Sept. 



le83.J 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



145 



PLAlNLY\yORD£D-£XACTLf DESCRIBED 



AN lULOSTRATED 



MAGAZINE OF S€IENCE 



LONDON : FRIDAY, SEPT. 7, 1883. 



Contents of No. 97. 



PAGE 



How to Get Strong : In Middle and 



Advanced Life 145 



The Birth and Growth of Myth. 



XV. By Edward Clodd 146 



Pretty Proofs of the Earth's Rotun. 



dity. (Illus.) By R. A. Proctor U7 

 The Fisheries Exhibition. VI. 



(Zitea.) By John Ernest Ady ... 149 

 Chemistry of the Cereals. V. By 



Williaii Jago, F.C.S 151 



F»llv and Courage at Niagara 152 



The'Whirlpool Rapids, Niagara ... 163 



PiGB 



American Manners in Travelling 



By R. A. Proctor 154 



The Coloured Curtain in the Eye 



By William AckroTd 155 



The Harvest Moon." {Ilhia.) By 



R. A. Proctor 156 



Obituary : Death of Professor 



Tobin 157 



CoBBESPOXDENCB : Punctuation 



and Printers, &c 138 



Matliematics 100 



Our Chess Column 161 



HOW TO GET STRONG. 



IN MIDDLE AND ADVANCED LIFE. 



IN the last few papers we have considered, with a 

 purpose, how fat may most eflFectively and at the 

 same time most advantageously be reduced. Our reason 

 has been that several correspondents, not claiming to be 

 entitled to become members of the Fat Men's Club, but 

 still too fat for comfort, have asked whether there is any 

 way in which they can participate without discomfort in 

 exercises which they supposed meant only for those in 

 good condition. It will be seen on a careful reading of 

 our remarks upon their requirements that nearly every- 

 thing recommended for them is good also for those who are 

 not in the least troubled with obesity, nay even for those who 

 are positively lean. Our suggestions for reducing weight 

 are nearly all in reality suggestions for increasing flesh. A 

 great deal of fat may inthe case of the corpulent be removed 

 while little flesh is put on, and so the weight may be 

 greatly reduced ; but it is almost impossible to follow any 

 sound regimen for reducing fat without adding flesh. 

 Indeed testing methods for reducing fat by merely weighing 

 is not satisfactory. Taking two corpulent men of equal 

 weight and equally fat, one shall by potions, unwholesome 

 food, undue sweating (without exercise) and in kindred 

 ways, take twenty flvc pounds ofl" his weight in a month ; 

 while the other will in the same time by healthy exercise, 

 cold bathing, and attention to the points touched on in 

 preceding papers, lose no more perhaps than some five or 

 six pounds ; yet the former shall feel weaker and more 

 oppressed Iiy his weight than before, while the otlier will 

 be altogether heartitir and more vigorous, lighter and more 

 active, than he had been. In one case perhaps some 

 twenty pounds of fat and some five pounds of flesh have 

 been lost : in the other, some ten pounds of fat only may 

 have been lost while five pounds or so of ilesh have been 

 added. It is not diflicult to see which of the two has 

 gained most by his fat-reducing cflbrts ; or rather one has 

 gained all round, wliile the other though twenty or twenty- 

 five pounds lighter is a much weaker man than before he 

 lost the weight. 



When we consider the effect ef one and the other 

 process on inferior organs such as the heart and lungs. 



itc, we see still more clearly the superiority of a system 

 by which while fat is reduced flesh is increased. The 

 fat man's heart for instance is not only overloaded with 

 fat, but the heart-muscle is weaker than it should be : 

 to reduce or even remove the fat by a process which at the 

 same time weakens the muscle, is to do at least as much harm 

 as good, — probably more. But a regimen which gradually 

 removes the fat, while increasing not only the quantity 

 but the quality of the muscle, is good all round. In the 

 long run such regimen leads to the more complete and per- 

 manent reduction of fat also. For the man who has simply 

 wasted is not in a fit state to resist the return of fat which 

 begins so soon as the wasting process has ceased. He is 

 far more likely to be simply prostrate during the enemy's 

 approach and unable to prevent it from re-occupying all the 

 positions whence it had been expelled. On the other hand 

 the wiser regimen gives vigour to circulation, respiration, 

 and digestion, increases strength of will and purpose, and 

 makes the attack on such undue deposits of fat as may 

 remain not only eflective but pleasant work. And the 

 good habits l>y which this result has been obtained are not 

 likely afterwards to be dropped, — at least, to be dropped 

 long enough to allow undue obesity to return. 



But other correspondents ask whether in middle and 

 advanced life either the regimen or the special exercises 

 which we recommend for the increase of strength or (where 

 necessary) for the reduction of weight, can be pursued. 

 We answer unhesitatingly that they can, due regard being 

 had to such moderation as experience and common sense 

 alike enjoin. 



As an introduction to the remarks we propose to make 

 on this part of our subject, we quote a letter from a man 

 who was eminent for literary ability and business capacity, 

 who lived a full life as well as a long life, and who wrote 

 what we are about to quote at the age of seventy-seven : — 



" I promised some time since," wrote the poet Bryant to a friend 

 in 1871, " to give you some account of my habits of life, so far at 

 least as regards diet, exercise, and occupations. I am not snre that 

 it will be of any use to you, although the system which I have for 

 many years observed seems to answer my purpose very well. 

 I have reached a pretty advanced period of life without the usual 

 infirmities of old age, and with my strength, activity, and bodily 

 faculties generally in pretty good preservation. How far this may 

 be the effect of my way of life, adopted long ago, and steadily 

 adhered to, is perhaps uncertain. 



" I rise early ; at this time of the year about half-past five ; in 

 summer, half an hour or even an hour earlier. Immediately, with 

 very little encumbrance of clothing, I begin a series of exercises, 

 for the most part designed to expand the chest, and at the same 

 time call into action all the muscles and articulations of the body. 

 These are performed with dumb-bells (the very lightest, covered 

 with flannel), with a polo, a horizontal bur, and a light chair swung 

 around my head. After a full hour, and sometimes more, passed 

 in this manner, I bathe from head to foot. When at my place in 

 the country I sometimes shorten my exercises in the chamber, 

 and going out, occupy myself for half an hour or more in some 

 work which requires brisk exercise. After my bath, if breakfast 



be not ready, I sit down to my studies till I am c.illed 



After breakfast I occapy myself for awhile with my studies, and 

 then, when in town, I walk down to the office of the Evening Post, 

 nearly three miles distant, and, after about three hours, retui-n, 

 always walking, whatever be the weather or the state of the 

 streets. In the country I am engaged in my literary tasks till a 

 feeling of weariness drives me out into the open air, and I go npon 

 my farm or into the garden and prune the fruit-trees, or perform 

 some other work about them which they need, and then go back to 

 my books. I do not often drive out, preferring to walk." 



Seven years later, soon after Bryant's death at the 

 age of eighty-four years, Mr. William G. Boggs, who 

 knew the poet intimately for many years, gave the follow- 

 ing reminiscences to a representative of the Evening 

 Post .— 



" During the forty years that I have known him Sir. Bryant has 

 never been ill— never been confined to his bed, except on the 



