The Pedestrian's Record

56 THE PEDESTRIAN'S RECORD. unnatural respiration, but the muscles approximating" them, and which assist the respiratory efforts, have never been prepared by those exercises which would not only bring to them, but also to those of the arms, back, and loins, that development and tonicity which every man should possess before he competes at athletic meetings ; in fact, development in one part and its negation in another represents ill-adapted and defective machinery, from which it is impossible to obtain so great results as perfection of form would insure. More than this, the undeveloped runner courts disaster every time he races ; his strong legs impose upon a weak trunk ; the propelling muscles seek the assistance of those super-imposed, being undeveloped, they are unable to respond with suffi­ cient power, similarly as a fast horse on the near side of the pole will kill his slow companion on the off: an antagonism between parts exists, the weakeryields to the stronger. Spasm, heart disease, ruptured vessels, etc., are the enemies who force the citadel of the unprepared runner. What lamentations do we hear ? Rachel weeping for her children ; mothers discussing the injuries that have occurred to their athletic progeny ; how Ajax is afflicted with valvular disease of the heart, and Priam with most dangerous spasms. They inveigh against sports of all kinds, and wish that athletism had never been an institu­ tion. " Accidents will happen in the best-regulated families," but the training for, and performance of, all athletic exercises, if conducted upon wise prin-