34 



♦ KNO^VLEDGE 



[July 20, 1883. 



the only organs of locomotion now practically used by tlie 

 adult crab — namely, the legs — it has grown to a relatively 

 immense and inordinate size. In a crab, we have all 

 observed (also in pursuit of our personal objects) the meatiest 

 part after the big grasping claws consists of the network of 

 shell and muscles in the under portion of the body. Now, 

 this part is really the governing and moving mechanism of 

 the small legs, or, in other words, the muscles that actually 

 do the work of walking. Hence it is easy to see why the crab 

 ditfers so much in externals from the lobster. But, besides this 

 main central diflerence, there are other minor difl'erences of 

 shape and appearance, due in like manner to adaptive modifi- 

 cation. While the lobster's whole form is roughly cylindri- 

 cal and pointed in front, so as to enable him to dart readily 

 through the water with very little resistance, the crab's 

 form is much more flattened and massive, so as to suit 

 better with his crawling and almost terrestrial habits, as 

 he makes his way quietly and unobtrusively along the 

 bottom. The one type might almost be compared with 

 that of the greyhound or the hare, the other with that of 

 the tortoise or the armadillo. Indeed, the crabs are by far 

 the most land-loving of all their immediate group, for most 

 of them hug the shore, many of them live on the margin 

 between high and low water, and not a few of them haxe 

 actually taken to living on dry land, or even climbing con- 

 siderable mountains. These last return annually to the sea 

 in order to lay their eggs, and the young pass their early or 

 larval stages as free swimming creatures in the salt water, 

 but in their full-grown form they take at length to the 

 land, and tliere grub away in the soil to their heart's 

 content. Grubbing, in fact, even more than walking, 

 might be set down as the peculiar differentia of the crab 

 race, the one thing which, more than any other, has given 

 the whole group its special and distinctive features. To 

 my mind there is no more speaking lesson in evolution than 

 just to buy a common edilile crab, and look at the 

 curiously dwarfed and dwindled condition of its tail. If 

 that one simple concrete argument and example does not 

 convert a man, he must be hard wedded indeed to his own 

 view of the cosmos and its origin. 



HOW TO GET STRONG. 



KEDUCIXG FAT. 



IT is hard to say whether corpulence is to be regarded as 

 a greater nuisance in its direct or in its indirect effects 

 — whether it is worse to be loaded constantly with the 

 weight of two or three suits of clothes, to have the circu- 

 lation impeded, the liver obstructed, and the lungs op- 

 pressed, or to be rendered almost unable, and quite un- 

 willing, to take such exercise as would open the lungs, free 

 the liver, and stimulate the circulation. The mischief of 

 corpulence works in a very vicious circle. It is an evil 

 in itself, and it tends to increase its own evil effects. 



At the very outset, then, of any system of exercise for 

 those who are oppressed with much fat, comes the inquiry, 

 how that excess of adipose tissue is to be reduced. 

 Observe, I say " fat," not " flesh." It is absurd to speak 

 of fat men as fleshy men. Ko one is the worse for flesh, 

 nor can there well be excess of it ; for flesh is muscle. It 

 is excess of fat only which is obnoxious ; and because, 

 amongst other reasons, wherever there is excess of fat 

 there is defect or deterioration of flesh. 



Now, with regard to the reduction of fat, there are a 

 dozen or so of methods which are in more or less favour 

 with those whom Dr. Dio Lewis calls the "wobblers," 

 though in England, at any rate, many fat men walk as 



steadily, in appearance, as the lean ones. I do not, for my 

 own part, believe in any one of these methods ; but I 

 believe in all or very nearly all of them. This sounds like 

 a contradiction ; Ijut it is not. I think the fat man who 

 pins his faith on this, that, or the other cure for obesity, is 

 not only unlikely to get rid of his extra fat, but is very 

 likely to do himself serious mischief. But I think also that 

 the man who pins his faith on this, that, and the other cure, is 

 very likely, if he is patient and resolute, to be successful 

 in reducing himself to reasonable proportions. It is by 

 applying all the proper remedies (for some are obviously 

 bad) at the same time, and in due proportion, that fat may 

 be reduced most safely and most eflectively. 



But in tlie struggle with obesity, resolution, self-restraint, 

 and patience are all important. Unfortunately, fat is very 

 often an evidence of impatience, weak will, and want of 

 self-restraint. Also of want of wisdom. The pleasure of 

 a goodly meal, swallowed hastily (that is, without due 

 patience in mastication), washed down (hateful, but in such 

 cases too appropriate expression) Vi)- draughts of wine, or 

 beer, or spirits, and followed by fat-engendering repose, 

 seems greater than the enduring pleasure of good digestion, 

 active frame, and light spirits, with the power to limit 

 sleep to sleep's proper hours. A quiet read in a soft arm- 

 chair by the fire-side in winter, or in the cool, softly-lit 

 study in summer, seems a greater good, even when taken at 

 the expense of exercise which the body needs, than the less- 

 noticed, but longer lasting, sweetness of health and cheer- 

 fulness secured by a wholesome regimen. 



The necessary resolution, patience, and self-restraint to 

 reduce excess of fat can be obtained in no other way that 

 I know of than by reasoning. Let a man consider within 

 himself what he pays for those indulgences which keep 

 him fat, and he must be foolish, I take it, if he is unwilling 

 to give them up or to reduce them in such degree as may 

 be necessary. Nay, let him even consider the matter in 

 the light of such indulgences. Does he enjoy his food as 

 much when over-burdened with fat as he would if he were 

 in better condition 1 Does he enjoy the rest he takes 

 unnecessarily anything like the rest he would vajit if he 

 were more active ? In fact, does he know the real pleasure 

 afforded by either feeding or resting 1 One meal sauced by 

 hunger is worth a dozen eaten when the system is 

 already over-loaded. One rest earned by exercise is 

 worth any amount of lounging laziness. Then again, 

 consider the work a fat man has to do as a direct result 

 of shirking work he ought to do. The man who has 

 been unwilling to walk four or five miles a day when of 

 reasonable weight, has no choice later (unless he summons 

 resolution and patience to his aid) but to carry about with 

 him wherever he goes a load of perhaps forty or fifty pounds 

 of useless muscle- encumbering fat. A man who is unwil- 

 ling to put on a suit of flannels and a " sweater," weighing, 

 perhaps, two or three pounds more than his usual dress, to 

 work <^ff a pound or two of his weight, carries about with 

 him (groaningly, it may be, but still unresistingly) the 

 weight of five or six complete suits of clothing.* A man 

 who is unwilling to sweat for his health, sweats daily four 

 or five times as much as leaner men, though what he so 

 loses he replaces by heavy draughts, not always of innocuous 

 water. 



So much premised, and noting also that to follow at 

 once several fat-reducing methods is much easier, as it 

 will be found much more effective and therefore much 

 more encouraging than to follow one, I proceed to consider 



* A summer suit of clothes for a man of medium size (height and 

 stoutness) weiglis .ibout 8 lb., including boots and hat. A fat man 

 not only carries 40 lb. or 50 lb. more weight of hia own than he need, 

 but has to have rather heavier clothing. 



