XI.

TRAINING AND GYMNASTICS.

We have dealt with the theory of motion as applied to the mechanism of the human body, and we have spoken of the application of our principles to one of the simplest forms or modes of animal motion, namely to walking. Nevertheless, although the power of changing its place is one of the great characteristics of an animal, in the case of the human being there are acts much more complex, and which require a more prolonged training than mere locomotion. Many of these movements involve the simultaneous or successive action of various groups of muscles, and each of these groups must be trained to take its appropriate portion of duty. Many of them also require great speed in their performance, others again great force, and sometimes both are necessary; but it may be safely assumed that if such be the case, i.e., if both speed and force are necessary, the stage of training requisite for the due and proper performance of the action will become of necessity more important and more lengthy. Herein lies the difference between the labour of a skilled mechanic and a raw

apprentice. But, besides special training for special efforts, it is now-a-days well recognised that, for the human body to attain its greatest beauty and its greatest power, it is necessary to train not one set of muscles, or even several sets, but all in turn, and it is on this account that gymnastics have of late years received the attention they have, not only as a means of physical or bodily education, but also as a method of curing disease. Both of these subjects we shall consider in turn; but we shall first speak of the preparatory process, or that of training.

By all nations in a comparatively rude state of civilisation, feats of strength are highly esteemed; and among those which have attained a higher stage, strength when combined with skill is still valued and respected. Among the ancients, both Greeks and Romans, games of strength and skill were frequent, and even till lately boxing and prize-fighting were favourably received among ourselves. But then, as now, to a candidate for popular favour a prolonged stage of training was necessary before he could hope to attain to eminence; hence there arose a class of trainers for such exercises, as we have now-a-days at our universities in the form of grinders, men who train candidates for mental instead of bodily encounters. Gradually the plan adopted by these men

grew into a system, merely from experience, not from any scientific notions, and it is this system we have to examine.

If a man sets about any unusual exertion, say running a race, he will soon become painfully aware of the efforts required to keep up his circulation and his respiration; his heart will thump against his side, and his breath come thick and fast; whereas a man by his side may be going along as quietly and as easily as possible; but then he has been trained. We have shown how scientific mechanical principles may be brought to bear on human movements, how the muscles act on the bones as levers, how the muscles themselves may be likened to a steam engine. But to enable this engine to do its work, fuel is necessary, and this is supplied by the blood; if, therefore, the engine is called upon to move faster than usual, more fuel will be necessary, and the blood will require to be driven more rapidly through its textures. But as the blood soon becomes fouled with the products of its combustion, it requires renewing, and air must be admitted more rapidly into the lungs to carry off the foul gases produced. Hence increased muscular action implies a more rapid circulation of the blood and a more frequent breathing than are ordinarily required. This, then, is the scientific basis on which we have to proceed.

Trainers of the olden times supposed they had to contend against a fearful and concealed enemy which they called inward fat; and it was to dislodge this formidable antagonist, their efforts were chiefly directed. It was this, they said, which impeded respiration and circulation, which made a man puff and blow, and made his heart kick against his side. So far, no doubt, they were right; for fat will accumulate internally as well as outwardly, and especially the heart may so become affected, although this is not the dread foe to human life about which medical men talk; for there is another form of fatty heart, where the very texture of the muscle of the heart is turned into fat, and there is so little hope of training a man with such a heart to become an athlete, that the quieter he keeps himself the better for his life. Nevertheless, fat may accumulate, and so render the action of the heart less effective; but this is not the true explanation of the difficulty of breathing experienced by men suddenly called to unwonted exertions, for it occurs equally to fat men and to lean.

Every one is familiar with the fact that a man's bodily conformation materially depends on his employment; hence the strong sledge-hammer arm of the blacksmith, the horny hand of the shoemaker, and so of a variety of other occupations. For the human body is so constituted, that if any part is called upon for unusual

exertion, this exertion implies more rapid change of the blood in its parts, as well as a more liberal supply of that all-necessary fluid, which in its turn insures increased growth and bulk of the part. Thus, therefore, in a healthy individual increased exertion implies increased bulk and increased capacity for exertion. This is the basis of the training system, and the basis applies equally to external and. internal organs. If any of a man's muscles be suddenly and unexpectedly called upon to perform some duty to which they are not accustomed, whether raising a heavy weight from the ground, throwing it from one spot to another, running or leapingin short, any unwonted exertion-they will fail to perform it as satisfactorily as those which have been trained to their work. Further, the exertion will leave behind an uncomfortable soreness, which may last a day or two, indicating that the parts have been strained in performing this novel duty; but should the exertion be persevered in, the sense of soreness will become less and less till it entirely disappears; the exertion required to perform the act will also be less and less, for the muscles will be strengthened by each new exertion until finally they will perform their duty easily and satisfactorily.

But what applies to the outer parts of the body also applies to the more internal; for the heart, whereby the