APPLICATIONS OF MUSCULAR POWER. 293 



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 hroke 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 fist 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, holding 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 mentions 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 mechani- 

 cal application of the power developed by muscular contraction, to the move- 

 ment of the body, is very commonly disadvantageous as regards force; being 

 designed to cause the part moved to pass over a much greater space than that 

 through which the muscle contracts. Thus the temporal 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. 



396. 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 60 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 cervus (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 stercorarius 

 (Dung or shard-borne Beetle) can support uninjured, and even elevate, a 

 weight equal to at least 500 times that of its body. And a small Carabus has 

 been seen to draw a weight of 85 grains (about 24 times that of its body) up 

 a plane of 25 ; and a weight of 125 grains (36 times that of its body) up a 

 plane of 5 ; and in both these instances the friction was considerable, the 

 weights being simply laid upon a piece of paper, to which the insect was 

 attached by a string. 



397. The rapidity of the changes of position of the component particles 

 of muscular fibres, may, as Dr. Alison justly remarks,t be estimated, though 



* Desaguliers' Philosophy, vol. ii. 



f Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology, Art. Contractility. 

 25* 



