70 EVILS OF OVER-TRAINING. 



face were evidently quickly fading. The cut in his 

 upper lip had healed. The right nasal bone was 

 loosened from its articulations ; but there was no frac- 

 ture. On carefully practising auscultation, the heart's 

 action was found to be feeble, though there was no 

 bruit the valves acting efficiently. The pulse was 

 weak, very compressible, and rather above 100. The 

 left lung was healthy, but over the apex of the right 

 there was dulness, with evident signs of congestion. 

 On either side, at the back of the neck, there was con- 

 siderable stiffness, which was ascertained to exist chiefly 

 in the tendinous attachments of the trapezius muscle to 

 the occipital bone, ligamentum nuchae, dorsal vertebras, 

 and spine of the scapula. The immense development 

 of the muscles about the shoulders and chest was very 

 remarkable ; they stood out prominently, and as little 

 encumbered with fat as if they had been cleaned out 

 with a scalpel. In firmness they resembled cartilage. 

 The same conditions were also apparent in the recti 

 muscles of the abdominal wall, the tendinous intersec- 

 tions (linear transverse) of which were strongly marked. 

 * But with all this splendid development it was evi- 

 dent that Heenan had received a shock from which his 

 system was only slowly recovering ; though whether 

 this loss of power was due to the punishment received 

 in the fight, or to the hard training which he had previ- 

 ously undergone, may be a disputed point. As physi- 

 ologists, it seems to us highly probable that his train- 

 ing had been too prolonged and too severe. When 

 Heenan went into training on Wednesday 23rd 



