40 THE MUSCLES 



and the appetite and power of digestion are increased. An 

 increased exhalation from the lungs and skin purifies the cur- 

 rent of the circulation, and the body as a whole thrives under 

 its influence. (Head Note 2.) 



16. The first effects of exercise, however, are upon the 

 muscles themselves ; for by use they become rounded out and 

 firm, and increase in power. If we examine a muscle thus 

 improved by exercise, we find that its fibres have become 

 larger and more closely blended together, that its color is of a 

 darker red, and that the supply of blood-vessels has increased. 

 Without exercise the muscle appears thin, flabby, and pale. 

 On the other hand, excessive exercise, without sufficient relax- 

 ation, produces in the muscle a condition not very different 

 from that which follows disuse. The muscle is worn out 

 faster than nature builds it up, and it becomes flabby, pale, 

 and weak. 



17. Violent exercise is not beneficial ; and spasmodic efforts 

 to increase the muscular strength are not calculated to secure 

 such a result. Strength is the result of a gradual growth, and 

 is most surely acquired if the exercise be carried to a point 

 short of fatigue, and after an adequate interval of rest. To 

 gain the most beneficial results, the exercise should be at regu- 



2. Health in Athletic Exercise. " Health is perpetual youth that 

 is, a state of positive health. Merely negative health, the mere keeping 

 out of the hospital for a number of years, is not health. Health is to feel 

 the body a luxury, as every vigorous child does ; as the bird does when 

 it shoots and quivers through the air, not flying for the sake of the goal, 

 but for the sake of flight ; as the dog does when he scours madly across 

 the meadows, or plunges into the muddy blissfulness of the stream ; but 

 neither bird, nor dog, nor child enjoys his cup of physical happiness 

 let the dull or the worldly say what they will with a felicity so cordial 

 as the educated palate of conscious manhood. To ' feel one's life in every 

 limb,' this is the secret bliss of which all forms of athletic exercise are 

 merely varying disguises ; and it is absurd to say that we cannot possess 

 this when character is mature, but only when it is half developed. As 

 the flower is better than the bud, so should the fruit be better than the 

 flower." 



16. General effect upon the muscles ? Special effect ? Effects of inaction ? Of excessive 

 exercise ? 



17. Of violent and spasmodic efforts? Strength, how attained ? Give the particulars. 



