BONES, MUSCLES, EXEECISE, AND REST. 305 



gives this power only in proportion as it can be converted 

 into new atoms of flesh. The laboring man wants rich and 

 nutritious food to sustain him in his exertions. He cannot 

 work with his fullest energy with poor and innutritions ali- 

 ment. Just in proportion as his diet is low or lacks in nutri- 

 ment, must his strength and his power of labor fail. The? 

 English trainers, who develop the greatest muscular force, 

 eat, or give their men the best of bread and the best of meats, 

 beefsteak and mutton. On the same principle, the judi- 

 cious but economical farmer feeds his cattle, and gives the 

 oxen that work better hay than those that lie still. 



704. The laborer not only wants nutritious food, but that 

 which can be converted into flesh with the least cost of 

 power. Digestible food requires but little exertion of the 

 stomach to convert it into chyle; but heavy bread, tough 

 meats, matters that are badly cooked, and all other sorts of 

 food that are hard to be digested, are not converted into 

 chyle without much labor. If more strength, or more nervous 

 power, is expended in digestion, of course less can be ex- 

 pended upon the muscles of motion. This is well understood 

 when one has eaten a very heavy dinner, which absorbs all 

 the energies of the system for its digestion. Then he can no 

 more work with his hands than he can when he is using his 

 feet with all his force. The same is true, though in a lesser 

 degree, when any food that is of difficult digestion is taken. 

 While this is going on, the man may work, but his power of 

 labor is reduced in proportion to the difficulty of the digestive 

 operation. A person, therefore, can accomplish the most 

 when he has eaten light bread and the best pieces of meat ; 

 and the laboring man, whose life is in his power of labor, 

 can afford to eat no other. 



705. The waste caused by exercise must find free outlet 

 through the skin and the lungs. Both these organs must, 

 then, be in a healthy condition in the laborer. His surface 

 must, by frequent bathing, be kept free from every thing which 

 would clog its pores, or obstruct its operations. The in- 

 creased waste through the lungs demands a greater supply 



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