70 



• KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[June 30, 1882. 



ipr<'ialUU, undeniably bad for the development of a well- 

 proportioned and thoroughly healthy frame. Take, for 

 instance, any first-class eleven at cricket ; select, if you 

 please, an eleven such as the Australian, in which all-round 

 aptitude is a characteristic feature, and you will invariably 

 tiud so large a proportion of ill shaped men as to show 

 that thoroughly well-built cricketers owe their goodly 

 proportions to exercises outside cricket Despite the 

 running involved in tlie game, four cricketers out of five 

 have badly-d'^'Iopcd chests. One would say a good bat 

 should have _'ooiI shoulders, but that batting does not tend 

 to improve tlu' shoulders is shown by two, at least, of the 

 finest Australian bats. Take rowing, again. Unless a 

 rowing wan does other work especially int<'nded to correct 

 the defect, he has invariably poor arms above the elbow, a 

 marked inferiority in the development of the chest as com- 

 pared with the back, and he generally has round shoulders 

 and a forward hang of the liead and neck. Boxing is 

 better, but it cannot be pursued with advantage as the 

 chief exercise a man or boy takes, and it is entirely 

 unsait«d to girls and women (for whom we write, by-the- 

 way, quite as much as for boys and men, though for girls 

 our calf-skin dumb-bo.xer may not be the best of all chest- 

 oj)ening exercises). 



In answer to many inquiries, we note that Mr. 

 lUackie's work, "How to Get Strong," is published by 

 Harper i Brothers, New York. We do not know the 

 price. Much of its contents are specially intended for 

 American readers. Maclaren's little book (not on Dumb- 

 l>ells, as some readers seem to suppose, but on Training), is 

 published by ilessrs. Macmillan. 



Other correspondents ask us what weight dumb-bells 

 ■should be for 'p^i^o'is of given height and weight. Every 

 one who uses dumb-bells should have them of different 

 weights for different exercises. There are some chest 

 exercises for dumb-bells which would tax the strength too 

 much if the dumb bells weighed more than two pounds 

 "•ach (these would be wooden), while for exercises in putting 

 Tip weight, the dumb-bell.s should weigh from six pounds 

 •■ach to ten pounds cacli. It is better to have them too 

 light than too heavy, unless the person using them is going 

 in for athletic honours ; but we are not writing for sucli 

 persons. 



Clubs have several usea for which dumbbells are not 

 available, especially for exercise in wrist play. We are 

 asked by some of what shape they should be, and where to 

 be purchased. We thought every one knew the ordinary 

 .shapes of Indian clubs, — straight handle, with a knob to 

 prevent the club slipping out of the hand and spindle- 

 shaped heavier part, in plain or polished wood. Any wood- 

 turner would make a pair for a few shillings, and would 

 require no other instructions but " Indian clubs of such and 

 aush weight eaclj." The clubs ought not to be heavy. Five 

 pound clu1(S (that is ten pounds weight the pair) will serve 

 men strong enough to u-ielff clubs of twice or thrice their 

 weight ; in fact, many flourish about heavy clubs and sway 

 heavy dum1>^b(ll3 with apparent ease, but really to their 

 own detriment ; for to support the strain of heavy clubs 

 or dumbU-lis, tlie chest assumes a constricted attitude, just 

 as it does in very hard rowing, and in several other exercises 

 which men pursue under the impression that they are im- 

 proving their development. 



The effect of constant hard work in special directions 

 may best be judged l>y noticing porters, coal-heavers, and 

 the like away from their ordinary employment They do 

 their work so well, that one would say they were very 

 powerful men, and so in a way they are. But they cannot 

 walk freely ; nay, some of them can scarcely stand upright 

 (To be eonlinwd.) 



A 



HOME CURES FOR POISONS. 



ANTIMONY. 

 NTIMONY and its compounds would not bo dan- 

 gerous were it not for the too prevalent opinion that 

 they may be used in all cases, safely, as enietics. Antimony 

 itself cannot be used in this way until it has been so 

 modified by chemical admixture as to be capable of decom- 

 position by the fluids of the body. For this purpose 

 tartarised antimony, in the form commonly known as 

 tartar emetic (the doubh; tartrate of potash and antimony) 

 is usually employed ; and most cases of antimonial poison- 

 ing have arisen from the administration of tartar 

 emetic in large doses. The employment of this 

 substance to detect children or servants who have 

 taken forbidden articles of food has led to some very 

 sad cases of poisoning. The practice cannot be too 

 strongly reprehended. Tartar emetic has also been 

 used, as foolishly, to cure confirmed drunkards of their 

 bad habit, by causing sickness. The latest case in which 

 the use of antimony as a poison, with criminal intent, was 

 suspected, was the so-called Balham tragedy. The case 

 was very diflicult to understand, but very instructive. It 

 may be remembered that Mr. Bravo had bought a quantity 

 of tartar emetic for the purpose of dosing Mrs. Bravo's 

 wine, so that she might be cured, if possible, of her 

 tendency to drink it in undue quantities. After a 

 quarrel he had gone to his room, and soon after began 

 to suffer severely from what eventually proved to be 

 the effects of antimonial poisoning. He lingered in 

 great pain for two or three days, and during that time 

 nothing transpired to suggest that ho had been wilfully 

 poisoned. After his death the body was examined, and it 

 was unmistakably shown that death was caused by anti- 

 monial poisoning. Mrs. Bravo was suspected of having 

 murdered her husband, the idea being that a medical 

 friend of hers had suggested to her the use of tartar emetic 

 to poison Mr. Bravo. The whole theory of those who 

 suspected Mrs. Bravo was absurd on the face of it, and, 

 proliably, but for the horror which the supposed crime 

 excited, the case would have been quickly closed ; but it 

 was continued until the cruelty of the cross-examination to 

 which Mrs. Bravo was subjected excited the pity of 

 many who had had very little sympathy for her at the 

 outset But the difljculty was to undtTstand how, in 

 reality, the poison had been administered or taken. 

 Mr. Bravo was well acquainted with the general proper 

 ties of tartar emetic, and knew that in large doses the 

 substance is poisonous. He could hardly have taken it by 

 accident, or have taken more than a suflicient emetic dose, 

 if he had proposed to use it in that way medicinally. The 

 only theory which at all corresponded with the evidence 

 was one wliich illustrates one of the characteristic proper- 

 of this substance. I\Ir. Bravo had threatened to commit 

 suicide, and had bought laudanum with tlu; avowed purpose 

 of using it to kill himself. Persons who talk in this way 

 very seldom do commit suicide; but it seems likely that 

 after the quarrel referred to above, in the course of 

 which he had repeated the threat, Mr. Bravo did 

 take a poisonous dose of laudanum,- — trusting, we 

 believe, to the tartar emetic in his possession as a 

 safe and sure emetic by wliich to get rid of the 

 laudanum, when it had served his purpose. But it so 

 happens that while tartar emetic is very ceitain in its 

 emetic action in nearly every case (being surpassed only in 

 this respect by sulphate of zinc), it should never be taken 

 in cases of narcotic poisoning, for in large doses tartar 

 emetic is itself a poison unless the stomach quickly rejects 

 it, and narcotic poisons so diminish the sensibility of the 



