,
it is chiefly from the exhaustion of the central nervous system
concerned in the production of voluntary impulses. A man who feels
absolutely exhausted may, under excitement, perform a very large
amount of work with his already wearied muscles. The will rarely, if
ever, calls forth the greatest amount of contraction of which the
muscle is capable.
=Passive Exercise: Massage.=—Massage has been defined as the
systematic manipulation of the surface of the body by the hands
of the operator in movements of stroking, pinching, kneading, and
striking. The passive movements consist of flexions, extensions,
rotations, and other movements of joints and limbs by an operator or
machine without the coöperation or resistance of the patient.
Massage takes the place of voluntary muscular movement, in promoting
the flow of lymph and the flow of venous blood toward the heart, if
the proper direction, that of rubbing toward the heart, be followed;
while, on the contrary, rubbing down a limb or from the heart
actually retards the process which it is meant to facilitate. Gentle
rubbing of any part of the body promotes growth, while vigorous
rubbing removes superfluous fat.
Massage finds its widest field of usefulness in conditions of
fatigue, where the elimination of waste matter must be assisted, and
where the nutrition of a part is impaired or destroyed. Muscles can
be improved in size, tone, and nutrition; ligaments can be stretched
and lengthened, the general circulation accelerated, and overloaded
veins made to disgorge their blood. The digestive tract can be
stimulated, and overwrought nerves soothed and relieved of their
hypersensibility.
The nourishment of the muscle-cell is improved by forcing out the
products of fatigue and keeping it bathed in a constantly renewed
stream of arterial blood. This alone is sufficient to prevent wasting
of substance in conditions where active movements are impossible.
Massage relieves the nervous system by maintaining the nutrition
of the muscles, without the expenditure of nerve force required to
make them contract. It acts on the central nervous system through
the nerves of sense, stimulating or soothing them, according to the
nature and the amount of the manipulation.
Mosso and Maggiora, of Turin, have proved, by their experiments as to
the effect of massage on the muscles, that muscles were capable of
doing twice as much work after massage. It was also discovered that
extending of the period of the massage did not produce any greater
results in the capacity for work; the full effect was obtained in
five minutes.
The action of massage in improving muscle tone, in postponing the
onset of fatigue, and hastening recovery from it has long been
recognized by athletic trainers. After a hard race or other contest,
it is a matter of knowledge among trainers that a five minutes’
treatment will enable an athlete to repeat or continue a performance
otherwise impossible.
Massage is the most economic form of exercise on the nervous system.
Its potency is shown by the increase of the red-blood corpuscles
and hemoglobin, and by the increased rate and force of the heart’s
beat without a corresponding change in the arterial tension. It
accomplishes these results by decreasing the resistance in the
peripheral vessels, by the removal of the products of oxidation, and
by mechanically moving the blood-current forward in the lymph-spaces
and venous channels. It is thus shown to stimulate the circulation,
the respiration, nutrition, and excretion.
Mezger describes four principal manipulations: _First_, _stroking_ or
_effleurage_, in which the hand is passed lightly over the skin, with
the pressure from the periphery to the center, following the course
of the venous circulation, and the long direction of the muscles from
their insertion to their origin. It may be performed by stroking with
the palm of one or both hands, with the thumb or tips of the fingers.
The two hands are used upon the large fleshy parts of the thighs and
buttocks, the back, chest, and neck.
_Second, Friction._—This is a deep circular movement, performed with
the thumbs and tips of the fingers, or by one hand open or clenched.
The products of fatigue collecting in deep muscular tissues are thus
thrown into the circulation, the gentle manipulations of stroking
carrying them into the superficial veins. The friction should proceed
in the same direction as the stroking movements.
_Third_, _petrissage_, also described as _pinching_ and _grasping_,
is performed by picking up the skin and subcutaneous tissues between
the thumb and fingers, and manipulating it with an amount of force
not sufficient to cause pain. In this procedure the skin moves with
the hand of the operator, and the underlying structures are thus
massaged by it under the pressure of the fingers. The thumb and
fingers are used to reach the individual muscles and small groups.
The movements should proceed from the periphery toward the center. It
is used to improve muscular nutrition in case of fatigue, in atrophy,
in obesity, and other forms of muscular degeneration.
_Fourth, Striking, Tapôtement, or Percussion._—Other names are
clapping, beating, knocking, or hacking. It has a stimulating action
on the skin, superficial nerves, and vessels. Hacking is performed by
the ulnar border of the hand, and is used along the nerve-trunks.
_Fifth, Shaking or Vibration._—Shaking involves movements of the
whole body or region to be treated, while vibration is a lesser
motion in which the body or region remains at rest, while the surface
and the structures immediately beneath it are affected.
General massage is best given at an hour midway between meals, and
never immediately after eating. The parts are at first lubricated
with cocoa-butter or vaselin, to avoid the irritation which may
follow the friction of the surface.
The first process of massage is the simple stroking to empty out
the lymph-channels; the next process is directed to the deeper
tissues. This is deep kneading, and skill is particularly required
here. As the result of this, the muscles are toned up and the nerves
are soothed, so that the total effect is that of sedation, and is
followed by the removal of the fatigue toxins, so that if necessary
it will be possible to undertake work after the massage that would
have been impossible before.
The operator starts with the feet. After both surfaces of the foot
have been well covered, the foot is firmly grasped and all the
natural movements of the toes and ankles are gone through with.
Next the region of the ankle, the leg, which is treated by circular
friction by the fingers, by deep grasping of the areolar tissues,
and, last, by deep pinching of the larger muscle masses. At brief
intervals upward stroking is given from the ankle to the knee, to
favor the venous flow of blood-currents. The same process is gone
through with in the case of the hands and arms. Especial care is next
given to the muscles of the loins, back, and neck. The abdomen is
then treated. Massage of this region concludes with deep kneading
by the heel of the hand in the direction of the colon. The chest is
manipulated upward, from the sternum along the line of the pectoral
muscles. The face is not usually treated in general massage, but the
sides of the neck are stroked from above downward, along the course
of the internal jugular veins. Each part operated upon should be
carefully covered as soon as finished.
There is a constant rise of temperature after the treatment, and
there should be a rapid improvement in the tone and reaction of the
whole muscular system.
The usual fault in giving massage is that too much is given at one
time; the maximum effect on a part is obtained in five minutes.
Another mistake is to employ too heavy a hand. A patient should never
feel bruised or exhausted after the treatment; there should be simply
a pleasant lassitude and feeling of drowsiness.
While massage is not essential for the health, it aids materially in
maintaining good health, but, in order to be efficient, a skilful
masseuse is necessary, as a considerable amount of manipulative skill
is essential, which can only be acquired by proper training. Massage,
especially when taken in connection with the Turkish bath, is most
valuable to remove weariness of nerves and muscles, as well as slight
aches and pains.
=The Balance and Carriage of the Body.=—The erect position of the
body is maintained through the exertion of more or less muscular
force. The base of the erect human body is the soles of the feet; the
smaller the base, the more danger of a fall. The base is the smallest
when one stands on the toes.
The way in which the spinal column is carried by the pelvis
determines the way in which the whole body is carried. An erect and
graceful carriage in standing and walking is not only desirable from
an esthetic point of view, but it is most essential to good health.
Without a proper development of the chest, it is impossible to
secure a normal development of the lungs and vigor of the heart.
It is upon the erectness, suppleness, and strength of the spinal
column that most of the power and grace of the body depend. In
the proper carriage the natural lines of the spinal column form a
graceful and undulating line, and the body stands erect without any
particular effort.
The curves of the spinal column are of great value in protecting the
brain, as they weaken the force of any shock, which may be caused by
striking the bones of the feet.
=Common Defects in the Carriage of the Body.=—Owing to the common
faulty position of school children at their desks, the sedentary
occupations of women, and their lack of physical training, curvature
of the spine is very common. A stooping carriage is the most common.
The head is bent forward, the chest is sunken, the back is round,
the shoulder-blades hang outward, the inner edges standing out
like wings, and the abdomen is protuberant. The muscles are poorly
developed and are weak and flabby.
This stooping carriage interferes with the freedom in breathing, and
prevents the proper development of the upper part of the chest and
lungs. Hence, it predisposes to lung diseases and tuberculosis, a
weak heart, poor circulation, shortness of breath, inability to take
proper exercise, and thinness of the blood (anemia).
_Spinal Curvatures._—The spinal column is normally directly in the
middle of the back; any deviation of this column to either side is
abnormal, and the lungs become cramped in a small and non-distensible
bony cage. This spinal curvature is most apt to take place in young
girls or in adult women after a severe illness, when the muscles
of the back have become particularly flabby, and, while still in
this condition, improper attitudes are assumed at the desk or other
sedentary occupations.
Preventive measures are of the utmost importance. First of all, comes
the general strengthening of the body, and of the muscles and bones
in particular, by plenty of exercise in the open air.
The habitual attitude at the desk and work should always be carefully
observed, and in all sedentary occupations the work should be
frequently interrupted to take systematic breathing exercises before
an open window.
Where spinal curvature has actually taken place, especial exercises
must be taken under the supervision of a physician and instructor.
Gymnastic exercises must be supplemented by outdoor games and sports.
=The Heart’s Need of Exercise.=—The first essential for the
maintenance of health, capacity for work, and power of resistance of
disease is a normally developed and strong heart. First, there must
be secured a vigorous circulation of the blood, and the two greatest
helps to this are exercise and deep breathing. In the sedentary
posture the heart works at a disadvantage.
For the young, exercise of the heart is the chief object of physical
exercises; this object is best attained by exercises of speed,
especially in the form of games which require rapid movement. In
youth the recuperative powers of the heart and lungs are at the
highest.
An adult cannot race and scamper about like a child who plays for
hours together, and a disturbance of the heart’s action brought about
by strenuous exercise to the point of fatigue of the heart is not so
quickly compensated. On the other hand, severe exercises of strength
and endurance are not so apt to prove injurious after the completion
of growth as they are in the growing youth. Up to the age of eighteen
years no feats of strength or of endurance should be attempted. From
eighteen to thirty years is the period of life when any kind of
athletic exercise can be taken, not only without any injurious, but
with beneficial, results. After the period of youth new conditions
begin to make themselves felt, and more care must be exercised in the
demands made upon the heart. In some persons obesity sets in before
they have reached thirty and impedes the action of the heart. About
the fortieth year the walls of the arteries begin to lose their
elasticity, they become more rigid, and chalk salts are deposited in
them. Golf and lawn-tennis are now excellent.
And now it is most essential that exercise be kept up; the heart
must still be trained and practised. The fibers of every muscle
degenerates when their work is reduced to a minimum.
Proper health without proper breathing is a physical impossibility.
It is necessary that those portions of the lungs which do take part
in ordinary breathing, and which would atrophy from lack of use,
should be fully developed and kept ready for suitable exercise. As
soon as the lungs grow weary and the power of breathing is exhausted,
the most powerful muscles of the body give way. The pleasure of
vigorous walking, especially in mountainous places, is alone for
her who can respond easily and readily to the enormously increased
demands on the power of the respiration.
The direct result of exercise is an increased demand for oxygen by
the tissues, and, to meet this demand, respiration is deepened and
quickened, and the beat of the heart is more rapid and more forcible.
But the phenomena of increased breathing power and increased heart
action benefit other parts of the body. At the commencement of an
exercise the contraction of the voluntary muscles called into action
compresses the blood-vessels, and impels the venous blood actively
toward the heart, which, thus stimulated, contracts vigorously, and
propels the blood in increased quantity toward the lungs. Stimulated
by the pressure of a large amount of venous blood, the inspiratory
muscles contract and elevate the bony structure of the chest, the
diaphragm pushes down the abdominal contents, and the air rushes in
to fill the vacuum thus produced and to supply the oxygen necessary
for the purification of the blood. Supplied with this life-giving
element, the blood is returned to the heart, to be distributed again
throughout the system, and to restore the loss incurred in the
original muscular movements.
In this manner are not only the voluntary muscles enlarged and
strengthened, but also the involuntary muscles, particularly the
heart and the diaphragm. The increased activity of the circulation
stimulates other organs to increased activity. The quantity of
perspiration from the skin is more than doubled, the appetite is
increased, digestion is more perfect, absorption is more rapid, the
hepatic circulation is more active, and the abdominal circulation is
carried on more vigorously.
But, on the other hand, actual harm may be done if any one who has
been accustomed to lead a sedentary life, or who is not vigorous,
suddenly engages in the more violent forms of exercise. In this
extreme exertion the heart may be embarrassed by the respiratory
action. At the end of deep inspiration the increased pressure of the
lungs impedes the flow of blood from the right side of the heart,
while the compression of the heart itself by the distended lungs
tends to overfill the large veins, and to further endanger the right
side of the heart.
During general muscular contraction the arterial pressure is
increased at the outset of exertion, before the arteries have become
relaxed, and this in turn may lead to the engorgement of the left
side of the heart and the circulation through the lungs. To these
conditions may be added still another; that is, the exhaustion of
the respiratory muscles, partly because of the unusual amount of
labor thrown upon them, and partly from the inadequate supply of
properly oxygenated blood. If the disturbance of the pulmonocardiac
equilibrium be severe and the condition unrelieved, general
prostration ensues long before the muscles engaged in the work are
exhausted. If, on the other hand, the equilibrium be restored,
or when the heart and lungs have been trained to accomplish the
restitution, the distress disappears, and the individual is said to
have gotten his second wind.
=The Gymnasium in the Campaign against Disease.=—Women, generally
speaking, do not take sufficient exercise. The trend of the present
day is for girls of the richer classes to lead an outdoor life,
but the women of the middle and lower classes do not obtain enough
variety of exercise or enough fresh air, and to the lack of proper
outdoor exercise is due their anemic condition, pallor, flabby
muscles, and generally ill-nourished appearance.
With the division of labor and the increase of wealth it has become
possible for a large proportion of the community to live without much
all-round mental or physical activity. As a consequence, there are
faulty circulation and defective nutrition, the vital resistance of
the body is lowered, and some of its various organs or tissues are
ever ready to take on disease. The lowering of the tone of the body
through dissipation, want of fresh air and sunshine, insufficient
sleep, lack of proper occupation or recreation, also increases the
susceptibility of the body to disease.
Senile decay is by no means only a matter of years, but the manner
of life led. And very many people over forty years of age fall
into a condition of senile decay, merely because they do not take
a sufficient amount of active exercise. In consequence the joints
stiffen, the muscles relax, and the arteries harden prematurely. The
prime of life would be very greatly extended, and old age delayed, if
women only continued their active interest in work and systematically
kept up gymnastic exercises and outdoor sports.
For all classes of women provision must be made, and sufficient
time afforded, to be devoted to some form of mental and physical
recuperation and systematic physical training.
=Gymnastic versus Athletic Training.=—The actual experience of the
past few decades has proved that the most effective way of developing
the mental and physical powers and the constitutional vigor is
through a judicious system of gymnastics, athletics, and carefully
supervised plays, sports, and games.
To show which of the two contestants was the “better man” was the
primary object of all contests, and this is the fundamental source
of the love of games and athletics. England has relied for her
physical training upon a large variety of games and sports, instead
of an elaborate system of gymnastics. The Englishwomen live an
outdoor life, are great walkers, horseback riders, and go in for
athletics and sports, and we find that the English women have a much
more vigorous physique and healthy and ruddy appearance than their
American sisters.
In Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, and Italy
more stress is laid on the gymnastic training, and in the Olympic
contests, held in London in 1908, the twenty-five women from Denmark
afforded a revelation to many of the Americans present.
Medical gymnastics had their origin in Sweden, and are practised
largely in that country and on the Continent.
In gymnastic exercises the work done on each piece of apparatus
must be tried repeatedly, in order to be learned, and then must be
practised assiduously, in order to be well performed. This is what
makes gymnastics so valuable as a means of physical training and
development. The first essential is to learn to handle one’s own
weight, and to have the muscles of the body under complete control,
and much of the interest and fascination found in practising heavy
gymnastics come from this acquired power over one’s own body, and
the ability to make it do the feats and stunts which one desires it
to do. This is one reason why children love to climb fences, trees,
etc., and test their ability to handle and master themselves in new
and untried situations.
But, in order that good and not actual harm may be done, gymnastics
must be carried on under medical supervision. Bodily exercises
should, as far as possible, occupy the mind at the same time. The
fact that gymnastic training is being taken up in our high-schools
and colleges for girls is a great gain, not only to the individual,
but to the race as well.
The proper development of the body, the clear skin and eye, the
upright and graceful carriage, the free swing of the body and limbs
when they move, give happiness to the possessor as well as to the
onlookers. The esthetic advantages of health are very considerable.
Among the mental and moral advantages to be derived from the practice
of exercises and games are a greater amount of self-control,
persistence, regularity, promptness, and of general self-confidence.
In the playing of games there is opportunity for originality as
well as for observation. The unwritten code of honor, the need of
accuracy—all these qualities are essential for a successful and happy
issue in the great battle of life.
The ideal physical training requires that systematic gymnastic
exercises should be supplemented by outdoor games and sports.
Gymnastics are not sufficient for an all-round means of development,
because the movements are too regular, too expected, and too
deliberate, but they are invaluable for health and physical
development, for the correction of physical deformities, as a
foundation for many games and sports, and for supplementing the same.
Many games are so one-sided that gymnastic exercises are essential
to prevent the body from becoming unsymmetrically developed, and,
further, gymnastic exercises must invariably be the foundation for
all games; no games can do what they are really capable of doing
without the firm foundation of the best gymnastic training.
Those exercises and games should be selected which are the most
fundamental and the most healthy, which will cause the all-round
development of the body, the muscles, heart, lungs, chest, a good
condition of the blood, good circulation, breathing, digestion, and
the getting rid of the waste-products.
Such exercises should teach obedience to law, self-control,
regularity, promptitude, and readiness to meet fresh conditions or
emergencies, persistence, pluck, and the ready coöperation of nerves
and muscles.
The aim of gymnastic exercises should be to secure a symmetric
development of all the muscles the body, to correct one-sidedness,
spinal curvatures, and other physical defects, and to strengthen all
the muscles of the body. In the gymnasium especial attention must
always be given to the development and strengthening of the muscles
of the back and chest, as these are the ones that are apt to be the
most poorly developed in women, since they are less called into play
in walking, which is the only exercise that most women take, and
on their good development and strength depend the upright carriage
of the body, a good chest capacity, and, hence, good respiratory
capacity, a vigorous heart, and good circulation.
=Exercise after Eating.=—Severe mental and vigorous bodily exercise
immediately after a meal retards gastric digestion. The entrance
of food into the stomach excites the free flow of gastric juice,
which, like all the secreting processes, is dependent upon a flux of
blood to the secreting glands. Other parts of the body, notably the
brain, suffer from temporary anemia, and hence the great tendency
to drowsiness after eating a hearty meal. At such a time severe
mental work or vigorous bodily exercise must necessarily cause a
corresponding withdrawal of blood from the alimentary canal to
the brain, or, in the case of physical labor, to the extremities,
in order to furnish the amount of blood necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of these parts. The withdrawal of blood
from the digestive organs has the effect of inhibiting gastric
digestion, since there has been an interruption of a free flow of
gastric juice.
We are safe then in believing that digestion is favored by rest of
the stomach before eating, by gentle exercise of the mind and body
after eating, and by an undisturbed mental condition.
An athletic training is productive of a more complete oxidation of
the nitrogenous materials of the body, and, therefore, of a more
economic utilization of these substances. In those cases in which
there is lack of physical training, sudden muscular exertion is
followed by a waste of nitrogenous matter.
=The Effect of Brain Fatigue on Body Fatigue and Vice Versa.=—Brain
fatigue makes the sense of touch less delicate. Similarly, muscle
fatigue affects brain power; severe muscular exertion may bring a
disinclination and incapacity for brain work. Hard exercise uses
up nerve force, and also causes the circulation of waste-products
in the blood, and so the action of the brain is hindered. On the
other hand, many people who do a great deal of brain work know that
an early morning walk, a pull on the river, is most refreshing and
stimulating, and actually makes them more capable of doing good brain
work; that is, if they are in fair training and do not take enough
exercise to make them tired.
It is beyond question that a dull gymnastic drill, coming after hours
of hard school work, may be a very heavy tax on the brain and nerves,
and can hardly be a relaxation. Outdoor exercises, which require
practically no brain work and a good deal of muscular exercise, would
do good, such as walking, running, jumping, and various kinds of
games; while, on the contrary, exercises of skill would be a serious
tax.
The suggestion has been widely accepted, that brain work should
occupy the morning hours, while technical education, such as singing,
drawing, and physical training, should be given in the afternoon.
=Marks for Physical Efficiency.=—The tests suggested some fifteen
years ago by Sir Francis Galton, the eminent English scientist, for
assigning marks for physical qualifications were the following:
First, breathing capacity; second, strength tests, both of them to
be regarded with reference to the stature and the weight; third,
quickness of response to a signal, made either to the eye or ear;
fourth, keenness of eye-sight; fifth, keenness of hearing; sixth,
color sense.
Dr. Sargent, realizing the usefulness of these tests in measuring
physical efficiency, included them in the physical examinations of
the Harvard students. The strength tests consist in the strength of
each forearm, of the back of the legs, the dip, the pull up, and the
lung capacity. The combination of these seven tests is known as the
intercollegiate strength test, and is the best means as yet devised
for measuring the general muscular strength and the respiratory power.
=The Advantages Derived from Athletic Sports.=—Nothing can take the
place of athletic sports to develop strong vigorous bodies in girls
and young women. While formal gymnastics have both an educational and
corrective value, and lay the foundation for athletic sports, they
cannot take the place of outdoor sports to develop organic vigor,
physical and moral courage, self-reliance, judgment, self-control,
decision, and ethical training, a consideration for the rights of
others, and a relaxation, particularly from mental work. Athletics
are to youth what play is to children. Groos tells us that a function
of play is to furnish an outlet for exuberance and animal spirits in
the young.
=The Ethical Value of Sports for Women.=—First come the benefits to
the individual and second the benefits to the community, and it is a
self-evident fact that that which promotes the highest development of
the individual raises the standard of the community.
The benefits accruing to the individual are physical, esthetic, and
psychologic; and as the result of the development of the individual
along these lines will result the fourth benefit, the social or the
“community good.”
Municipal governments are beginning to recognize the fact that the
maintenance of public playgrounds not merely promote the good of the
individual, but lessen the death-rate, the poverty rate, the criminal
rate, and it has been found that the working capacity of the people
depend in some way upon the recreation afforded them.
Sports for women are essential, not only to better fit the individual
for her place in life, but as an offset to the deadly monotony of her
work. The predominating note of sports should be joy, exhilaration,
and the social features of games.
Women’s sports, like women’s clubs, are and should be run along
different lines from men’s. The object of women’s games are for their
development and individual good, and should, therefore, never be
played before indiscriminate audiences who pay an admission fee.
Women have the same necessity as children and men for a wholesome
physical outlet for the exuberance of animal spirits and energy.
The esthetic value of games has been found to be expressed in the
improvement of the personal habits and appearance, which indicates a
higher standard of living.
And the psychologic value has been found to be a development of the
mental and the moral qualities, and so the individual is the better
enabled to direct her efforts wisely and so more successfully in
life’s activities.
All of this is not a matter of theory, but it is the universal
testimony of the directors of the various athletic associations for
women all over the country.
Among other developments along the physical line are endurance,
skill, precision, and coördination. To be able to do physical things
well has an ethical value in the individual’s attitude toward life in
all its phases.
The esthetic value lays stress upon the beauty and good form of
games. It is essential in playing games that women should stand well,
walk well, run well, throw well, and have a neat appearance. The
manners and habits of the players on the field are also part of the
esthetic training.
It has also been noted that for reasons largely beyond her control
the primitive occupations of women have been taken out of her hands,
and have forced her, in order to secure a maintenance for herself,
or those depending on her for support, out of the home into the
industries and occupations of the world, together with a fierce
competition which this necessitates. In other words, success is based
upon competition, and competition is the keynote of organized games.
So that one of the values of games is to maintain fair, economic,
and coöperative rules of competition. Other things being equal, the
athletic man or woman who has played according to the rules of the
games is likely to be fairer than he who knows nothing of clean sport.
Some of the mental qualities developed are observation, attention,
concentration, memory, imagination, initiative, reason, and will
power. These qualities are most highly developed in the various
ball games, from its simplest forms to team work, as baseball and
basket-ball.
The moral qualities developed are self-control, unselfishness, a
sense of honor, self-sacrifice, self-confidence, fairness, democracy
of spirit, modesty, and decision. One of the qualities which
characterizes a good player is that she will do the things which are
assigned her. Promptness and obedience to order are the first laws
in any game. Throughout the game self-confidence is taught. Each
player has her own responsibilities, decisions must be quickly and
accurately made, while overconfidence brings a sure defeat.
If competition underlies all games, it is equally true that
unselfishness is the basis of all team work. The ability to work
together requires at every point unselfish adjustment. One of the
first things learned is to appreciate another’s ability, and the
individual egotism, so marked in the beginning of the work, is
rapidly toned down.
Closely allied with unselfishness is the spirit of fair play, and
closely linked with fairness is loyalty and a sense of honor, the
lack of which makes girls the contempt of boys and women the despair
of men. It has been averred that the social position of woman and her
dependence upon her lord and master have lead her to become indirect
and devious, hence her lack of perfect truthfulness and sense of
honor, so that when put upon her honor she does not realize her
responsibility.
Another great advantage that games possess for women is that
many of them, from their weak physical condition, are abnormally
sensitive and introspective; they live too much on the subjective
side of life. While sports are primarily objective, they afford no
opportunity for analysis of feeling; the thought must be riveted
on the thing to be done. Every girl’s school and woman’s club which
provides opportunities for games and sports erect barriers against
nervousness, morbidity, and too much introspection. These qualities
which games develop are not masculine, but human; qualities needed
for human fellowship.
=The Forms of Athletic Games Best Suited to Women.=—Dr. Sargent’s
conclusions as to the form of athletic games best suited to women,
coming from a man of his wide observation and great experience,
should be more generally known, and he says, without hesitation,
that there is no athletic sport practised in which some women cannot
enter, not only without fear of injury, but with great prospect of
success. But the feminine type of build, whether found in men or
women, is a handicap in many athletic contests. But these limitations
do not apply to girls between ten and fourteen years of age. During
this period girls, if properly trained, will often surpass boys of
the same age in any kind of athletic performance. Moreover, if girls
were given the same kind of physical training as boys receive all
through their growing and developing period, they would be able to
make a much more creditable showing as athletes when they became
adult women. In the early history of mankind the men and women lead
lives more nearly alike, and were consequently more alike physically
and mentally than they have become subsequently in the history of
highly civilized people.
From a physiologic standpoint, woman needs exercise just as much as
man does, but, in taking up athletics, these must be regulated on a
different basis. Women, as a class, cannot stand prolonged physical
or mental strain as well as men do, but give them frequent intervals
of rest and relaxation, and they will often accomplish as much in the
twenty-four hours as men do.
From her physical configuration and her inability to bear prolonged
physical and mental strain, there are certain athletic sports and
games that would be likely to prove injurious to most women if
played in the form in which they are played by men. In this group
are foot-ball, ice hockey, polo, basket-ball, boxing, fencing, pole
vaulting, and heavy gymnastics. If these sports and games should be
so modified as to meet the peculiar characteristics of women, there
are none of them that could not be played with reasonable hopes of
physical, mental, and moral improvement.
The athletic exercises and games to which women are best adapted, and
in which they are most likely to excel, are all forms of dancing,
calisthenics and light gymnastics, archery, lawn-tennis, swimming,
field hockey, lacrosse, sprint running, bicycling, rowing, canoeing,
golf, skating, fencing, basket-ball, and all gymnastic plays and
games.
In all athletic exercises in which women engage, good form, rather
than great records, should be striven for. Women may be excused for
not being as strong and enduring as men, but they cannot be excused
for not being more finished and graceful. Good carriage, perfect
poise, self-command, and exquisite grace and refinement should enter
into women’s athletic performances, and these qualities should be
taken into consideration by the judges in making their awards.