Dec. 2, 1881.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



103 



erroneous nature of views based on Liebig's doctrine is well known to 

 physiologists ; but, nevertheless, is hardly as yet .w generally known 

 as it onght to be, and very likely on the banks of Isis and Cam there is 

 no suspicion of the truth. Possibly every year a certain number of 

 men break do«ni in training, with more or less injury to their con- 

 stitutions, owing to a faulty diet. Instruction on this subject is 

 therefore anything but supcifluous, as a deeply -rooted error is not 

 by any means enidicatcd ; and all wlio are interested in athletic 

 sports should welcome the appearance of two articles which a 

 writer on physiology of the lirst eminence has contributed to Mr. 

 Richard Proctor's new magazine, Kn"owledc;k — a periodical, we 

 may observe, which promises to satisfy a want that luis long been 

 felt. In this magazine Dr. Carjientcr has come forward to protest 

 against the belief in Liebig's views which apjjears unfortunately 

 still to exist. As need hardly be said, he docs not write specially 

 on training or diet, bat generally respecting food material and 

 physical effort, Iiis articles being on "The Kclation of Food to 

 Muscular Work." They are written with all his accustomed clear- 

 ness and powerful simplicity, and we hope to aid in calling attention 

 to them, as they cannot fail to do much good if they reach those 

 who habitually misfeed young men with a view to producing " high 

 condition." 



It is not necessary to reproduce hero the careful and minute 

 account which Dr. Carpenter gives of the process involved in 

 muscular effort. Tliose who wish to understand this must seek 

 the pages of Kxowledge, and they will be very well repaid for 

 their pains. His summing-up, however, which states briefly the 

 views of modem physiologists, should bo given in his own words, 

 which are as follows : — 



" The tncfhanical working of the body of a living animal is as 

 directly dependent as its heating upon the oxidation of the hydro- 

 carbons of its food ; and these may bo most economically supplied 

 by non-nitrogenous substances. On the other hand, the mechanism 

 can only be kept in working order by the continual renovation of its 

 substance (its very existence as a living whole involving the con- 

 tinual death and decay of its component pai-ts) ; and for this reno- 

 vation a sujiply of proteids is essential, with a certain admixture of 

 fat to serve as a material for protoplasm." 



Xow it is scarcely necessary to point out how entirely these 

 truths are opposed to the' system followed in training, which did 

 seem to receive some kind of sanction from Liebig. It is true, 

 no doubt, that nitrogenous food is required for the renovation of 

 the muscle, whicli wears out as all the tissues of the body wear 

 out ; but the consumption of muscle caused liy effort — which, as 

 we have said, has been likened to the wear and tear of a machine 

 — is small when comi)ared with the consumption of the non-nitro- 

 genous 6ub.stancps, which represent tlic fuel that is burnt to 

 maintain the force developed. It is therefore clear that when 

 there is severe and continuous physical effort, a large supply of 

 the latter kind of food-material will bo required to make good 

 the loss occasioned by that effort, while of the fonner only a 

 slight increase will be made necessary. The principle followed in 

 training is exactly to reverse things. It is true that men are no 

 longer encouraged to gorge themselves with underdone meat and to 

 avoid sweets as if they were poison ; but still, in the main, the 

 trainer favours meat, and watches with some jealousy and restricts 

 the other kinds of food. He ought to do just the opposite. We do 

 not, of course, mean to say that the resources of the French 

 cuisine should be placed at the disposal of young men in ti-aining, 

 as it is sufficiently obvious that those who desire to attain a high 

 state of health must confine themselves to simple and digestible 

 food ; but of simple food it is the non-nitrogenous kind that is the 

 most needful, and it is about as reasonable to fear a large propor- 

 tion of nutriment of this class as it would be to fear the oxygen of 

 the air. Nay, more harm may be done by abstaining from the food 

 indicated. Natural laws cannot be disobeyed with impunity ; and 

 when nature points distinctly to one kind of diet, and men choose 

 to adhere to a diet of precisely the opposite kind, evil of some sort 

 is not unlikely to follow. The argument that the diet is right 

 because men who adopt it do get into " high condition" we have 

 already answered, and there can be little doubt that the ailments 

 which assail men in training and the occasionally serious results of 

 training are in part due to a vicious system of diet which, in so far 

 as it has any scientific basis, is founded on a doctrine which 

 is now thoroughly exploded. Much, therefore, do we hojio that 

 Dr. Carpenter's valuable contributions to Knowledge will be read 

 at the Universities and other places where there is devotion to the 

 BOTerer kind of athletics. If these and some other writings are 

 studied, we doubt not that, before long, the foolish rules which still 

 remain will be swept away, and that the h.appy young athletes who 

 are able to enjoy gcod and wholesome dinners, which tend to 

 produce, not to retard, the much-desired " condition," will fervently 

 revere the name of the man of science who released the victims of 

 training from an odious thraldom. — From the Saturdaij Kevieti: 



dBm- il1atl)rmatiral Column. 



Mathe.mathai. Query [1], — A mason has a block of stone— as 

 in figure. — square at top and bottom. Peqiendicular height, S)' = 

 10 feet ; AB, side of base, = 8 feet ; CD, side of top, = 6 feet. He 

 desires to cut it in three parts of equal solidity. Will one of your 

 mathematical readers kindly tell him an easy way of doing it Y— 

 Cymro. 



The practical answer to this question is simply to mark off HI, 

 01; Hi; Ap each equal to 2783 ft., or to about 2 ft. 9|in. ; and 

 /)(!, kn, rs, pt, each equal to 3-269 ft., or about 3 ft. 3i in., and cut 

 off by pianos parallel to ABGH, the pyramidal frustra pG and tk. 



Prcsunuibly the block is to be cut by planes parallel to the tci]i 

 and bottom. 



The best way of treating this question is, perhaps, the following : 



The block EB may be regarded as part of a pyramid, having 

 ABGH as base. The' height of this pyramid would bo 40 ft., ioi- 

 its linear dimensions narrow one-fourth in 10 ft. of ascent, and 

 reduce, therefore, to nought (or the vertex is reached) at four timci 

 this height. 



Of this pyramid, the part or frustum EB has a volume bearing 

 to the volume of tlie pyramid the ratio (40)^- (30)" : (1-0)^ 



= 61-27 :64 = 37: 64 

 In other words, putting V for volume of pyramid, volume of block 



EB = — -V- Now we require to determine two points L and M in 



54 

 YX, so that planes through L and M parallel to AIIGB may cut oil 

 from the lower part of the pyramid one-third and two-thirds re- 

 spectively of the volume EB. The volumes thus cut off will, then- 

 fore, be respectively — 



1 37 ,. , 2 37 ,. 



_• — I and I , or 



y (11 3 61 



±" V and -Zi V 

 192 192 



Now, if L and M be respectively distant x and ;/ feet from the 

 vertex of the pyramid, we have the volumes cut off from the lower 

 part of the pyramid by the planes through L and M, respectively 

 equal to — 



W^-'V and (fy-yy 

 (40)= (40)3 



ITencc («')'-/ = i7 ; and m_l:Z^j' = 1± 

 (iOy 192 (40)'' 192 



, 64000 X 155 155000 ., «/.-;.« 



or '- = = — - = 51o()OD 



192 3 



„„. ==64000x118 ^Ji8000 ^ 39333.3 



■' 192 3 



