Abstract
A REMARKABLE article on “An Approximate Law of Fatigue in the Speeds of Racing Animals,” by Mr. A. E. Kennelly, appears in the Proceedings of the American Academy (vol. xlii., p. 275) for December, 1906. We cannot help speculating as to the causes which led the author to choose such a subject for investigation. To the man of science, even to the omnivorous statistician, the subject sounds so unpromising—one may almost say undignified or improper; the sort of subject with which no civil servant, no permanent official, should ever deal, even in secret. Once the investigation was commenced, it was naturally extended from one series of records to another; but what accident prompted the commencement? Mr. Kennelly is provokingly silent on the point. He opens, it is true, by telling us that “Olympia and Epsom Downs are known to fame by the races they have witnessed. Olympian races, recently revived, are of international interest...A reduction of either of the records [for the 100 yards or the mile] by even one per cent, would be a matter of world-wide importance, and the hero of the new record would be famous among the inhabitants of the temperate zones.” Yet we find it hard to believe that the investigation was undertaken simply as a definite matter of urgent public importance, even though the results, as it turns out, may have the gravest social consequences. They may lead to the advertising of mathematical tables and squared paper in the sporting press. They may even influence the teaching of mathematics in our public schools, our universities, and other haunts of ancient peace.
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References
Cf. the work of M. Bouny (Paris Academy of Sciencs, and NATURE, vol. liv., 1896), and R. E. Crompton (NATURE, vol. lxi., 1899).
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Y., G. A Law of Record Times in Racing . Nature 75, 463–464 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/075463a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/075463a0