THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 235 



equality in battle, still, as has been proved in our 

 numerous and generally victorious contests with the 

 enemy, physical power in our soldiers has greatly served 

 our cause. It has been ascertained by the means of an 

 ^instrument called the dynamometer (or measure of 

 strength), that the English are the strongest of all 

 European nations, and, by a fourth part, stronger than 

 savages in a state of nature. Thus it appears that the 

 improvement of social order does not impair the physical 

 powers of man, as some persons have imagined ; but 

 experience has shown that the strength and activity of 

 the human frame, arising from the natural muscular 

 conformation of its parts, can be nearly trebled by proper 

 food and exercise, or what we call training. It has been 

 proved that, under such circumstances, man is infinitely 

 superior in strength to the horse, relatively to the size of 

 the latter, which is to that of a man as six or seven to 

 one ; and he is capable of being trained to beat him at 

 a continuance of labour. I, myself, walked 110 miles 

 in nineteen hours and twenty-seven minutes, and a man 

 named Granville went 142 miles in twenty-nine hours. 

 Taking the average of horses, not one in a thousand would 

 have performed either of these tasks. 1 The mechanical 

 construction of man, however, is admirably adapted to 

 his destination under any circumstances in which he may 

 be placed ; but the degree of strength which is attainable 

 by exercise, and lost by effeminacy, is, unfortunately, not 

 generally considered, or it would cause many to withdraw 

 themselves from the slavery of luxury, and induce them 

 to enlist under the banners of temperance and exercise, the 

 true sources of enjoyment, and the only efficient means 

 of utility. And this state of additional strength in man, 

 together with health which none but those who have 

 experienced it can appreciate, is found by those who are 

 trained for the ring to be attained by plain but sub- 

 stantial food, with good malt liquor, or water, and not 

 through the means of soups, jellies, or rich sauces, and 



1 An ingenious Frenchman ascertained the strength of the human 

 frame, by placing on every part of a man's body, standing upright, 

 a number of weights, in such a manner that each part supported 

 as much as it could bear, relatively to the rest ; and it was found 

 by this contrivance that a man could stand under 2000 pounds. 

 Supposing, then, the bulk of the body of a horse to be as I have 

 stated, he ought to bear a weight of 12,000 or 14,000 pounds, 

 which no horse could bear. 



