Scientific Athletics

4,000 years B.C. Thi i corroborat d by writer who av r that on ac ount of the in alubrious climat , di ea e w re prevalent in all Ori ntal r gion , and in order to nullify these di order the Emp ror of China w re, in th ir respectiv r ign , prompt ·d to ad ocate phy ical culture to th ir ubject . At thi r mote period it wa conclud d that the putr cent water whi h had accumulat d after h avy rainfall wa productive of contagious maladi s, and in counteracting the e epidemic disorder phy ical culture was pre cribecl a · an effi.caciou pr ventive. Th eminent hin e philo opher, Confucius, affirms in hi autobiography that such ex r i a f ncing, ceremonial clan -ing, and chariot-driving were in– c rporated in th training curricula at public in titu– tion , and al o that he him elf participat d ardently in them. In tho e an ient time th Chin di tingui heel th science of physical culture by the name of (ong-Fo11, and it i enoun ed that their modus operandi was by no mean promi cuou , as it con -ist cl of systematic po tur s, or varying attitud ·, and a proper m thoc1 of respiration. Th latt r item appears to have b e::1 greatly appreciated, while the cl gr e of x r ise v,·a. invariably proportione l to the extent of th mala ly. }for over, it has be n verified that the an ient Chine · were ver eel in th practi e of ma . ag . .\Jthough the abov indication. are v ri ·imilar, \\'e mu t r t upon the v racity of antiqu annotators ; but wheth r th y w r veraciou · or oth rwi i 1m– mat rial, b cau th ruclim nt · or phy i al ulturc mu ·t have b n s ntially manif st to them. The anci nt hin " r not th only race ti.at evinced nthusia m in phy ical ultur , as i onfirrnccl by the r cord of the Egyptian , P rsian., Babylonians . and Hindoo . Perhap the mo ·t laborat ·y t m of physi al xercis was that indulged in by th elcbrat l athletes, and the hi roglyphical rcpro lu tion whi 11 con tituted their r cords illu trat cl arly their high 16