Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 77.djvu/46

40 When one recalls the distances covered in the six-day go-as-you-please contests in vogue in this country some years ago, there is nothing incredible in this. If men of this day can average over a hundred miles a day for six days, what is there incredible in one of a race trained from childhood covering three hundred miles in three days? The interesting fact, in view of the scope of this article, is that the Kahars, trained from childhood to be distance runners, lived to be old men; that they were not only able to stand the strain of running great distances under a heavy load, but thrived under it.

I remember years ago of hearing that the post runners of India died at about the age of forty as a result of their exertions, but I have been unable to find any foundation for such a statement. Positive information in regard to the mortality of Indian post runners is unavailable, as they are relatively very few in number and of inferior caste, so that they are not mentioned as a caste in health statistics. Mr. John Cornwall, late postmaster general in the United Provinces, India, writes, that the Indian mail runners cover fifteen to eighteen miles a day, that there is never any difficulty in getting men to undertake the duties and that he never heard of them succumbing at the early age of forty. The rumor may, he says, have arisen from "the arrangement that Sowcars (bankers or money dealers) and Bunyas (merchants and traders) made in pre-mutiny days, to obtain early information as to the markets, rates of exchange, etc. They employed private persons, trained runners, to outstrip the regular mail carriers and convey information up country from trade centers. It was no uncommon thing, fifty years ago to see these messengers "arriving with messages sealed up in quills, and with their leg sinews swollen and strained from their exertions," but there is no definite and authoritative statement that their lives were shortened by their work.

Conclusions.—It seems to be an open question whether cross-country racing is safe for any but men of exceptional strength with the probabilities in the negative. It is evident that distance racing of any kind is attended with a certain amount of risk, which, however, can be reduced to a minimum by proper training. There is nothing in the testimony given by the athletes to show that distance running depletes vitality. As a matter of fact the presumptive weight of evidence is to the contrary. The facts revealed concerning the jinrickisha men and the Kahar runner emphasize this conclusion. If, notwithstanding his irregular diet, excessive use of liquors, exposure to the elements, etc., the jinrickisha man can live to a reasonable age; if, as shown by Mr. Harvey's testimony, Kahar runners live to be old men notwithstanding their extraordinary feats of endurance, we may safely conclude that the infinitely milder work of the college man, usually done under the best conditions, is not likely to injure him, and the evidence at hand appears to establish this beyond reasonable doubt. But the number of injuries