Athletic Training

THE ATHLETIC HEART 153 the one who did not were_ far more distressing to the former. I have made a very careful study of this question from the standpoint of medicine and applied athletics. Not only have I kept a careful record of the effects which athletic competition has upon the average boy, but I have obtained the testimony of athletes who were also physicians. The consensus of their testimony is that the athlete who takes good care of himself and does not acquire the habits of drinking and cigarette smoking has abso– lutely no reason to fear any evil after effects from _the so-called athletic heart. On the contrary, a system of sane athletic work is sure to strengthen the heart and ~ake it less liable to injuries from sudden strain put upon it or from excitement. I have had occasion to examine a good many former athletes from ten to twenty years after their active participation had ceased. 'I have always examined these men with some eagerness in order to learn what effects their withdrawal from athletics had had upon their hearts and constitutions gen– erally. And I have yet to find a single case