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Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1244, 2 June 1864, Page 4

The Philosophy of Training.—lt is of paramount importance that we should bear in mind what are the whole results of training. That in one special direction great vigour is achieved, is true; and we, admiring this result, are too apt to generalize from it, and infer that in all directions the success has been equal. But it is not so. The muscular system has been forced into undue development, and this development has been at the expense of the general vitality. All forcing is injurious, except for the special object which is sought. The fighter has his muscular system in splendid condition; but his other systems are robbed to enrich that one; just as the nervous system of the student is in a state of intense activity at the expense of his muscles or glands. Nay,—and the fact is worth emphasis,— the powerful athlete is lessj able than the feeble student to stand the wear and tear of life. It was noted in Rome that the athletes were short-lived, liable, as Sinclair admits. " to rupture of bloodvessels, to apoplexy, and lethargic complaints," and it has since been observed that not only do prizefighters rapidly become aged and very rarely live long, but even the famous oarsinen of the Universities show a surprising mortality. It has been urged that the athletes and fighters are carried off by dissipation. Without claiming for such men any peculiar moderation, we must still claim for them that they are not more dissolute than their companions, who ought to succumb more easily to excesses if the popular notions about strength were • accurate. But the truth is that the strength of a prize-fighter is to a great extent an abnormal condition, produced at the expense of the general system. The amount of vital energy which should be distributed among several organs has been so unequally apportioned that some are starved while others are overfed. It was known of old that for certain functions the athletes were almost totally incapacitated. That they have always been unfit for intellectual and moral activities is equally

noi'niiiis. A man liny lun'o iniieritcil a pinvort'dl brain with a powerful muscnlnr system. 'Die union id rare, but there is no physiological reason aguinsi. it; there is, however, no possibility of even this man's preserving: his intellectual vigour during a course of over-stimulation of his muscles, all excess in one direction being compensated by a deficiency in the other. For perfect health both should be kept active, neither stimulated to excess. In the cafe of training, whore, as we said, the object is to work up the muscular system to its highest pitch, the man may be magnificent to look upon and formidable to contend against, but he has been unfitted for the work of life, and is doomed to wither early. Ihe training system is a forcing system ; were it continued long it would kill; even for a brief space it is injurious. It is ail exceptional process for an exceptional result, nor the normal process for a healthy organism.—Cornhill Magazine. Curious Fact.—lt is not generally known that the North Foreland Lighthouse was not the work of a Government engineer or architect, but of the master of a Boulogne steamer. The captain of the Panther assures us that he himself made the North Foreland, and that within six hours of his leaving London Bridge. 104 Years Old.—The Boston (U.S.) Transcript publishes a sketch of Deacon John Phillips, of Sturbridge, Massachusetts, who is now in his 104 th year. This venerable man was born in Massachusetts, when George 11, was King of Grrat Britain. He was drafted in 1776, and served in the early part of the American resolution, and has a distinct recollection of the battle of Bunker Hill, which took place when he was 15 years old. He has lived all his life on one farm, ate at one table, and during a space of 90 years has not had a severe sickness.