British Manly Exercises

279 TRAINING. This is hereproperly an appendix to various exercises already described. The art of training for athletic exercises,or laborious exertions, consists inpurifying thebody and strengthen­ ing its powers, by certainprocesses, whichare now to be described. The advantages of training, however, are not confined to pedestrians, wrestlers, or pugilists; they extend to every one :for, were training generally introduced, instead of medicine, for theprevention and cure of diseases, its beneficial consequences would assuredly prolong life, and promote its happiness. Every physiologist knows that all the parts which compose thehuman body—solids as well as liquids—are successively absorbed and deposited. Hence ensues a perpetual renovationof them, regulated by the nature of our food and general habits. The health, indeed, of all the parts, and the soundness of their structure, depend on this perpetual absorption and renovation. Now, nothing so effectuallyas exercise excites at once absorption and secretion. It accordingly promotes all the vital functions without hurryingthem, renovates all the parts, andpreserves them apt and fitfor their offices. It follows, then, that health,vigour, and activity, chiefly depend uponexercise and regimen ; or, in other words, upon the observance of those rules which constitute the theory of training. b b 2