Athletic Feats, Part 2

Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine
by George M. Gould, M.D., Walter L. Pyle, M.D.

(Page 40 of 50)

In Japan, at the present day, the popular method of conveyance, both in cities and in rural districts, is the two-wheeled vehicle, looking like a baby- carriage, known to foreigners as the jinrickisha, and to the natives as the kuruma. In the city of Tokio there is estimated to be 38,000 of these little carriages in use. They are drawn by coolies, of whose endurance remarkable stories are told. These men wear light cotton breeches and a blue cotton jacket bearing the license number, and the indispensable umbrella hat. In the course of a journey in hot weather the jinrickisha man will gradually remove most of his raiment and stuff it into the carriage. In the rural sections he is covered with only two strips of cloth, one wrapped about his head and the other about his loins. It is said that when the roadway is good, these "human horses" prefer to travel bare-footed; when working in the mud they wrap a piece of straw about each big toe, to prevent slipping and to give them a firmer grip. For any of these men a five-mile spurt on a good road without a breathing spell is a small affair. A pair of them will roll a jinrickisha along a country road at the rate of four miles an hour, and they will do this eight hours a day. The general average of the distance traversed in a day is 25 miles. Cockerill, who has recently described these men, says that the majority of them die early. The terrible physical strain brings on hypertrophy and valvular diseases of the heart, and many of them suffer from hernia. Occasionally one sees a veteran jinrickisha man, and it is interesting to note how tenderly he is helped by his confreres. They give him preference as regards wages, help push his vehicle up heavy grades, and show him all manner of consideration.

Figure 180 represents two Japanese porters and their usual load, which is much more difficult to transport than a jinrickisha carriage. In other Eastern countries, palanquins and other means of conveyance are still borne on the shoulders of couriers, and it is not so long since our ancestors made their calls in Sedan-chairs borne by sturdy porters.

Some of the letter-carriers of India make a daily journey of 30 miles. They carry in one hand a stick, at the extremity of which is a ring containing several little plates of iron, which, agitated during the course, produce a loud noise designed to keep off ferocious beasts and serpents. In the other hand they carry a wet cloth, with which they frequently refresh themselves by wiping the countenance. It is said that a regular Hindustanee carrier, with a weight of 80 pounds on his shoulder, - carried, of course, in two divisions, hung on his neck by a yoke, - will, if properly paid, lope along over 100 miles in twenty-four hours - a feat which would exhaust any but the best trained runners.

The "go-as-you-please" pedestrians, whose powers during the past years have been exhibited in this country and in England, have given us marvelous examples of endurance, over 600 miles having been accomplished in a six-days' contest. Hazael, the professional pedestrian, has run over 450 miles in ninety-nine hours, and Albert has traveled over 500 miles in one hundred and ten hours. Rowell, Hughes, and Fitzgerald have astonishingly high records for long-distance running, comparing favorably with the older, and presumably mythical, feats of this nature. In California, C. A. Harriman of Truckee in April, 1883, walked twenty-six hours without once resting, traversing 122 miles.

For the purpose of comparison we give the best modern records for running: -

100 Yards. - 9 3/5 seconds, made by Edward Donavan, at Natick, Mass., September 2, 1895.

220 Yards. - 21 3/5 seconds, made by Harry Jewett, at Montreal, September 24, 1892.

Quarter-Mile. - 47 3/4 seconds, made by W. Baker, at Boston, Mass., July 1, 1886.

Half-Mile. - 1 minute 53 2/3 seconds, made by C. J. Kirkpatrick, at Manhattan Field, New York, September 21, 1895.

1 Mile. - 4 minutes 12 3/4 seconds, made by W. G. George, at London, England, August 23, 1886.

5 Miles. - 24 minutes 40 seconds, made by J. White, in England, May 11, 1863.

10 Miles. - 51 minutes 6 3/5 seconds, made by William Cummings, at London, England, September 18,1895.

25 Miles. - 2 hours 33 minutes 44 seconds, made by G. A. Dunning, at London, England, December 26, 1881.

50 Miles. - 5 hours 55 minutes 4 1/2 seconds, made by George Cartwright, at London, England, February 21, 1887.

75 Miles. - 8 hours 48 minutes 30 seconds, made by George Littlewood, at London, England, November 24, 1884.

100 Miles. - 13 hours 26 minutes 30 seconds, made by Charles Rowell at New York, February 27, 1882.

In instances of long-distance traversing, rapidity is only a secondary consideration, the remarkable fact being in the endurance of fatigue and the continuity of the exercise. William Gale walked 1500 miles in a thousand consecutive hours, and then walked 60 miles every twenty-four hours for six weeks on the Lillie Bridge cinder path. He was five feet five inches tall, forty-nine years of age, and weighed 121 pounds, and was but little developed muscularly. He was in good health during his feat; his diet for the twenty- four hours was 16 pounds of meat, five or six eggs, some cocoa, two quarts of milk, a quart of tea, and occasionally a glass of bitter ale, but never wine nor spirits. Strange to say, he suffered from constipation, and took daily a compound rhubarb pill. He was examined at the end of his feat by Gant. His pulse was 75, strong, regular, and his heart was normal. His temperature was 97.25 degrees F., and his hands and feet warm; respirations were deep and averaged 15 a minute. He suffered from frontal headache and was drowsy. During the six weeks he had lost only seven pounds, and his appetite maintained its normal state.

Zeuner of Cincinnati refers to John Snyder of Dunkirk, whose walking-feats were marvelous. He was not an impostor. During forty-eight hours he was watched by the students of the Ohio Medical College, who stated that he walked constantly; he assured them that it did not rest him to sit down, but made him uncomfortable. The celebrated Weston walked 5000 miles in one hundred days, but Snyder was said to have traveled 25,000 miles in five hundred days and was apparently no more tired than when he began.

Recently there was a person who pushed a wheelbarrow from San Francisco to New York in one hundred and eighteen days. In 1809 the celebrated Captain Barclay wagered that he could walk 1000 miles in one thousand consecutive hours, and gained his bet with some hours to spare. In 1834 Ernest Mensen astonished all Europe by his pedestrian exploits. He was a Norwegian sailor, who wagered that he could walk from Paris to Moscow in fifteen days. On June 25, 1834, at ten o'clock A.M., he entered the Kremlin, after having traversed 2500 kilometers (1550 miles) in fourteen days and eighteen hours. His performances all over Europe were so marvelous as to be almost incredible. In 1836, in the service of the East India Company, he was dispatched from Calcutta to Constantinople, across Central Asia. He traversed the distance in fifty-nine days, accomplishing 9000 kilometers (5580 miles) in one-third less time than the most rapid caravan. He died while attempting to discover the source of the Nile, having reached the village of Syang.

A most marvelous feat of endurance is recorded in England in the first part of this century. It is said that on a wager Sir Andrew Leith Hay and Lord Kennedy walked two days and a night under pouring rain, over the Grampian range of mountains, wading all one day in a bog. The distance traversed was from a village called Banchory on the river Dee to Inverness. This feat was accomplished without any previous preparation, both men starting shortly after the time of the wager.