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PHYSICAL TRAINING. 



PHYSIOLOGY. 



The tendency of modern athletics is toward 

 light but extremely quick movements. One 

 old-time bruiser would have used a twenty or 

 even a forty-pound bag of sand suspended 

 from a beam. The heaviest bag a modern 

 boxer would dare to use would not weigh over 

 eight pounds, and several new punching-bags 

 have been invented of late, the particular ob- 

 ject of which is to impart quickness and pre- 

 cision, although the hard hitting part is by no 

 means forgotten. It is claimed that the pres- 

 ent champion of the world, John L. Sullivan, 

 whose terrible powers of hitting probably go 

 far beyond anything ever seen before, got the 

 ability to deliver his quick and powerful blows 

 from practicing first on a blown-up beefs- 

 bladder suspended from a ceiling in such a 

 manner as to rebound toward him very quick- 

 ly after each blow, and afterward on an in- 

 flated Rugby foot-ball hung in the same man- 

 ner. Practice on these light bags or on foot- 

 balls certainly conduces very greatly to quick- 

 ness and precision, and forms, perhaps, without 

 exception the best exercise for general devel- 

 opment of speed and power and for the pre- 

 cision of hand and eye. Any one can try it 

 without fear of injury from overexertion, and 

 in a short time will perceive its many and 

 great benefits. 



After the bag-work is done an adjourn- 

 ment should be had to the yard and a few 

 miles run on the track, after which the cloth- 

 ing should be quickly removed, and, after a 

 short rubbing over with a coarse towel while 

 the perspiration was still pouring off, a shower- 

 bath should be turned on and the man should 

 stand under it for a moment, vigorously rub- 

 bing himself meanwhile, and thoroughly wilt- 

 ing and cleansing as well all parts. Care must 

 be taken not to remain in the bath more than 

 a very few minutes, as a severe cold and great 

 weakness is apt to follow too long an expos- 

 ure. Many athletes will not train in summer 

 without the use of ice in their bathing-water. 

 As soon as the bath is over the towel is again 

 put in use and the man wiped dry. After 

 that a short and not over-severe hand-rub 

 should be given, clean clothes put on, and a 

 stroll of a mile or so taken before dinner, 

 which should be about five hours after the 

 morning meal. A rest of at least half an hour 

 should be taken before this meal, which may 

 be quite heavy unless a man is very fat and is 

 trying to get rid of his flesh. Dinner may 

 consist of roast beef or mutton with vegeta- 

 bles ; but, though now partaken of rather free- 

 ly, they should be sparingly indulged in. A 

 good glass of old, mixed, or Bass's ale may also 

 be taken, and, if very dry, a few swallows of 

 water. Water may be often used to rinse the 

 mouth, but little should be drunk, as it is fat- 

 tening. A pebble carried in the mouth the 

 first few days of training will reduce the thirst. 

 A little cup-custard and plum-pudding may be 

 taken for dessert. A good rest of an hour or 

 two will be well earned and the need of it 



much felt by the time dinner is over. About 

 three or four o'clock in the afternoon a walk 

 may be taken to some near-by athletic club- 

 ground, and there in sprinter's costume a thou- 

 sand yards in dashes of seventy-five to one 

 hundred yards each may be run off. This will 

 be found to be one of the best of exercises for 

 the wind. 



The evening like the morning meal should 

 be rather light, and consist mainly of toast, 

 mutton-chops, and eggs, with a few vegetables 

 and a little tea. After supper a stroll may be 

 taken for a mile or two and a rest till an early 

 bed-time arrives. Great care should be used 

 not to catch cold. The scales should be used 

 every day and the weight under the same bodi- 

 ly conditions carefully recorded. The weight 

 should be gradually rising from about the mid- 

 dle to the end of training, and all work except 

 moderate strolling should be discontinued two 

 or three days before the contest. 



Physical training is now a subject of con- 

 sideration not only in our numerous athletic 

 clubs and among professionals of the different 

 branches, but is carefully dwelt upon by all 

 that have anything to do with the instruction 

 of the youth of either sex, and almost all 

 schools have a system of light gymnastics or 

 calisthenics. Any new game, such as lawn- 

 tennis, that compels light and active out-door 

 exercise under the disguise of sport, always 

 meets with favor among young ladies and gen- 

 tlemen. It is only within the past few years 

 that the importance of physical training for 

 women has begun to receive the attention it 

 deserves. There are now two gymnasiums in 

 New York for the fair sex alone, and their in- 

 fluence will surely be felt in the next genera- 

 tion. The importance of a careful system of 

 physical training can hardly be overestimated 

 in its relations to the proper enjoyments of a 

 long and vigorous life. 



PHYSIOLOGY. The originating causes of the 

 various forms and modifications of structure, 

 characteristic of plant and animal life, that be- 

 come transmitted and perpetuated, are dis- 

 cussed by Herbert Spencer in his " Factors of 

 Organic Evolution." Accepting the inherit- 

 ance of useful variations fortuitously arising, 

 and along with the inheritance of effects pro- 

 duced by use and disuse, as real factors, there 

 still remain classes of organic phenomena un- 

 accounted for and certain cardinal traits of 

 animals and plants at large that are still unex- 

 plained. Hence a further factor must be rec- 

 ognized. The words " natural selection " do 

 not express a cause in the physical sense, but a 

 mode of co-operation, or the effect of it, among 

 causes. The cause is to be found in the opera- 

 tion of the environment, in special amounts 

 and combinations of agencies therein, but in a 

 more important degree in the general and con- 

 stant operation of those agencies. We infer 

 that organisms have certain structural charac- 

 ters in common which are consequent on the 

 action of the medium in which they exist, in- 



