Physical Exercise and Longevity
CONCERNING athletics, Dr. B. W. Richardson in his Diseases of Modern Life, testifies as follows: “There is no sign, there is no evidence, that the greater culture of physical strength has favored the longevity of an individual, or the vital tenacity of a race. The observations made by the physicians of the Greek, Roman, Arabian, and Italian schools respecting physical exercise, and the maladies incident to it, admit of but one rigid interpretation; namely, that such exercises insure premature decay and early death. The facts to be elicited in modern times from the statistics of this country as well as of France and of Prussia, lead to the inevitable conclusion that removal of excessive physical endurance tends to health, and length of life. The most striking fact of this kind is afforded in the history of the Jewish race. In no period since their dispersion, do we discover the faintest approach to any system among them tending to the studied development of physical capacity.” And yet this people have outlived the most powerful nations, and while whole empires composed of men of physical beauty and chivalric fame have passed away, the Jewish race holds its vigor, outlives and outworks in the fields of intellectual labor all the nations around them.—Exchange.