As regards the physiology of the runners and walkers, it is quite interesting to follow the effects of training on the respiration, whereby in a measure is explained the ability of these persons to maintain their respiratory function, although excessively exercising. A curious discussion, persisted in since antiquity, is as to the supposed influence of the spleen on the ability of couriers. For ages runners have believed that the spleen was a hindrance to their vocation, and that its reduction was followed by greater agility on the course. With some, this opinion is perpetuated to the present day. In France there is a proverb, "Courir comme un derate." To reduce the size of the spleen, the Greek athletes used certain beverages, the composition of which was not generally known; the Romans had a similar belief and habit Pliny speaks of a plant called equisetum, a decoction of which taken for three days after a fast of twenty-four hours would effect absorption of the spleen. The modern pharmacopeia does not possess any substance having a similar virtue, although quinin has been noticed to diminish the size of the spleen when engorged in malarial fevers. Strictly speaking, however, the facts are not analogous. Hippocrates advises a moxa of mushrooms applied over the spleen for melting or dissolving it. Godefroy Moebius is said to have seen in the village of Halberstadt a courier whose spleen had been cauterized after incision; and about the same epoch (seventeenth century) some men pretended to be able to successfully extirpate the spleen for those who desired to be couriers. This operation we know to be one of the most delicate in modern surgery, and as we are progressing with our physiologic knowledge of the spleen we see nothing to justify the old theory in regard to its relations to agility and coursing.
Swimming.—The instances of endurance that we see in the aquatic sports are equally as remarkable as those that we find among the runners and walkers. In the ancient days the Greeks, living on their various islands and being in a mild climate, were celebrated for their prowess as swimmers. Socrates relates the feats of swimming among the inhabitants of Delos. The journeys of Leander across the Hellespont are well celebrated in verse and prose, but this feat has been easily accomplished many times since, and is hardly to be classed as extraordinary. Herodotus says that the Macedonians were skilful swimmers; and all the savage tribes about the borders of waterways are found possessed of remarkable dexterity and endurance in swimming.
In 1875 the celebrated Captain Webb swam from Dover to Calais. On landing he felt extremely cold, but his body was as warm as when he started. He was exhausted and very sleepy, falling in deep slumber on his way to the hotel. On getting into bed his temperature was 98 degrees F. and his pulse normal. In five hours he was feverish, his temperature rising to 101 degrees F. During the passage he was blinded from the salt water in his eyes and the spray beating against his face. He strongly denied the newspaper reports that he was delirious, and after a good rest was apparently none the worse for the task. In 1876 he again traversed this passage with the happiest issue. In 1883 he was engaged by speculators to swim the rapids at Niagara, and in attempting this was overcome by the powerful currents, and his body was not recovered for some days after. The passage from Dover to Calais has been duplicated.
In 1877 Cavill, another Englishman, swam from Cape Griz-Nez to South Forland in less than thirteen hours. In 1880 Webb swam and floated at Scarborough for seventy-four consecutive hours—of course, having no current to contend with and no point to reach. This was merely a feat of staying in the water. In London in 1881, Beckwith, swimming ten hours a day over a 32-lap course for six days, traversed 94 miles. Since the time of Captain Webb, who was the pioneer of modern long-distance swimming, many men have attempted and some have duplicated his feats; but these foolhardy performances have in late years been diminishing, and many of the older feats are forbidden by law.
Jumpers and acrobatic tumblers have been popular from the earliest time. By the aid of springing boards and weights in their hands, the old jumpers covered great distances. Phayllus of Croton is accredited with jumping the incredible distance of 55 feet, and we have the authority of Eustache and Tzetzes that this jump is genuine. In the writings of many Greek and Roman historians are chronicled jumps of about 50 feet by the athletes; if they are true, the modern jumpers have greatly degenerated. A jump of over 20 feet to-day is considered very clever, the record being 29 feet seven inches with weights, and 23 feet eight inches without weights, although much greater distances have been jumped with the aid of apparatus, but never an approximation to 50 feet. The most surprising of all these athletes are the tumblers, who turn somersaults over several animals arranged in a row. Such feats are not only the most amusing sights of a modern circus, but also the most interesting as well. The agility of these men is marvelous, and the force with which they throw themselves in the air apparently enables them to defy gravity. In London, Paris, or New York one may see these wonderful tumblers and marvel at the capabilities of human physical development.
In September, 1895, M. F. Sweeney, an American amateur, at Manhattan Field in New York jumped six feet 5 5/8 inches high in the running high jump without weights. With weights, J. H. Fitzpatrick at Oak Island, Mass., jumped six feet six inches high. The record for the running high kick is nine feet eight inches, a marvelous performance, made by C. C. Lee at New Haven, Conn., March 19, 1887.
Extraordinary physical development and strength has been a grand means of natural selection in the human species. As Guyot-Daubes remarks, in prehistoric times, when our ancestors had to battle against hunger, savage beasts, and their neighbors, and when the struggle for existence was so extremely hard, the strong man alone resisted and the weak succumbed. This natural selection has been perpetuated almost to our day; during the long succession of centuries, the chief or the master was selected on account of his being the strongest, or the most valiant in the combat. Originally, the cavaliers, the members of the nobility, were those who were noted for their courage and strength, and to them were given the lands of the vanquished. Even in times other than those of war, disputes of succession were settled by jousts and tourneys. This fact is seen in the present day among the lower animals, who in their natural state live in tribes; the leader is usually the strongest, the wisest, and the most courageous.
The strong men of all times have excited the admiration of their fellows and have always been objects of popular interest. The Bible celebrates the exploits of Samson of the tribe of Dan. During his youth he, single handed, strangled a lion; with the jaw-bone of an ass he is said to have killed 1000 Philistines and put the rest to flight. At another time during the night he transported from the village of Gaza enormous burdens and placed them on the top of a mountain. Betrayed by Delilah, he was delivered into the hands of his enemies and employed in the most servile labors. When old and blind he was attached to the columns of an edifice to serve as an object of public ridicule; with a violent effort he overturned the columns, destroying himself and 3000 Philistines.
In the Greek mythology we find a great number of heroes, celebrated for their feats of strength and endurance. Many of them have received the name of Hercules; but the most common of these is the hero who was supposed to be the son of Jupiter and Alemena. He was endowed with prodigious strength by his father, and was pursued with unrelenting hatred by Juno. In his infancy he killed with his hands the serpents which were sent to devour him. The legends about him are innumerable. He was said to have been armed with a massive club, which only he was able to carry. The most famous of his feats were the twelve labors, with which all readers of mythology are familiar. Hercules, personified, meant to the Greeks physical force as well as strength, generosity, and bravery, and was equivalent to the Assyrian Hercules. The Gauls had a Hercules-Pantopage, who, in addition to the ordinary qualities attributed to Hercules, had an enormous appetite.
As late as the sixteenth century, and in a most amusing and picturesque manner, Rabelais has given us the history of Gargantua, and even to this day, in some regions, there are groups of stones which are believed by ignorant people to have been thrown about by Gargantua in his play. In their citations the older authors often speak of battles, and in epic ballads of heroes with marvelous strength. In the army of Charlemagne, after Camerarius, and quoted by Guyot-Daubes (who has made an extensive collection of the literature on this subject and to whom the authors are indebted for much information), there was found a giant named Oenother, a native of a village in Suabia, who performed marvelous feats of strength. In his history of Bavaria Aventin speaks of this monster. To Roland, the nephew of Charlemagne, the legends attributed prodigious strength; and, dying in the valley of Roncesveaux, he broke his good sword "Durandal" by striking it against a rock, making a breach, which is stilled called the "Breche de Roland." Three years before his death, on his return from Palestine, Christopher, Duke of Bavaria, was said to have lifted to his shoulders a stone which weighed more than 340 pounds. Louis de Boufflers, surnamed the "Robust," who lived in 1534, was noted for his strength and agility. When he placed his feet together, one against the other, he could find no one able to disturb them. He could easily bend and break a horseshoe with his hands, and could seize an ox by the tail and drag it against its will. More than once he was said to have carried a horse on his shoulders. According to Guyot-Daubes there was, in the last century, a Major Barsaba who could seize the limb of a horse and fracture its bone. There was a tale of his lifting an iron anvil, in a blacksmith's forge, and placing it under his coat.