848 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



cause more independent." Now, why 

 a statement like this, which is absolutely 

 without foundation and entirely mis- 

 leading, should be considered as particu- 

 larly suitable for Sunday reading, we, 

 who are not of the " Circle," can not in 

 the least divine. It is given to the 

 members of the Circle, however, as the 

 utterance of a leading educator, Dr. 

 Ilill, President of the Baptist University 

 of Rochester, and with the indorsement 

 of Bishop Vincent, who, by selecting 

 it, stamped it with his approval. The 

 ordinary members of the Circle will, 

 therefore, feel justified in accepting it 

 without hesitation or reserve, and will 

 form their opinion of Herbert Spencer 

 accordingly. The wrong is done, not 

 so much to Mr. Spencer, whose reputa- 

 tion is established in the world of phi- 

 losophy and science, as to the members 

 of the Circle, who are made to receive a 

 false impression of his moral teaching. 

 If Bishop Vincent is not too busy with 

 work of more importance, we would 

 earnestly invite him to do one of two 

 things either justify the above state- 

 ment in regard to Mr. Spencer or with- 

 draw it, and that in the same columns 

 in which the statement appeared. We 

 affirm most emphatically that it does en- 

 tire injustice to Mr. Spencer's teaching. 



LITERARY NOTICES. 



Physiology of Bodily Exercise. By Fer- 

 nand Lagrange, M. D. The Interna- 

 tional Scientific Series, Vol. LXVI. New 

 Yorjc: D. Appletou & Co. Pp. 395. 

 Price, $1.75. 



In early times men depended upon the 

 constant use of their physical strength to 

 obtain the means of subsistence, and to pro- 

 tect themselves and their possessions against 

 violence ; during a later period, when a class 

 had arisen whose subsistence was provided 

 by serfs, even these were still required by 

 custom to use their muscles in warlike exer- 

 cises ; at present a large and increasing por- 

 tion of civilized men are engaged in occupa- 

 tions which do not demand bodily exertion, 

 and much of the labor formerly done by hu- 

 man muscles is now performed by steam 



and electricity. The modern man has rev- 

 eled for a time in bodily inactivity, but is 

 now waking up to the fact that exercise is 

 as essential to health and the enjoyment of 

 life as sufficient food and sleep. But there 

 are many who have not yet learned this les- 

 son, and not all of those who are willing to 

 take exercise have the right knowledge to 

 secure for them its full benefits, or to pro- 

 tect them against its misuse. Knowledge 

 of this sort it is the object of the present 

 volume to supply. We do not know of any 

 other book that explains so fully as this 

 what goes on within the body when the 

 muscles are used. The author first de- 

 scribes the process of muscular work, then 

 explains the nature of fatigue, tells what 

 changes in the body are produced by habitu- 

 ation to work, what the essential characters 

 of the different exercises are, what results 

 are effected by different kinds of exercise, 

 and closes by pointing out the office of the 

 brain in exercise. The slightest movement 

 performed by the human machine, he says, 

 brings into play the neighboring parts, and 

 sometimes also more distant ones. The old 

 soldier who said, " When I had my two legs, 

 I used to give a splendid blow with my fist," 

 spoke sound science. Hence an exercise 

 may produce marked effects in a part of the 

 body where we should not have dreamed of 

 looking for them. The great organic func- 

 tions of the body are not isolated from the 

 work of the muscles. More blood is drawn 

 to the working muscular masses, and this 

 stimulus to the circulation causes the lungs 

 to draw in a larger supply of air. It is 

 commonly said that work produces heat in 

 the body, but in reality the heat is the cause 

 of the work, and is itself produced by com- 

 bustion of the nutritive substances derived 

 from our food, of the fat, and, when these 

 are exhausted, of the bodily tissues. The 

 waste products of this combustion clog the 

 muscles and are one of the causes of fatigue. 

 Breathlessness is caused by violent exercise, 

 which suddenly increases the quantity of 

 carbon dioxide in the blood, and makes a 

 great demand on the lungs to eliminate the 

 poison. The stiffness of fatigued muscles 

 is due to other waste products, notably the 

 urates. Overwork causes more of such 

 products to be produced than can be ex- 

 creted ; hence they accumulate within the 



