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MY BREATHING SYSTEM

body, lack that liarmony of all-round developmcnt which is so essential to health anc¹ a long happy lifc.

Under prcsent conditions, thousands of athlctcs, training for these Games, are injuring their vital organs. especially tbe heart, because they indulge in strcnuous one-sided exercises, without possessing a body which has been uni-formly strengthened witliin and without by propcr pliysical education in accordance with sound hygienic principles.

To insist on an age limit for competitors is, of coursc, a verv paltry device which rclieves the controllers of thc Games of a good deal of rcsponsibility. But such a coursc will not obriate failure, because athlctcs who are too young to enter will simply continuc their erroneous methods of training, meanwhile entering for othcr competitions until old cnough to participate in the Olympic Games. Besides which, the age limit involvcs great injusticc to youngsters educated and trained in accordance with sound principles, and who are, therefore, fully capablc of competing with any adult.

The only sensible measure would be to encourage the healthy all-round developmcnt of all childrcn, young peoplc and aspiring atliletcs, the aim of which development would bc above all to imigorate the vital organs in thc thoracic and abdominal cavities, further to derelop thc trunk mu«des beforc paying too much attention to the arm and leg muscles, and to transform the skin into a hardencd, properly functioning organ.

And the only way possible to attain such hygienic dcrclop-ment is by mcans of indicidual daily physical gyinnastics, the best way to encourage wliich would bc to include in the Olympic Games' programine a compctition for practical systems of so-called homo gymnastics.

Now that there arc indications that the Swedish authori-ties are no longer to be callcd upon to determinc wbat kind

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