ENERGY AND RAPIDITY OF MUSCULAR CONTRACTION. 453 



his lumbar muscles for the purpose. A still greater advantage will be gained, 

 by throwing the weight more directly upon the loins, by means of a sort of 

 girdle, shaped so as to rest upon the top of the sacrum and the ridges of the 

 ilia ; and by pressing with the hands upon a frame, so arranged as to bring 

 the muscles of the arms to the assistance of those of the legs : in this manner, 

 a single Man of ordinary strength may raise a weight of 2000 Ibs. ; whilst few 

 who are unaccustomed to such exertions, can lift more than 300 Ibs. in the 

 ordinary mode. A man of great natural strength, however, has been known 

 to lift 800 Ibs. with his hands ; and the same individual performed several 

 other curious feats of strength, which seem deserving of being here noticed. 

 "1. By the strength of his fingers, he rolled up a very large and strong pewter 

 dish. 2. He broke several short and strong pieces of tobacco-pipe, with the 

 force of his middle finger, having laid them on the first and third finger. 3. 

 Having thrust in under his garter the bowl of a strong tobacco-pipe, his legs 

 being bent, he broke it to pieces by the tendons of his hams, without altering 

 the bending of the knee. 4. He broke such another bowl between his first 

 and second fingers, by pressing them together sideways. 5. He lifted a table 

 six feet long, which had half a hundred-weight hanging at the end of it, with 

 his teeth, and held it in that position for a considerable time. It is true, the 

 feet of the table rested against his knees ; but, as the length of the table was 

 much greater than its height, that performance required a great strength to be 

 exerted by the muscles of his loins, neck, and jaws. 6. He took an iron 

 kitchen poker, about a yard long, and three inches in circumference, and, hold- 

 ing it in his right hand, he struck it on his bare left arm between the elbow 

 and the wrist, till he bent the poker nearly to a right angle. 7. He took such 

 another poker, and, holding the ends of it in his hands, and the middle of it 

 against the back of his neck, he brought both ends of it together before him ; 

 and, what was yet more difficult, he pulled it straight again."* Haller men- 

 tions an instance of a man, who could raise a weight of 300 Ibs. by the action 

 of the elevator muscles of his jaw : and that of a slender girl, affected with 

 tetanic spasm, in whom the extensor muscles of the back, in the state of tonic 

 contraction or opisthotonos, resisted a weight of 800 Ibs., laid on the abdomen 

 with the absurd intention of straightening the body. It is to be recollected, 

 that the mechanical application of the power developed by muscular contrac- 

 tion, to the movement of the body, is very commonly disadvantageous as re- 

 gards force; being designed to cause the part moved to pass over a much 

 greater space, than that through which the muscle contracts. Thus the tem- 

 poral muscle is attached to the lower jaw, at about one-third of the distance 

 between the condyle and the incisors ; so that a shortening of the muscle to 

 the amount of half an inch, will draw up the front of the jaw through an inch 

 and a half; but a power of 900 Ibs. applied by the muscle, would be required 

 to raise 300 Ibs. bearing on the incisors. In the case of the forearm and leg, 

 the disproportion is much greater; the points of attachment of the muscles, 

 by which the knee and elbow-joints are flexed and extended, being much 

 closer to the fulcrum, in comparison with the distance of the points on which 

 the resistance bears. 



599. The energy of muscular contraction appears to be greater in Insects, 

 in proportion to their size, than it is in any other animals. Thus a Flea has 

 been known to leap sixty times its own length, and to move as many times 

 its own weight. The short-limbed Beetles, however, which inhabit the 

 ground, manifest the greatest degree of muscular power. The Lucanus cer- 

 vus (Stag Beetle) has been known to gnaw a hole of an inch diameter, in the 

 side of an iron canister in which it had been confined. The Geotrupes ster- 

 corarius (Dung or shard-born Beetle) can support uninjured, and even elevate 



* Desaguliers' Philosophy, Vol. ii. 



