NITBOGKSnZED PRINCIPLES. 377 



tainly a question of great physiological interest to study the 

 processes by which the muscular strength' and endurance 

 of a man may be brought to the highest point of devel- 

 opment. 



One of the most remarkable of the results of thorough 

 training is the development of immense endurance and 

 " wind." This is accomplished by running and prolonged 

 exercise, not so violent as to be exhausting, and always fol- 

 lowed by ablutions and frictions, so as to secure a full re- 

 action. The surprising faculty of endurance thus developed 

 must be due in a great measure to nervous power as well as 

 to gradual, careful, and perfectly physiological development 

 of the muscular system. A man may be brought into the 

 ring in what would appear to be perfect condition ; but if he 

 be trained down too much or too rapidly, he is liable to 

 give out after comparatively slight exertion. A man who 

 does not possess the required constitutional stamina and ner- 

 vous power is likely to break down in training, and can- 

 not be brought to proper condition. On the other hand, 

 a man in perfect condition is capable of the maximum of 

 muscular exertion for an hour, or can walk a hundred miles 

 in a day. 



It is a question of great importance, in connection with 

 the subject of nutrition, to determine whether the extraordi- 

 nary muscular power developed by severe training be, in the 

 end, beneficial or deleterious. This can be answered very 

 easily upon practical as well as theoretical grounds. A fully- 

 grown, well-developed man, in perfect health, may be trained 

 so as to be brought to what is technically called fine condi- 

 tion, and he will present at that time all the animal func- 

 tions in their perfection. He is then a model of a physical 

 man ; and the only consequences that can result from such 

 a course are beneficial. The argument that professional 

 pugilists are short-lived is fallacious ; for it is well known 

 that almost all of them, after training for and passing 

 through an encounter, immediately relapse into a course of 



