HENDERSON DISCOVERS EFFECTS OF EXERCISE

Proof that the changes in circulation, blood analysis, and respiration induced by violent exercise are directly connected with length of exercise, training, and lung capacity was revealed yesterday by Dr. L. J. Henderson '98, Professor of Biological Chemistry in Harvard University. Experiments on Clarence de Mar, the famous marathon runner, and other athletes and non-athletes, made by having them alternately run on a treadmill and lic still on a couch, show that the athlete's blood changes less than that of the ordinary man in motion. The acidosis of De Mar's blood remained static while running at an average rate of 5.8 miles per hour, when he consumed 3.5 liters of oxygen per minute and kept a pulse rate of 101. For comparison a non-athlete in the same test consumed 1.5 liters of oxygen a minute, keeping a pulse rate of 192, and lowering by half the acidosis of his blood.

Standing Still is Hard

"Standing still is one of the hardest exercises known to man," Professor Henderson stated. "We find that it cuts the blood flow in half. There are few men who could stand still for 30 minutes without fainting: Although it hurts to think, thinking however, does not materially change the blood analysis or circulation."

Dr. Henderson suggested a scientific method of breaking the record for a given race. "If," he said, "one were to place the record holder in an oxygen tunnel, arranged so that one could adjust the air supply reaching the runner's lungs, it would be possible to eliminate one racing difficulty; breathlessness and subsequent fatigue. Then, if one could arrange a little flag so that it would run around the track at a steady speed just a little higher than the average speed of the previous record holder, and instruct the runner to follow the flag exactly, one would eliminate another difficulty, that of pacing at the exact speed best for a certain race."