Junk 19, 1885.] 



KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



515 



AN ILLUSTRATED 



.iAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



Plainly WORDED -exactlyDescribh) 



LOXDOX : FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 1885. 



O0NTRNT8 OF No. 190. 



PAOB 



To Strenethea the Arms. Br U. A. 



Proctor 515 



Tboaght and Laof^fuage. XI. By 



AdaS. BaHin 515 



Great Waves. Bv R. A. Proctor ... 617 

 Our Household iDsects. (lUua.) 



Bv E. A. Butler 51S 



Nervous Exhaustion : Treatment. 



Bv Edwin Wooton 519 



Dk-keos and Thackeray. Bv B. A. 



Proctor '. 520 



Irish Seaside Resorts. By Percy 



BusseU 520 



?AaB 

 \Vat4.-hmaktDg at the Inventions 



Ei;hil)ition. {Ilhis) 522 



Noberfs Kuline Machine. By John 



May all, junior 523 



On Certain Corruptions of English. 



By '* Ilallyards" 52^ 



Automatic Cotton Picker. {IZitts.) .'»24> 



Editorial Gossip 527 



Reviews 52>S 



Face of the Sky. By F.R.A.8 529 



Correspondence 529 



Our Inventors' Column f^'-iS 



Our Cbesfl Column 535 



TO STRENGTHEN THE ARMS. 



By Eichard A. Proctor. 



THE SHOULDERS .\ND UPPER ARM. 



(Continued from page 496.) 



FLINGING the hammer, or any other weight which can 

 conveniently be flung hammer-fashion, is capital 

 work for the muscles of the upper back, and the inner 

 portion of the triceps, while the weight is being swung 

 backwards ; in delivering the weight by swinging it up- 

 wards and forward?, the muscles over the shoulder and 

 the deltoid are brought into play still more eflectuall}'. 



Exercises in which the arms are flung horizontally back- 

 wards are good for the muscles at the sides of the shoulder. 

 The action in delivering the broadsword cuts five and six 

 is what is specially to be aimed at for these muscles. 

 These cuts as delivered in the cavalry sword exercise — in 

 which the body is swayed over (the legs somewhat apart) 

 to the right in delivering cut live (from right to left) a!.d 

 to the left in delivering cut six (from left to right), while 

 the body is held vertically in delivering cut seven (down- 

 wards, as the enemy's crest) — are still more useful for deve- 

 loping the .shoulder muscles. In fact the whole of the 

 cavalry broadsword exercise, as practised on foot, the legs 

 a little apart and the body swaying from .side to side 

 between cuts one and two (slantingly downwards), between 

 cnta three and four (slantingly upwards), and between cuts 

 five and six (horizontal), is splendid for the right upper 

 arm and shoulder. It comes rather awkwardly at first 

 to most persona to go through the same exercise with the 

 left arm ; but after a while it is easy enough ; and un- 

 doubtedly both arms should be exercised equally in this 

 way, if symmetry of development is required. It aflfords 

 good exercise to go through the broadsword exercises both 

 for infantry and cavalry, with a light club, say six pounds, 

 instead of a broadsword, fir.st with one arm, then with the 

 other. It is particularly hard work to check stroke seven 

 at the right time, if it has been given with the full swing 

 of the club. 



Rowing is a good exercise for the shoulder muscles, but 

 tends to round the shoulders forward, and should be cor- 

 rected by the frequent use of exercises such as those just 

 described. The snsie remark applies to lifting work, which 



is ai)t to injure the shapeliness of the back. There is good 

 work for the shoulder muscles in gardening, al.so, but it 

 must be corrected by work tending to tiirow th(! shoulders 

 back. Swinging the clubs well back so that in their swing 

 they come almost to touch tlus calves, as already described 

 for another purpose, is an excellent corrective for all such 

 forms of exercise as tend to warp the shoulders forward. 



For the deltoid muscles, over the top of the shoulder, 

 there is no better exercise than climbing up a ro])e. But 

 this work, like that of drawing the body u)) to ii cross bar, is 

 too severe for the lax muscles of the untrained. It sliould 

 be preceded by steady woik, uplifting weiglits by a down- 

 ward jiuU, as by hauling on a rope passed over a pulley or 

 a horizontal l)ar overhead. You can make half yoiir weight 

 serve for lifting practice by sitting on a crossbeam attached 

 to a rope whicli passes over a pulley. Hauling on the free 

 hall' you seem to lift your whole weight ; but in reality you 

 only lift half, though you raise the whole. This may sound 

 somewhat parailoxicul, but if you ccmsider how when thus 

 raising the body by hauling on a rojie the weight is divided 

 equally between two ])Oitions of rope, one held by the 

 hands the other attached to the cross-bar on which you sit, 

 you will see that the hands sustain in reality but half your 

 weight. Note also the evidence derived from the rate at 

 which the body rises. If you haul in two feet of rope 

 the supporting rope is shortened by two feet, but this 

 shortening being equally divided between the two portions 

 of the ro|ie, eacli is shortened one foot which is the dis- 

 tance by which the body rises. By practising ou the half 

 weight daily you will soon be able to lift the whole weight 

 as in climbing. If, however, you have opportunities for 

 either exercise, be very careful when hauling up the weight 

 by a r< pe passing over a pulley that the rojie is of adequate 

 strength, and that it runs truly and freely over the pulley ; 

 a hitch when you are several yards above ground is an 

 awkward and annoying coiilre/empa. 



A man in good condition ought to be able to lift his 

 body steadily by the action of the arms till the chin touches 

 the knuckles, then lowering himself, then raising himself 

 again, and so on, ten or twenty times. With practice and 

 training, one arm will litt the body easily. Athletes can 

 lift the body from a single finger ; but those for whom I 

 am writing may be content without achieving that feat. 



Holding out weights at arms' length, in front and on 

 either side, and swaying weights (dumb-bells preferably) 

 from the front to either side, the arm remaining all the 

 time horizontal, will be found good exercise for the muscles 

 on the front and side of the shoulder. Putting up a weight 

 from the shoulder is better exercise for the arms than for 

 the shoulder muscles ; but is good for correcting the efl'ects 

 of too much exercise in lifting weights. 



Boxing and single-stick are alike excellent for the 

 shoulder and upper arm muscles. Broadsword and single- 

 stick with the hanging-guard, now always used in England 

 (in America the old-fashioned inside guard is still in vogue), 

 are better for this purpose than fencing. But all such 

 exercises are good for the shoulder muscles. It is a pity 

 they are one-sided, though that can be corrected at the will 

 of the players. 



(To be continued.) 



THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE. 



By Ada S. Ballin. 



XI. 



rpHE study of the devf lopment of gesture language in 

 .L the dtaf and-dumb is of peculiar value in regard to 

 language in general, because every deaf-and-dumb child to 



