The philosophy of sport / by P. McBride.

Peter McBride

Date:: 1932

Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The philosophy of sport / by P. McBride. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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knows he is weak. In the old there is often a desire to forget the passage of years and the accompanying loss of strength, and on this very account to decline to believe that they can no longer do as much as they could in their youth. In addition to this, they often feel that to give up a sport will be looked upon as a confession of the advent of old age, and this they are unwilling to make. Finally, if a man has given up his life to sports requiring physical effort he may have neglected to pro- vide himself with any occupation of a sedentary nature, and he may—if he has any imagination—look forward to his remaining days if they are to be deprived of shooting and hunting as to a living death. For these reasons we cannot hope to gain much in- formation by asking questions. To do so would be considered impertinent by some, but even those who might be willing to give accurate information would not always or indeed often be able to do so, because there would arise in their minds so many conflicting thoughts. Certainly in the few cases where the writer has felt himself justified in putting the question the replies have seemed to show that the taste does not notably diminish with age, but this has not convinced him, because we must be very careful not to draw conclusions from a small number of instances. In this difficulty we may perhaps venture to call in physiological analogy. We have suggested that shooting and fishing, at any rate, may be merely modern forms of a primitive urge. It is not pushing theory too far if we allow ourselves to assume as an analogy the erotic impulse. We know that the latter depends upon the activity of certain glands, is it not, therefore, probable that the basis of the former may also depend upon organic secretions ? If so, we

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