, 1872-12-01

Dlo Lewis, whose writings on bodiculture, il
they are not very profound, have, at least tht
merit of breyity and good sense, calls tho atten.
tion Of the public, in "To-Day," to the prevail.
! ing fanacy that strength is synonym TO,
health. He knows intelligent persons who re.
ally believe that you may determine the compar-
I ative health Of two men by measuring their
inches is twice as healthy as ho whose arm meas
urea but six. "This strange aud thoughtlesa
| misapprehension," he says, "has given rise to
| nearly all the mistakes thus farmadoin tile phys
! ical-culture movement. I hare friend who can
lift nine hundred pounds, and yet is m habitunl
sufferer from torpid liver, rheumatism, and low
spirits. The cattmen Of our cities, who are our
strongest men, are far from being the hea1thicat
class, as physicians will testify. On the con-
trary, 1have many friends who would stagger
under three hundred pounds, that are in capital
trim"
These truths Eeem so obvious, when thus
stated and illustrated, as hardly to rise above
commonplace. Why, then, repeat them? Be-
cause, by the vast majority Of "health-lift-
ers," gymnasium-frequentors, and would-be
athletes, they aro either unknown or
practically ignored. Every pale, sicEly,
pigmy-lmbed man wants to be physi-
cally strong; to be Hercules, q son Of Anak.
at least small Heonan, is absolutely essential,
he thinks, to the enjoyment Of perfect health.
II he cannot expect to lift ton, or to walk 3
thousand miles in q Thousand hours, he must, at
least, be able to take daily constitutional
Of five miles and back, or to raise five hundred
pounds without bursting blooa-7es6cl. But
what is tho meaning Of the word "strong?"
From the gibness with which some men parrot
the term, one would suppose that nothing is
easier than to define it,-that the proposition
that man is very strong is as simple Us tho
proposition that he is six feet high. The truth
is, however, that the word is ambiguous, that
under its seeming unity there turks real dual
ism of meaning, as q few facts will show.
In the first place, one Of the most obvious
tests Of strength is the power Of exertion. But
great power Of exertion may co-exist with ex-
trcme dolcacy Of organism, and even with Or
ganic disease. Napoleon, who slept four hours
ard was on horseback twenty,-who toiled 80
terribly that he half-killed his secretaries,-un-
nine out Of ten " strong men yet his aiges-
ton was always delicate and easily deranged,
and lie died Of an hereditary organic disease ct
the age Of IS. julius Cesar was not what is
II, 11o1
! prodigy Of exertion and endurance,
Again it is striking fact that great power Of |
sxertion in ono direction does not always imply !
Is existence in another. There are hundreds Of
he muscles, and endure with iupunity all kinds
IT exposure and hardship, who collapse under |
continuous and severe strain upon the eyes, the
'rain, and the nerves and the converse is rs
'ften seen. DR.. Elan, the author Of that deeply
interesting work, "a Physicians Problems"
ellis US that not long ago q friend reviewed with
i'm the names Of six or eight upper wranglers
t the English Universities for the last
wenty years, and that, with ue,y few
RECEPTIONS, these aud nearly all tho
double fist" men were alive and well;
lille, on the other hand, on reviewing the his
Dry Of two boa!s' crews Of picked men, Of whom
hey had full and accurate information, they
ound that not one Of them WIS alive. Surely,
uch havoc as this was never found among
lental athletes.
Look at the amount Of work which that
warf, hunchback, and invalid, Alexander Pope,
ontrived to perform! When le got I'D in tho
forming, he had to be eewed up in stiff can
ass stays, without which he could not stand
rect. His thin body Tas wrapped in fur and