Men of Muscle, and the Highland Games of Scotland, etc.

l\1EN OF l\IUSCLE. T II E HIGHLAND GAMES OF SCOTLAND. E VER since man became a reasoning animal he has been _J proud of his strength. Almost every nation has some particular method which generally suits the physique of the natives. Goliath of Gath and other Biblical strong men were powerful Men of Muscle, yet it is a curious fact that in lifting heavy weights above the head or off the ground they have left no record. One can easily imagine the gentlemen who could pull the pillars from underneath the temple toying with the dumb-bells of the modern strong men. They lived to a re– markable age, did these men of holy writ, and they must have been the possessors of constitutions of which we can form no estimate. A frame which could stand the strain of so many centuries must in its youth and vigour have possessed a strength at which we can only guess. However, those old fellows never heard of hammer, ball, or caber, or they might have left us some distances which would require some throwing to equal. The ancient Greeks and Romans knew nothing of caber, ball, or hammer. Foot-racing, wrestling, sword combats, and a kind of boxing which the National Sporting Club would not tolerate, were the principal items of the great Olympian games, which were held every four years-or, to be more e, act, every 5oth month-on the banks of the Alpheus, ner r Olympia, a city of Eli . This