The Pedestrian's Record

i i 4 the pedestrian's record. it puts a stopper to any further athletic pursuits. Rupture of a vein is not always disastrous in its effect, i.e., if it heals soon and does not leave any organic formation behind it, as it does in establishing the commencement of aneurism, or uniting in such a manner as to render it impervious to the flow of the circulating blood, when any further physical exer­ tion would be fraught with danger. Any strain beyond that which is natural is no doubt unsafe for the system, and when this is imposed upon it daily we can readily understand how easily the runner places himself within the area of such misfortunes. When he runs for ever so short a distance at top speed, the heart becomes oppressed, and the lungs are involved in respiratory trouble, for its requires extra effort to inspire the life-giving oxygen, and more labour to expire the vitiated air and carbonic acid. The heart that beats regularly before the run, beats much more quickly during the continuance of exercise, and in so doing drives the blood with greater force from the ventricles and auricles through the blood-vessels. This force so exercised may be compared to the action of a pump, to the mouth of which an india-rubber pipe has been attached, for the sake of conveying water to a distance: it will be noticed how easily the water, driven by steady strokes, passes through the tubing ; but when the rapidity of the strokes isincreased, how the water will ooze at the mouth of the pump, distend the tubing, and make every effort to pass through the