298 Timehri. 
The second important warning is the regulation of one’s breathing during 
exercise. A good deal has been written about breathing of late years and 
references to diaphragmatic, abdominal and intercostal breathing are quite 
familiar to some of us. 
I do not myself believe that the involuntary act of breathing on which the 
very life depends should be interfered with at all. But I have learnt this much 
from my friend, Mr. Sandow, and others, that to put any strain, violent or per- 
sistent, upon captive air in the lungs is a dangerous practice that may lead to an 
unpleasant pulmonary ailment termed emphysema, which is a condition 
brought about by loss of elastic tissue in the air cells of the lung. Most of us 
remember in our school days being instructed to take a deep breath before doing 
any feat of strength in the gymnasium or on the field. This advice was faulty 
and if persevered in regularly in the practice of lifting heavy weights or in 
dumb-bell exercise might lead to emphysema. Eugene Sandow whose heart and 
lungs are in perfect condition, as duly attested by the fact that he was recently 
passed for a very large sum for insurance as “a first-class life,’’ makes a special 
point that no one under his instructions shall, whilst breathing deeply, maintain 
the dilatation of his air cells at all, but on the contrary after having taken a deep 
inspiration, which is so valuable to the development and maintenance of a good 
condition of the lungs, he shall immediately exhale without undue resistance to 
the escaping breath. ‘The method of exhalation, I adopt,’’ Mr. Sandow writes, 
“certainly necessitates some slight contraction of the lips, but the object of 
this is not to resist the exhalation, but to prevent the soft palate from unduly 
vibrating during the exhalation because if there was no slight resistance to 
the exhalation, a vibration of the palate would be set up nigh might ultimately 
produce relaxation and discomfort of the throat.’’ 
There is a third and seemingly superfluous injunction in the enervating 
climate of the tropics where the inclination to both physical and mental exertion 
is so largely discouraged by the damp and the heat, and that is—do not overdo tt. 
I have only prescribed ten minutes a day or at most fifteen minutes as 
being a safe period to devote daily to physical culture but the warning is none 
the less necessary as experience frequently shows. A certain fascination grows 
upon the ardent devotee that isapt to bear him beyond the bounds of modera- 
tion at the expense of much nervous energy. More especially is this warning 
imperative in the tropics where the climate alone exercises no inconsiderable 
demands upon the nervous system. Moderation in all things is the secret of a 
happy life and just as you can have too much of a good thing (such as a swizzle) 
so can physical culture be very easily carried to excess. 
The moral aspect of physical culture is even more important than the material 
side of the question. We are largely governed in life by our habits and the 
habit of exercise if only for ten minutes a day is a very beneficial one. Such a 
habit must tend to promote self-respect. No man or woman who has acquired 
the habit of improving the shape of his or her body and caring it as he or she 
would naturally care their own home, is likely to cultivate evil propensities. 
Such a person would be a house or home divided against itself which we know 
