324 PHYSIOLOGY. 



body. | Their (great strength is shown by raising the body 

 upon thV toes, together with a large additional weighty and 

 this power is not only owing to their great size, but also to 

 the manner in which they are inserted into the heel, thus 

 having the advantage of the long arm of a lever. 



20. iThe muscular powers exhibited by many small ani- 

 mals and insects is astonishing. Small animals can leap 

 much farther than large ones, according to their size. The 

 flea and the locust leap two hundred times their own length, 

 as if a man should leap twelve hundred feet high. Others 

 leap three hundred times their length, and if man was as 

 strong in proportion, he ought to leap more than a quarter 

 of a mile. We read of an English mechanic, who made a 

 golden chain as long as the finger, with a lock and key, 

 which was dragged by a flea, and of another flea dragging 

 a silver cannon on wheels, that was twenty-four times its 

 own weight. This cannon was charged with powder and 

 fired without the flea seeming to be alarmed. A cockroach, 

 or an ant is six times as strong, for its size, as a horse ; and, 

 if an elephant were as strong in proportion, he would be 

 able to tear up rocks and level mountains] 



21. popping is merely leaping on on/ foot. As but half 

 the muscular power is exerted, a man ought to be able to 

 leap twice as far as he can hop. Running consists of a 

 succession of low leaps, performed by each leg alternately./ 

 It differs from walking, in the body being thrown forward at 

 each step, and the hind foot being raised before the fore foot 

 touches the ground. A person cannot stop running instant, 

 ly, as he can walking, because his velocity is so great as to 

 carry him forward a certain distance, whether he uses his 

 muscles or not, and thus occasions him to fall. 



22. The practice of running may be carried to a great 

 degree of perfection. A quarter of a mile in a minute is 

 good running ; and a mile in four minutes, at four starts, is 

 excellent. A mile was perhaps never run in four minutes ; 

 but it has been done in four minutes and a half. A mile in 



