Athletics and Football (extract)

2o6 ATHLETICS difficult question, when the men are upon tip-toe at the mark, to know whimchotion of anyone othfem is amotion made after the pistoisl fired. In eithecrase whetnhe sounodf the pistol is heard or the first motion noticed, the timekeeper has to arrive at adetermination to start the watch from the sensationosf his eye oerar ; he has then by will to convey that determination to the muscleosf his finger, and thweatch is thenstarted by him. Recent experiments in phys ology have shown not o ly that the process thoifnking and volition takes apnpreciable time, but that there is also aanppreciable difference betwe n the rapidity of thought and volition in different individuals. Practice and experience, as in everythingelse, tend to quickenthe rapidity of the actioonf the wiollr thought, which travels quicker over beaten tracks. We of course wish to steer clear of physio­ logical discussion as far as possible, and to confine ourselves to practical experieonfcetimekeeping; but it is necessaryto point out that the individual qualities of timekeepers may make the resultshey arrivaet untrustworthy. As ageneral profof the trutohf what we say,we may call attentionto the factht at novices who trtyo time races invariably make the time'sfast,' i.e. theyare very slowin starting the watcha,lthough they are not ssolow isntopping it at the moment the tapies reached, as by watching the runner up to the tape they know almost the exacmtoment when the pressure of the finger to stopthe watch will be required. Before quitting the subject of the liability of the timekeepetor error,we wouldsuggest that there should be a definite rule laid down by the A.A.A. for the guidance of starters as to whatpoint shoublde taken tfhoer start—the flash of the pistolt,he report, thoer firstmotion of the runnerM. ost timekeepers profess to start frtohme motion of the runner's body, but we are inclined to thinkwith some of them this ias mereprofession. Obviously they must only look at one runner, iafndhe were left upon the mark they would be ' oaulto' gether, a fact which we never yheetard an official timekeeper admit. In any casethe starting from the