The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1876-05-24
MAKING MUSCLE.


The death of q young man from injuries
sustained in she gymnasium of the Boston
School of Technology has set good many peo-
pie to thinking about the duty and the danger
of exercising In artificial ways. DR.. Loring
has written letter Of caution, which tells how
te, a TN Slender nervous youth, got all the
exercise he needed while in college by leisurely
strolls upon the hills, and pleasant excursions
into the country. 1t was esidcntally as a
backset to the growing interest In physical
training, and will drop as sort Of wet blan-
ket ON the enthusiasm of not few. The
danger of OVERRIDING In this matter of exercise
is not half so real as not doing at all Now
and then an individual makes hobby Of
physical training, and spends his time in
bowling and boating and swinging Indian
clubs and shaking dumb bells but such cases
are rare, and for one person injured by over
exercise probably fifty suffer for want of it.
It is easy to create momentary SILVER of de-
probation at death from gymnastic feats,
but no notice is taken of the scores of people
who might as well be dead as alive, and really
are more dead thar alive, for want of the
elasticity and inauguration that proper physi-
cal exercise would give.
Exercise is a very different thing from the
development of muscle by artificial means.
matchmaking by forcing process, whether
in a gymnasium or out of it, Is attended with
danger. Very little good comes from It, One
of the pernioious notions which has gained
currency of late years is that exercise is a good
thing in and of itself sort of virtue irrespcc-
tive of conditions and uses and when per-
work, it is only necessary to exercises bis
muscles in some energetic and absurd fashion
for while to balance the account and regain
his equilibrium. Expenditure of nerve pow
er, it is imagined, must be offset by cores
ponding discharge in muscular activity, and
correspondingly increased in violence. Nc
matter how heavy jug is hung at the girdle
provided, Gilpin-lke, another is suspended on
the other side to keep the balance true. The
absurdity of this notion is obvious, when 1t is
borne in mind that the vital force spent in one
way can 10 more be regained by an equal draft
in another direction, than man can recover
the money he spends in greenbacks by paying
out a similar sum in silver.
The great problem is how to train and keep
the physical system at the top of its capacity
for work and enjoyment all the time. Those
who do not get an abundance of outdoor ex-
ercise in their regular ayocations must secure
its equivalent in some other way, or suffer the
consequences. The more exciting the work
of the brain the more needful is it to keep the
whole system toned to the highest degree Of
endurance and vitality. How to do this eacl
must settle for himself as best he can, with
such professional advice as he can command
but to do it in some way is both an interest
and duty. There is religion of the body
as we'll as of the spirit indeed true religion
includes both body and mind. 1t is not a
crusade or calisthenics and the other methods
of physical training that is wanted, but a
wiser and more general use of them. We
have mastered the art of making a perfect
tree, and persuading a rose to bloom in any
color we may choose we know exactly how
to rear just such a horse or dog as we desire
but who shall tell us how to develop and train
the human body to perfection p Golden Age.