Impressions of Northern Athletes and Athletics

discipline, then, degenerated the finely developed brain and physical form of the Grecians and Romans to a condition little superior to that of the savage. Vice and its Consequences But deteriorated intellectual capacity and defective physical power are by no means the only evils caused by a laxity of moral discipline; for wherever there is a moral depravity, there eventually is a crime; wherever there is a crime, there is illiteracy: and wherever there is illiteracy there is disease, decrepitude, debilitated constitutions, premature old age, and earthly misery. Regarding the melancholy consequences of vice in general, an eminent physician said: “The stamp which nature impresses upon the victim of vice is horrible in the extreme. He is like a faded flower, like a withered tree blasted in the vigour of its youth. He is a walking corpse. All fire and life are extinguished within him; the dumb vices of which he is the slave, leaving nothing behind but feebleness and inactivity, death-like paleness, and a withering away of the body. . . . Natural talents and cleverness give way to slowness of intellect, and, perhaps, to decided stupidity. The soul no longer relishes good and great thoughts, and the imagination is entirely corrupted.” The accumulation of wealth is evidently the primary aspiration of the modern man; whereas the rectification and enhancement of his health and bodily symmetry is too generally neglected. This culpable negligence of health and physique – this violation of nature’s precepts – this deterioration of the power of the Will - is indubitably one of the greatest evils, if not the greatest evil with which our medical men have to contend. How often are they called upon to attend hopeless cases of dipsomania or drunkenness, victims of the various vices, who are infinitely more susceptible to the rampant affections of to-day; in short, to attend a hundred cases of disease originating from pernicious practices. The Exhilaration of Athleticism But what about physical culture and athleticism generally? That is a beautiful story. Through their instrumentality, strength, vitality, and particularly the volition, are literally revolutionised; the circulation of the blood is stimulated; regular perspiration is induced; animal spirits are accelerated, and their distribution through the fibres of the body facilitated. Many ailments are averted, and equanimity and self-reliance, which auger well for ultimate success, are greatly enhanced. The exhilaration which attends athleticism cannot be appreciated by the indolent individual nor by theorizers. This sport is peerless in augmenting stamina, together with agility and pliability to the limbs. Athletes almost invariably enjoy perfect health, and a symmetrical bodily structure, to say nothing regarding physical and will power. The strong-willed athlete is,