50 HUMAN BIOLOGY 



a more nearly complete life than his civilized descendants, and his body 

 was strong accordingly. We should admit the hopelessness of having 

 permanent good health without muscular activity and should determine 

 that muscular exertion shall be as much a habit and pleasure as eating 

 and sleeping. 



Alcohol and Muscular Strength. Benjamin Franklin, one of the 

 wisest and greatest of Americans, was a printer when he was a young 

 man. In his autobiography he gives an account of his experience as a 

 printer in London. He says: "I drank only water; the other work- 

 men, fifteen in number, were great drinkers of beer. On occasion I 

 carried up and down stairs a large form of types in each hand, when 

 others carried but one in both hands. They wondered to see, from this 

 and several instances, that the Water-American, as they called me, was 

 stronger than themselves, who drank strong beer. My companion at 

 the press drank every day a pint before breakfast, a pint at breakfast 

 with his bread and cheese, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at 

 dinner, a pint in the afternoon about 6 o'clock, and another when he had 

 done his day's work. I thought it a detestable custom, but it was neces- 

 sary, he supposed, to drink strong beer that he might be strong to labor." 



EXERCISES IN WRITING. The Right and the Wrong Way to ride 

 a Bicycle. Pay Day at a Factory. A Graceful Form : how Acquired ; 

 how Lost. A Drinking Engineer and a Railway Wreck. 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS. 1. Can we always control the voluntary 

 muscles? Do we shiver with the voluntary or involuntary muscles? 

 2. If a man had absolute control over his muscles of respiration, 

 what might he do that he cannot now do? 3. Why is one who uses 

 alcoholic drinks not likely to be a good marksman? 4. Why should a 

 youth who wishes to excel in athletic contests abstain from the use 

 of tobacco? 5. Is there any relation between the amount of bodily 

 exertion necessary for a person's health and the amount of wealth or 

 the amount of intelligence he possesses ? 6. Can you relax the chewing 

 muscles so that the lower jaw will swing loosely when the head is 

 shaken? Can you relax your arm so that it falls like a rope if another 

 person raises it and lets it fall? 7. The average man has sixty pounds 

 of muscle and two pounds of brain ; one half of the blood goes through 

 the muscles and less than one fifth goes through the brain. What 

 inference may you draw as to the kind of life we should lead? 8. Why 

 is a slow walk of little value as exercise? 9. How can we best prove 

 have admiration and respect for our wonderful bodies? 

 10. Why is the ability to relax the muscles thoroughly of great benefit 

 to the health ? How is this ability tested ? (Question'6.) 11. Why is 

 it as correct to say that the muscles support the skeleton as the reverse? 



