1076 Transactions of the American Institute. 



Dr. J. J. Edwards.— Yes ; and when the gentleman was youno-er 

 It required a constant effort on "his part to keep his balance, even 

 though he was not mounted either on stilts, skates, or a velocipede 

 The art of walking has to be acquired by us all, and is no more 

 natural to us than skating or riding the velocipede. And yet none 

 of us find that it requires any mental strain for us to keep balanced 

 on our feet. 



In reply to a suggestion that the legs were the most natural means 

 of locomotion. Dr. Tillman remarked that it was a well known fact 

 that railroad laborers on a hand-car can propel themselves at the rate 

 of eight or ten miles per hour, and keep up this speed for quite a 

 distance At the same time they transport quite a load of tools, rails, 

 etc. This result is owing to the perfectly solid, smooth track on 

 which the car is moved. Of course on the smoothest common road, 

 Buch as a velocipedist seeks, they would make no headway in the 

 hand-car. 



Dr. Lambert.-Many here present have no doubt tried the hand- 

 cars found at Saratoga and other places of amusement ; and any one 

 that has had any experience on the subject must confess that to pro- 

 pel ones self by means of these hand-cars is much more exhausting 

 than to walk the same distance. One of our velocipedists, who is 

 making $100 per week, was complimented the other day upon the 

 ease with which he earned his money. "Ah," said he, " it is all very 

 well to talk, but I never worked so hard in my life, and you would 

 ttimk so too if you were to try it." 



Mr. Whitney.-All velocipedists will teU you it is the hardest 

 Kind 01 work. 



. Mr. Phin -There are two points to be considered in this connec- 

 tion. The first is the fact that railroad laborers and others, whose 

 muscles are trained to the work, can make fifteen miles per hour and 

 not suffer from over exertion. In these men the peculiar muscles 

 which are brought into play in this kind of work have been trained 

 and developed. In professional men, like Dr. Lambert and others 

 the muscles of the arms are not so fully developed as those of the 

 legs We all use our legs to a certain extent, and the muscles 

 employed in walking rarely get a chance to suffer from atrophy 

 occasioned by want of use. But except in the case of workmen who 

 wield tlie hammer, the jack plane, the saw, the crowbar, tlie hoe, or 

 the pitchfork, the muscles of the arm are not exercised, and they 

 become comparatively weak. To compare the amount of work per- 



