THE MUSCULAR MOTOR AND ALIMENTATION 125 



the force is from 50 to 80 

 grammes. In the mas- 

 seter muscles ( l ) it lises to 

 90 to 100 grammes per 

 square millimetre. There 

 are therefore marked dif- 

 ferences between various 

 muscles, the average 

 value being 75 grammes 

 per square millimetre of 

 section. In any kind 

 of animal this absolute 

 force is not exceeded. 



Very robust subjects, 

 such as athletes, have 

 large muscles to produce 

 considerable efforts ; for 

 example, in the famous 

 wrestler, Cotch Mehmet, the ab- 

 dominal muscles were " three " 

 times thicker than that of the 

 average noimal man, acc.oi cl- 

 ing to Manouvrier athletes can 

 lift a weight of 350 to 380 

 kilogrammes, ( 2 ) and certain 

 labourers (Marseillais, Sicilians, 

 Turks, Tunisians) have great 

 strength, ( 3 ) 



89. Numerous researches have 

 been made to ascertain the maxi- 

 mum lvalue of the muscular 

 effort that man can develop in 

 his arms, legs, loins and neck. 

 The measurements are neither 

 accurate nor consistent, some- 

 times " pressures " have been 

 measured, sometimes " trac- 

 tions," also the "d3mamometeis" 

 employed were of different types, 

 so that the grip of the hands 

 was not uniform. And finally, 

 the individual differences were 

 very great. 



FIG. 127. 



Fig. 128. Test of renal force. 



(*) Rosenthal (Physik. Med. Soc. in Erlangen, vol. xxvii, p. 85, 1895), 



( 2 ) Desaguliers, Cours de Physique, vol. I., p. 300, 1751. 



( 3 ) Hunauld, Barthez, etc. 



