282 PHYSIOLOGY AND HEALTH. 



CHAPTER LX. 



Some Muscles strong and others weak in the same Person. Ameri- 

 can Women walk little. Muscles become weak by Disuse. 

 Whole System made stronger and more lively by muscular Exer- 

 cise. This aids Digestion, Respiration, Circulation, and increases 

 animal Heat. 



650. THE muscles being thus unequally used, and their 

 strength unequally developed, in the same person, he may 

 then be very strong in one part, and weak in another. The 

 sailor or the blacksmith would be wearied with a walk of a 

 few miles, while the pedestrian might not be able to carry 

 the porter's burden, and the porter would soon be exhausted 

 with swinging the scythe or the sledge-hammer. 



651. Many women, however industrious at home, are not 

 generally accustomed to much exercise abroad. Their mus- 

 cles of locomotion, being little used, are neither large noi 

 strong. They cannot move with a vigorous gait nor with an 

 elastic step. They walk %vith so little ease and energy, and 

 are so soon fatigued, that they find very little inducement to 

 go any considerable distance on foot. Many who can spin 

 and weave, wash, make butter and cheese, and perform all 

 sorts of even the hardest household labors, without any great 

 weariness, are overcorne by a short walk. 



An example of this was found in an unusually industri- 

 ous aird healthy wife of a farmer, in a country town of 

 Massachusetts. Few women were more faithful and ener- 

 getic in the management and labor of the house. Nothing 

 was too hard for her strength, no household work was too 

 great for her energy ; all the domestic avocations, in their 

 due course, were her ordinary exercise. But she never 

 walked abroad. She lived about a mile from the village 

 and the church, and went to these very frequently, on busi- 

 ness or pleasure, and for worship. But she had always a 

 horse and chaise at command, and always rode. In her 



