5 i2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing in relation to one particular. It is right and fitting that a certain 

 amount of storage material, or balance, should exist as a reserve in 

 the constitution of every healthy man. Every healthy individual, 

 indeed, necessarily possesses a stored amount of force, which will 

 stand him in good stead when a demand arises for prolonged unusual 

 exertion, or when any period of enforced starvation occurs, as dur- 

 ing a lingering fever or other exhausting disease. The existence of 

 this natural and healthy amount of reserved force is of course pre- 

 supposed throughout all my remarks, and its extreme value is taken 

 for granted. That undue amount of stored nutriment, that balance 

 which has been referred to as prejudicial to the individual, is a quan- 

 tity over and above the natural reserve produced by high health ; 

 for, when augmented beyond that point, the material takes the form 

 of diseased deposit, and ceases to be an available source of nutriment. 

 Even the natural amount of store or reserve is prone to exceed the 

 necessary limit in those who are healthy or nearly so. Hence it is 

 that in all systems of training for athletic exploits which is sim- 

 ply a process of acquiring the highest degree of health and strength 

 attainable, in view of great or prolonged exertion some loss of 

 weight is almost invariably incurred in developing a perfect condi- 

 tion. In other words, almost any man who sets himself to acquire by 

 every means in his power the best health possible for his system does 

 in the process necessary thereto throw off redundant materials, the 

 presence of which is not consistent with the high standard of function 

 required. Thus what is sometimes called " overtraining " is a condi- 

 tion in which the storage is reduced too much, and some weakening is 

 incurred thereby ; while " undertraining " implies that the useless 

 fatty and other matters have not been sufficiently got rid of, so that 

 the athlete is encumbered by unnecessary weight, and is liable to need- 

 less embarrassments, telling against his chances in more ways than one. 

 The exact and precise balance between the two conditions is the aim 

 of the judicious trainer. 



We are thus led to the next important consideration, namely, 

 that although broad rules or principles of diet may be enunciated as 

 applicable to different classes of people in general, no accurate adap- 

 tation to the individual is possible without a knowledge of his daily 

 habits and life, as well as to some extent of his personal peculiarities. 

 No man, for example, can tell another what he can or ought to eat, 

 without knowing what are the habits of life and work mental and 

 bodily of the person to be advised. Notwithstanding which, no 

 kind of counsel is more frequently tendered in common conversation 

 by one stranger with another, than that which concerns the choice of 

 food and drink. The adviser feels himself warranted, by the experi- 

 ence that some particular combination of nourishment suits his own 

 stomach, to infer without hesitation that this dish will be therefore 

 acceptable to the stomachs of all his neighbors. Surely the intelli- 



