Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1907-05-03
MANS PHYSICAL ENDURANCE
His intelligence and viii Power Make
Him Superior to the Most Powerful Of
the Brute Creation.

the Brute Creation.
The idea that man is inferior to the
animal in matters of physical strength is
refuted by Richard Thorpe Of Chicago.
1t is conceded that If strength" is held
to mean concentrated muscular power
merely. the comparison of man with beast
Is ridiculous. Mr.. Thorpe assumes that
Strength" includes not only muscular
power but endurance, and works out his
proposition accordingly His conclusion is
that In terms Of physical strength
man is unsurpassed by any living
creature. He says: Most people would
imagine that In race between a man
and horse the latter invariably and in
evitably must win, in spite of the fact
that the ancient fable OF the hare and the
tortoise shows us that the race Is not
always to the swift. Whether the horse
or the man won i'm such a contest entirely
would depend on the nature OF the race
presuming that the antagonists were fit
representatives, Of their respective species
which would imply that the man was a
well trained athlete. In a short distance
race-anythng up to 60 or 20 mies-the
man certainly would be vanquished But,
as the distance increased, the mans
chances would become greater. Mans
running record for so miles is seven
hours, 30 minutes. 33 seconds. made by
G. Cartwright. Feb 81. 1sS7-a record
which a good horse could beat. But how
many horses would equal mans running
record for 100 miles, 13 hours, &c minutes,
80 seconds, made by c. Rowell, Feb q,
| 1882. And supposing horse were found
capable of accomplishing this feat, could
such an animal continue moving, as the
man did, till he had covered $50 miles in
% hours. % minutes, 25 seconds?
Nor did this particular man, Charles
Rowell Of Cambridge, cease work even
at $50 miles. On the contrary he put UP
a NJ rrNf1F To- IL,
utes. 25 seconds. Yet Rowelrs feat by no
means represents the limit OF this par
ticular form Of human endeavor. p Fltz-
gerald Of New York covered 500 miles in
! l09 hours. is minutes. 90 seconds, and
George Littlewood OF Sheffield, England,
623% miles in 141 hours. 81 minutes 80
seconds. Where then. would your horse
be in really long race? One OF the
greatest difficulties to overcome in the
performance of feats of this description
is the doing, more or less. without sleep.
In this particular trying form OF endur-
ance man holds records that no living
creature-with the exception Of a salmon
or a goldhsh-eVer could hope to equal
In October 1868. Capt Barclay Of Try
made match for 1000 guineas with Wed
derburn Webster to walk 1000 miles in
1000 consecutive hours-one mile in each
separate hour. The start was made on
June /. 1869, at Newmarket Heath and
the course was a public road. Capt. Bar
clay was 26 years old at the time and
weighed at the outset 1856 pounds. The
feat was deemed impossible but the cap
tain displayed such pluck and endurance
that. after a time odds Of two to one
were laid on his accomplishing IT, Before
| the finish these odds rose TO 100 TO one
| The last mile was concluded on July ~
at 3.37 p. m. and the match won. His
| average time for the mile rose from
/ slightly under Is minutes during the
| first week to slightly over 81 during the
! last II is a remarkable fact that he
/ never went to bed without undressing
| Allowing, say. IS minutes in each two
! hours for the walking and five for his
! toilet. he never. during the space OF six
weeks. can have enjoyed longer sleep
/ than one of so minutes The captain
| lost IS pounds during the six weeks
tramp. For days after its termination he
/ was perfectly we'll
capt. Barclays feat. which only a
human being could have accomplished re-
/ mains unequaled. In spite OF many at
/ tempts to perform II, till the appearance
. on the scene OF pedestrian marvel
! named William Gale. who. I'm September
/ and October. 1877, walked 1900 miles In
/ 100 hours, each mile and a half walk 10
be started II the commencement Of the
hour Gale, who was As years Of age,
. appeared thoroughly done up. In the
last walk but one It seemed as II he
could never reach the finish Then. TO
everyone's amazement he pulled himself
| together and positively sprinted the final
journey, amid the frantic cheers Of the
| onlookers. The two last mentioned
| achievements. IL must be admitted. have
| put our four-logged friends completely
| out Of court but even they do not rep
resent the fun extent Of mans powers
/ in this direction Starting on THURSDAY
May 70. 1895. and concluding on the even
ing Of June 6, W. Bucklcr Of Newport
/ England. walked 1000 quarter miles IN
! 1000 consecutive periods of 94 minutes
each. commcncinEat the beginning n each
period. This was al Hunslet. Leeds. and
seems beyond adequate comment The
records or Capt Barclay. Gale and Buck
Ter display mans uusurp1 ssal powers OF
! endurance whore sleep MS well as fatigue
have 10 be combated. That the want Of
food also may he overcome by the human
being as by no other living creature has
been proved amply by Tanner. Succi and
other fasting men, who have existed for
periods of 40 days without taking any
thing more sustaining than pure water.
Let MS now turn in quite another drec-
ton. Not the earth but the water is this
time the scene Of our operations. Once
more the superiority of man shall be vim
dicated. The majority OF animals know
how to swim by instinct. They have not
to acquire the art as man has, and yet,
compared 70 man, how feeble they appear
for the most part. On land II is admit
/ ltu tlldl man III n snort Instance contest
must play second fiddle. In the water
save as regards creatures whose natural
habitat II is-a different story has TO be
told. Dogs swim well and fast but where
is the dog that could live with II. j.
Handy or any other first-class man over
the length OF a 100-yard course? II II
comes TO endurance again does anyone
believe there is a quadruped in existence
except the hippopotamus, which would be
poisoned by the salt water-that could
swim the channel? Yet Webb did this,
while Montagu Holbein and others have
made valiant attempts that have de-
served, II they have not achieved, sue
cess Drop a good swimming man and
dog in the water TWO or three miles
from land-which would have the better
chance of life? The man, beyond doubt,
Apart from these matters, in which II
Is easy to institute a comparison with the
brute creature favorable to man, 1t is in
teresting to consider other feats performed
by human beings which must strike most
OF us far beyond the capacity with which
we, generally speaking, would credit our
own species Look at the jumping, for
! instance, for which the biped is naturally
, less well adapted than the quadruped. II
you take a man from the street and SCI
him to leap a bar waist high, he probably
} would fail. Yet at the inter-univer-
sity sports of 1876. Marshall Brooks
} walked under the bar with his cap on
and then cleared It, the jump being SIX