The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-22
WHAT BOXING HAS DONE FOR MANKIND
 SINCE EARLY DAYS
By Mac Levy of Babylon.)

(BY Mac Levy BaDy1On.) CThe author of the following article. l and of others which will appear in f1- ture issues of The Farmer, is a reeog- itzed authority on boxing, gmynastics, sports, health, hygiene, exercise and allied subjects. For eighteen years he has been a trainer of boxers and other athletes and many men distinguishes in business, finance and the profes- sions have been physically rejuvenated at his Long Island health farmu.'' In subsequent articles Mac Levy will ex- plain some of the methods by which human wrecks may transform them selves into athletes.)
 No other sport has been subjected to such bitter criticism as boxing, prob ably because so few people really un- derstand what boxing IS, and what it l isn't. The dishonesty Of some pro motors and a. comparatively few box CTS, and the narrowing and horrible 1 details sometimes included in exagger- ated accounts of boxing matches, are probably responsible for this wide spread prejudice.
 The adoption of boxing as a health giving exercise by such men as Col. Roosevelt, Muarice Maeterlinck, May of- elect Mitchell of New York, A. J. Drex- eI Riddle, and scores of others, and the better TGSuIaI1On or Ll1S pIO1SSS1O1Ac1A game by athletic commissioners, will gra duaIIys result in breaking down the prejudiee against the dstfc sport
 Boxing has had more ups and downs in its history than any other form of athletics 1t has been the sport of kings and princes, and it has been rel egated to the gutter. Fist fighting was practiced among the old Greeks and Romans, who used on their hands heavy gauntlets made of bands of leather covered with brass knuck1es and loaded wEh 1eaGen knobs These tsg1oves'' were so heavy that it was difficult to land a blow, but when 9 stiff punch did land it was good night
 Modern boxing originated in Eng land and Sir Walter Scott tells of a memorable fstic bout between F'riar Tuck and King Richard. It was about two centuries ago -lat something re- sembling real boxing, as we un- derstand it. was practiced by James Figg. who became the first English champion, and also gave lessons in the art to many noble and wealthy pat rons,
 The bare-fiet fighting Of those days, when rules to govern contests had not been originated, was doubtless brutal, and yet it had a civ1ifzing effect. Be- fore that time nobIes and gentlemen settled their auarrels with swords. while the poorer people, who were nrohifited by law from carrying swords, armed themselves with heavy clubs when they wished to settle a dis rute The resort to the fistic duel was, therefore, of great improvement.
 Jack Broughton, w11o became cham pion after Figg, was the inst reformer of the boxing game He contrfved the first set of rules to govern fistic con tests, and this code continued in effect until 1888. He invented fsnuff1ers,'' '' the first form of boxing golvee, for the protection of the pupils who took box ing lessons at his amphitheatre in Ox- ford. He also developed some clever ness in boxing.
 .Broughton's successors as champions returned to the old ''slaughter-house'' method of boxing, and contests were mere slugging matches until about 1790, when scientific boxing again came into vogue. Daniel Mendoza, the first Jewish pugilist, was responsible for