Musqueter

“ I received, at the same moment, two musket balls in the thighs, a grape shot through the calf of my leg, a lance through my left shoulder, a piece of a shrapnel in the left deltoid, a bayonet through the cartilage of my right ribs, a sabre-cut that carried away a pound of flesh from my chest, and the better part of a congreve rocket on my forehead. Pretty well, ha, ha! and all while you'd say bah! and in eight days and a half I was making a forced march, without shoes, and only one gaiter, the life and soul of my company, and as sound as a roach! ”

“ A shoulder muscle that is a source of strength to the apes in climbing, lingers in man as a mere fibrous remnant that has dwindled through disuse. Another muscle which runs through the wrist into the palm of the hand, another which extends from the calf of the leg to the sole of the foot, another which passes from the shoulder to the neck and was once used to lift the collar bone—these muscles, which are well developed in the true apes, and less developed in the anthropoids, are rudimentary in man. ”

“ One muscle, which in ourselves forms the cushion on the shoulder, and reaches down the outside of the arm for a little distance, is called the deltoid or Δ-shaped muscle, and its especial duty is, when the shoulder-blade is fixed, to lift up the arm by its contraction. The movement is permitted because between the spots where the muscles are adherent to the blade-bone on the one hand, and to the outside of the arm-bone on the other, a distance of several inches, there is a joint like a ball and socket. ”

“ Mounting a ladder or a rope hand-over-hand; lifting any weight in front of you, whether a feather, or a child, or a barrel of sugar; picking up anything from the floor; holding weights out in front, or at your side, at arm's length; pulling downward on a rope, as in hauling up a sail; hammering—in short, anything which bends the elbow and draws the hand in towards the shoulder, takes the biceps muscle; and, if the work is vigorous and persisted in, this muscle will ere long become strong and well-shaped. ”

“ One of its prime advantages is, that by gradually multiplying the number of weights, it adapts itself nicely to the increasing strength of the individual, and to the varying powers of the different members of the family. It reaches directly every muscle of the hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, chest, abdomen, back, and neck. By the use of an extra pulley near the floor, necessitating a longer rope, excellent drill of the leg muscles is afforded. By sitting on the floor, the latter arrangement is converted into a rowing machine, affording exercise for the arms, back, and legs. ”

“ The Upper Arm.—The biceps is the large front muscle of the upper arm. It bends the arm and brings the hand toward the shoulder. A large biceps is the envy of many young men who regard it as the criterion of physical strength, and who often develop it out of all proportion to the rest of the body. It is, however, an important muscle, and should receive due consideration. Most persons will find that one arm or one leg or one side is weaker than the other. Give to the weaker member much the larger practice until the equilibrium is restored, then exercise them equally. ”

“ If we bend the forearm forcibly against the upper arm, as though to touch the shoulder with the clenched fist, we notice at once that our hand trembles, because the discharges, by means of which the contractions are produced and regulated, do not exactly answer their purpose. If we press the butt of the musket too firmly against our shoulder, or shoot with a heavy gun, we hit the mark less easily because of the trembling of our arms. ”

“ Spear-throwing trained the eye and made the arm deft in executing the eye’s direction.
It conferred upon the body other peculiar benefits; the organs [Pg 36] of respiration were stimulated; the chest was strengthened and enlarged; the right arm was strengthened; in order to throw the spear effectively the athlete must maintain a graceful poise and have command of his entire body; to do so with a weight held aloft, strengthened the lower limbs, made their muscles more facile, and the step more sure. ”

“ Then, letting the right leg bend well down, the athlete springs up with a rapid twist of the body, so that the right shoulder is brought forward, and the right arm is thrust forward with all possible force, the secret being to throw all the weight and power of the body and arm into the put at the very moment of delivery. ”

“ This at once throws the whole machine out of gear; you cannot without great difficulty perform the simplest movement of attack, defence, or retreat. The body has lost its aplomb; it can no longer make sure of hand and arm; it insists upon devancing them or upon lagging tardily behind. See how slight a change causes the virtue to depart from you.
The houghs, the popliteal muscles, are the two springs which project the body and which, properly managed, give it rapidity of motion. ”

“ Look at the fencer in action. Each member, each muscle is stretched, and each for a different purpose. Whilst the hand glances rapidly and lightly, always tending forwards, the body holds itself back, and the legs, vigorously contracted like a spring, await, for their extension, the signal to be given by the arm as it prepares to make its sudden thrust. ”

“ But don’t think for a moment that physiology lends itself to the cult of muscle. Here is a youth whose biceps are his better part: like most of us, he gets what he aims at—some local renown as an athlete. But what does he pay for the whistle? His violent ‘sports’ do not materially increase the measure of blood which sustains him: if the muscles get more than their share, their gain implies loss elsewhere, to the brain, commonly, and, indeed, to all the vital organs. ”

“ The gymnasium director in one of our largest colleges, who has spent his whole life in exercise, is a small, slender man whose muscles are not at all prominent and yet they are like steel wires. He has made a life-long study of himself and has developed every muscle in his body. From his appearance he would not be considered a strong man and yet some of the younger athletes weighing fifty pounds more than he, have, in wrestling and feats of strength, found that the man with the largest muscles is not always the best man. ”

“ It is certain that continual exercise of the upper parts of the body by such means as the lifting of heavy substances tends to improve the chest and shoulders, and many of those who are engaged in lifting and carrying the plates and sole-bars are very stout and square in this respect. There is a number of “heavy weights,” and a few positive giants among them, though the majority of the men are conspicuous, not so much by their bulk, as by their squareness of limb and muscularity. A proof of the strength of the frame shed men may be seen in the success of their tug-of-war teams. ”

“ He then took the musket from his shoulder backwards, cut away his epaulettes and knapsack, drew off his cross-belts, sword and bayonet, and giving him a most deliberate kick upon the hinder part of his person, repeated,
"Te trouvant indigne de porter les armes, nous t'en dégradons. ”

“ Extend the arm and it again becomes soft. These movements are made by the action of special organs we call muscles; and the particular muscle I ask you to notice in the arm is called the biceps. Every boy knows where his biceps muscle is, and when he is training for throwing the cricket ball, or for rowing, he feels his stiff and firm biceps with a certain amount of commendable pride. A young lady has a biceps also;
Fig. 6.—Muscles of frog's leg. g, c, the gastrocnemius muscle often used in physiological experiments. ”

“ The triceps are the back and inside muscles of [159] the upper arm, and contribute much to the shapeliness as well as usefulness of that member. Instead of stopping at the shoulder, as in the biceps exercises, push the dumb-bells high overhead. Any exercise of pushing with the arms is of advantage. Stand back about two feet from the door, grasp the sides of the frame a trifle higher than the shoulders, and, rising on the toes, with head erect, thrust the body forward. Press back until the body again assumes an erect attitude, and repeat ten to twenty times. ”

“ A three-headed muscle whose heads arise separately and [123] first unite in the region of the lower leg as a short, strong tendon. Their origins are as follows: (1) As a band from the anterior margin of the ischium, pushing between the ischio-femoralis and the pubi-ischio-femoralis externus muscles; (2) From the posterior margin of the ischium as a narrow, tendinous band near the insertion of the ischio-caudalis muscle; (3) from the portio-dorsalis posterior of the ilium, ventralward, near the origin of the flexor tibialis externus muscle. ”

“ A round mass of bone, “as big as a musket ball,” was developed on the wings of the males, and they used it as a weapon of offence while they whirled themselves about twenty or thirty times in four or five minutes, making a noise with their pinions like a rattle. ”

“ His neck and shoulders, which were large, were covered with great muscles; these, with the extraordinary quality of his hands, which never gave way, accounted for his power of hard hitting; his arms were of medium length, and displayed no special muscle. ”

“ The biceps muscles, or those forming the front of the upper arms, are getting the work this time, and by applying to that of one arm in action the hand of the other, it is at once found that this muscle is growing quite hard.
If no dumb-bell or other convenient weight is at hand, place one hand in the other, and bear down hard with the upper hand, holding the chest stubbornly out. Lift away with the lower hand, and, when it reaches the shoulder, lower it slowly to the side, and then raise again, and so continue. ”

“ Cadet muscle exercises which consist of going through the various movements of assuming the different firing positions, loading, sighting, aiming, and pressing the trigger, are therefore suggested as a substitute for the Regulation muscle exercises. The introduction of aiming at a mark—preferably a service target—in the course of muscle exercises will help to develop the muscles of the eye, together with those of the body and limbs. ”

“ In the mole, too, these muscles are very strong, and we have already mentioned that dogs and horses twitch the skin to rid themselves of flies, and that this movement is due to a rapid contraction of one of these muscles. When animals curl themselves up, with the muzzle [224] close to the tail, as the sleeping dog does, head and limbs are more easily held in this position by means of these muscles. I have found them more or less in all superior animals, and shall now consider the possible uses of these muscles which exist also in man. ”

“ The elementary development of the muscles forms a most important part of the training. By word of command the soldiers strike their breasts with the right or left fist—strike out with the right and left as in boxing—support cannon balls in the hand, one or both arms extended, and hurl the balls to a distance. They fling an iron bar, held by the middle; they support a heavy club in every possible position, at the shoulder, behind the back, one with the left hand, another with the right, at right-angles, or two together, one in each hand. ”

“ Having established the fact that in all our popular athletic, as opposed to gymnastic, exercises, our walking and running, cricket and football, fives, tennis, and racquets, and especially rowing—which has advanced as an art but has declined as an exercise—we circumscribe the line of muscular operation by giving the greatest share of the work to the lower limbs, and by developing one half to the injury of the other ”

“ Let the arms hang heavily at the sides; raise one arm slowly, feeling the weight more and more distinctly, and only contracting the shoulder muscles. It is well to raise it a few inches, then drop it heavily and try again,—each time taking force out of the lower muscles by thinking the arm heavy, and the motive power in the shoulder. If the arm itself can rest heavily on some one's hand while you are still raising it from the shoulder, that proves that you have succeeded in withdrawing the useless tension. Most arms feel stiff all the way along, when the owners raise them. ”

“ In consequence of the force with which they have been projected, and the resistance which has been opposed to their progress in the body, musket-balls, when extracted, either immediately after the infliction of the injury, or after a considerable time has elapsed, are seldom found to retain their globular form, but are flattened and ragged, and not unfrequently completely divided by the bones on which they have impinged. ”

“ The muscles of the upper arm are either flexors or extensors, the former serving to bend the arm, the latter to straighten it by means of the elbow-joint. The main flexor is the biceps, the large muscle which may be seen standing out in front of the arm when a weight is raised. ”

“ Throw the hands backward until they touch one another, or bring your elbows together behind you, if you can. Hold the arms close to the side, the elbows against the waist, the forearm at right angles with the arm, the fists clenched, with the little finger down and the knuckles facing each other, and describe ellipses, first with one shoulder, then with the other, then with both. This movement is found in Mason's School Gymnastics, and is prescribed by M. de Bussigny in his little manual for horsewomen, and it will prove admirable in its effects. ”

“ The chief muscle that draws the fore-limb{46} forward is attached to the head in such a manner, that it acts best when the head is carried, more or less, at right angles to the neck. Hence, we may take for granted, especially, as the correctness of the assumption can be verified by experience, that this position of the head is the best one for requirements demanding the exhibition of speed, or strength. ”