THE PANAMA CANAL. 323 



waste of strength. "We can compare the arm, for instance, with a 

 lever, the fulcrum of which is at the shoulder- joint, the point of action 

 at the hand, and the power in the muscles. It is evident that the 

 larger the arm of this lever is, the more energetic will the muscular 

 effort have to he. The large man's power of endurance is less than 

 that of the middling-sized man, hecause not only of the personal 

 weight that has to be carried, but also on account of the difference in 

 the proportional development of the respiratory system. The power 

 of endurance may be estimated in a man at rest by taking the propor- 

 tion between the height and the circumference of the breast at the height 

 of the mammary processes. The larger the proportion of the latter 

 element, the greater will be the power to resist fatigue. The French 

 marine formerly accepted only those men whose breast-measurement 

 was at least half their height. The same degree of development is 

 required in Switzerland, and the acceptance of young men who can not 

 display it is adjourned from year to year. Thus, looking at military 

 aptitudes, it is middling-sized or small men that offer the greatest 

 energy, power to resist fatigue, and activity in battle ; and of this 

 kind is the popular type of the French soldier the petit chasseur, or 

 the soldier of the line. Translated for the Popular Science Monthly 

 from La Nature. 



* 



THE PANAMA CANAL. 



By STUART F. WELD. 



""VT~OT a little skepticism, and even some hostility, have existed 

 -I^N among us as to the Panama Canal ; and, perhaps, any other 

 nation in our situation would have entertained similar sentiments. It 

 is worthy of note, however, that the nation was not lacking in tact 

 when it refrained from showing any such feelings during the recent 

 visit of M. de Lesseps. De Lesseps was the guest of the United States ; 

 and it is hardly civil to criticise one's guests. He was here not as a rep- 

 resentative of the Panama Company, but as President of the Franco- 

 American Union. Upon the death of the first president, Edouard 

 Laboulaye, he had been elected to this position. This Union had col- 

 lected the funds destined to carry out the design of Bartholdi, and it 

 naturally devolved upon its head to make the presentation speech on 

 the 28th of October, the day of the inauguration of the statue. The 

 Panama Canal had no connection with the Statue of Liberty ; but 

 every one thought of De Lesseps as the constructor of one interoceanic 

 canal and the projector of another. It was natural, therefore, that 

 something should be said, after all, about the Panama enterprise. A 

 banquet was offered to De Lesseps by Cyrus TV". Field, October 27th, 

 the day before the ceremony upon Bedlow's Island. On the 2d of 

 November, one was tendered him in like manner in Philadelphia by 



