FAT, STARCH, AND SUGAR IN FOOD 53 



weight and internal temperature can be sustained on a 

 diet of lean meat alone. 



When long-distance walking and swimming came into 

 vogue a few years ago, it was thought that concentrated 

 food, of a highly nitrogenous nature, was the most suitable 

 for the athlete while attempting such feats. The fallacy 

 of this was proved by experience ; for it was found that 

 incomparably greater trials of endurance were performed 

 under a regimen rich in fat, than under the old system 

 of training on lean meat and dry bread. This was notably 

 shown in the case of Gale, while walking 1500 miles in 

 1000 hours ; for his diet consisted of ordinary meat, buttered 

 toast and bread, eggs, etc. Gale, it must be remembered, 

 while performing his remarkable feat, walked IJ miles at 

 the commencement of each consecutive hour. In the days 

 of our forefathers. Captain Barclay astonished the athletic 

 world by walking 1000 miles in 1000 hours. He, however, 

 by having been allowed to do a mile at the end of one 

 hour, and another at the commencement of the next hour, 

 was able to procure, between his tasks, more than double 

 the length of rest which was given to the Cardiff man. 

 Weston, the pedestrian, was, I believe, one of the first to 

 demonstrate, in England, the advantages of this system. 

 Webb, the Channel swimmer, too, was another instance. 

 Indian wrestlers, who always train on a diet rich in fat, 

 have for ages worked on true physiological principles 

 which European scientists are only just beginning to 

 understand. I am thoroughly convinced that the fact of 

 modern feats of endurance, totally eclipsing the perform- 

 ances done in former days, is mainly owing to a larger 

 supply of fat and starch having been introduced into the 



