Athletic Training

THE ATHLETIC HEART 157 but who through a system of sane athletics entirely overcame it. Some years ago while at Yale I had among the candidates for the track team a youngster whose doctor had told him his heart was in bad condition and that if he took any kind of athletic exercise he was likely to drop dead. He had a mind of his own and a theory that some kind of exercise would benefit him. He wanted to try for the half-mile run, but I feared this exercise would be too violent for him in his present condition. I persuaded him to try for the mile walk, which would give him plenty of exercise but which he could drop at any time. He did not have very much success with this event but later began to train for the high jump. With this event he made phenomenal progress, and at one of the intercollegiate championships he did 6 feet ~ inches. . He kept up his work after college, and when the war with Spain broke out joined the Rough Riders and was one of the first men over the breast– works at San Juan. The point I make about this incident is that this boy, instead of being killed by athletics, was completely made over by them. Possibly his heart was in poor con-