Why? The Science of Athletics

HUMAN MECHANISM I I 7 electricity. The definition given by Professor A. V. Hill is that "the nervous impulse is a wave of electro-chemical change passing along the fibres". The nerves, unlike the muscles, do not get tired, so long as the blood-stream supplies them with oxygen, and yet no definite chemical change has been discovered in them. There are still so many things about our nerves that we do not know. For instance, what is the influence of the nerve cell upon the fibre, what is a satisfactory theory to account for the phenomenon of sleep? Yet another thing we do not understand is the way in which our personality is bound up in our nervous system, but certain it is that all parts of the organism of the human being are interdependent, and that not only our activities but our thoughts and our very characters are inseparable from our nervous organization. The chief centre for co-ordinating the movements of our muscles is the cerebellum, or "small brain", at the back of the head. In part, at all events, it also maintains the tone of the muscles, but its action is entirely automatic. Below the cerebellum is the medulla, which was men– tioned earlier. This controls our respiratory muscles and asserts some control of the heart and blood-vessels. Within the spinal column is enclosed a long cord of nerve-cells which ha;ve centres for the automatic working of the muscles of the trunk, abdomen and limbs. . The brain and spine are in many respects the most Important parts of our organism, because they seem to have the ability to influence movements that are almost automatic, and the spine, moreover, has a positive genius for automatic learning. It is by reason of that genius, contained within his spine, that the clumsy actions of ~he tyro so soon merge into that poetry of motion which Is characteristic of the first-class athlete in action. . Coaches and athletes alike should appreciate the Importance of running no risks of spinal injury, either in tr~ining or competition, and a good deal has already been said, also, which should suggest to the thoughtful reader