202 A HISTORY OJb 



Although the human body is externally more delicate than any ol 

 the quadruped kind, it is, notwithstanding, extremely muscular; and 

 perhaps, for its size, stronger than that of any other animal. If we 

 should offer to compare the strength of the lion with that of man, we 

 should consider that the claws of this animal give us a false idea of 

 its power ; we ascribe to its force what is only the effects of its arms. 

 Those which man has received from Nature are not offensive ; happv 

 had Art never furnished him with any more terrible than those which 

 arm the paws of the lion. 



But there is another manner* of comparing the strength of man 

 with that of other animals ; namely, by the weights which either can 

 carry. We are assured that the porters of Constantinople carry bur- 

 dens of nine hundred pounds weight. Mr. Desaguliers tells us of a 

 man who, by distributing weights in such a manner as that every part 

 of his body bore its share, he was thus able to raise a weight of two 

 thousand pounds. A horse, which is about seven times our bulk, would 

 be thus able to raise a weight of fourteen thousand pounds, if its 

 strength were in the same proportion.t " But the truth is, a horse 

 will not carry upon his back above a weight of two or three hundred 

 pounds ; while a man of confessedly inferior strength, is thus aMe to 

 support two thousand. Whence comes this seeming superiority ? The 

 answer is obvious. Because the load upon the man's shoulders is 

 placed to the greatest advantage ; while, upon the horse's back, it is 

 placed at the greatest disadvantage. Let us suppose, for a moment, 

 the man standing as upright as possible, under the great load above 

 mentioned. It is obvious that all the bones of his body may be com- 

 pared to a pillar supporting a building, and that his muscles have 

 scarce any share in this dangerous duty. However, they are not en- 

 tirely inactive ; as man, let him stand never so upright, will have some 

 bending in the different parts of his body. The muscles, therefore, 

 give the bones some assistance, and that with the greatest possible ad- 

 vantage. In this manner a man has been found to support two thou- 

 sand weight, but may be capable of supporting a still greater. The 

 manner in which this is done, is by strapping the load round the shoul- 

 ders of the person who is to bear it, by a machine, something like that 

 by which milk-vessels or water-buckets are carried. The load being 

 thus placed on a scaffold, on each side, contrived for tnat purpose, and 

 the man standing erect in the midst, all parts of the scaffold, except 

 that where the man stands, are made to sink ; and thus the man main- 

 taining his position, the load, whatever it is, becomes suspended, and 

 the column of his bones may be fairly said to support it. If, how- 

 ever, he should but ever so little give way, he must inevitably drop ; 

 and no power of his can raise the weights again. But the case is very 

 different with regard to a load laid upon a horse. The column of the 

 bones there lies a different way ; and a weight of five hundred pounds, 

 as I am told, would break the back of the strongest horse that could 

 be found. The great force of a horse, and other quadrupeds, is ex- 



* Mr. Buffon calls it a better manner ; but this is not the case. 



1 Mr. BtiffoD carries this subject no farther; and thus far, without explanation, it i 

 erroneous 



