The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

STRONG MEN AND THEIR FEATS OF STRENGTH. 21 hen lifted the whole by straightening his arms and legs. His ther genuine feat was lifting, by seizing with his hands, a frame n which rested a stone weighing 800 lbs. It is surprising to find a man like Dr. Desaguliers, who was evidently of a scientific urn of mind, and desirous of recording genuine feats of strength, handing down as such, " rolling up a very strong and large pewter plate;" "breaking short and strong pieces of tobacco pipe by resting them on the first and third finger, and breaking hem by the force of his middle finger;" and breaking "the bowl of a strong tobacco pipe by pressing his first and third fingers together sideways;" " bending an iron kitchen poker three feet long andthree inches round by striking it on his bare left arm ; " " bringing together the ends of a similar poker placed on the back of his neck by pulling the ends forward;" and " breaking a rope about 2inches incircumference by pulling it with straps thatwent over his shoulder." Tobacco pipes, ropes, and even bars of iron, are valueless as tests of strength unless the power required to break them can be accurately known. One rope 2 inches in circumference may be twice asstrong as another the same size. MAURICE, COUNT OF SAXONY, who was a contemporary of Topham's, generally figures in records ofstrong men,because it is said he "could break the strongest horse shoes with his hands." This hero nearly met his match in the person of a Mademoiselle Ganthier, at putting down each other's wrists. This lady " could withher fingers roll up a piece ofsilver plate." The present Czar of Russia has a great reputation in this way, and frequently " astonishes his friends by breaking crown pieces in twain between his fingers, or rolling them up like bits of paper and presenting them to those about him as bouquet holders." Now, all these sorts of feats, and the modern chain breaking, are just as valuable as accurate estimates of strength as was the man'sdefinition of the sizeof a stone, which he said wasas large asa lump of chalk. STRONG MEN OF THE PRESENT TIME.— Itwill be under-