CYCLING.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume VII, Issue 316, 13 August 1896, Page 3

CYCLING.

THE CYCLIST’S VIBRATORY HABIT. Since bicycling has become so popular the doctors have, as we have repeatedly reported, discovered various new ailmonts and injurious effects that result from riding. The latest investigation by a French physician has resulted in finding that cyclists are subject to the “ vibratory habit.” Unknown to themselves, they develop a general vibratory condition of . the body. They become like a human tuning fork which vibrates at high tension. Dr. Petit gave the French Academy of Medicine the results of his observations, and since then French and English bicyclists have been surprised, when they have complained to their medical adviser that they felt unusually restless and could not account for the reason, to learn that they had unconsciously acquired the “ vibratory habit.” According to Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson allbicyclists arenot similarly affected, their natural nervous conditions having much to do with the development of the disease. Riders who are careful to pedal in moderation, and who do not let their minds run on bicycles, are free from any evidence of the disease. But among the enthusiasts he finds the vibratory habit is rapidly developing. He declares that in it lies a menace to the future health of thousands of riders who refuse to confine their enthusiasm within a reasonable limit. The new disease is a kind of intoxication for movement, that is shown in an unconscious or semi-unconscious bearing of the body, which becomes especially plain when great steadiness is called for, as for instance, in sitting for a photograph. It is shown also in an over-desire for rapidity of motion as if it were necessary at every moment to overcome time and curtail distances by labour of an extreme kind. The constant impression given is that the sufferer from this general vibratory condition of the body, must jump on his wheel and be off, although the weather and circumstances are not opportune for riding. The whole manner bespeaks haste, although there is not the slightest occasion for it. Sir Benjamin declares that this intoxication for motion grows in the mind by what it feeds on and keeps the heart under the impression that it is always requiring the stimulation of exercise. If the devotee of the wheel thinks morning, noon, and night of riding, and the exhilaration of movement, his heart beats faster. Generally the rider is not aware of the influence his mind is exerting on this most important organ, which, after a while, feels that its normal pulsations are those when the mind is thus intoxicated with the thought of motion. Sir Benjamin

says that it is no false inference that this craving or desire for movement is very much like the craving or desire for alcohol, and its effects through the heart and circulation are much the same in the end. Of course, this intoxication is not accompanied by the other serious effects of alcohol upon the human system. Other medical authorities concur with the views expressed by Dr Petit and Sir Benjamin, and the “vibratory habit” is likely to develop as the desire for cycling increases among all classes.

The Auckland City Council have passed a by-law making it compulsory for local cyclists to register themselves, or their machines, I presume, which amounts to the same thing.