The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

STRONG MEN AND THEIR FEATSOF STRENGTH. 23 lands alone 1,571^ lbs. !—over 14 cwts., pretty well on to ouble of Topham's best lift. Yet a writer in the Melbourne Sportsman of December, 1889, refers to Topham as "perhaps he actually strongest man that ever lived." There is little ioubt but what there arein Great Britain alone, at the present ime, scores, if not hundreds, of men who could lift more than Topham by the samemeans. Most people imaginethat nothing is easier than to determine vhich of two men can lift the heaviest weights. If a mass of etal, weighing say 1,000 lbs.,having handles fixedto its sides t, say 15 inches from the ground, were placed on the floor of he platform of a public hall, and six strong men brought forward, ^hould only one ofthe sixlift it clear from the floor, 999 out of very 1,000 would be ready toshout he was the strongest man of the six at a hand-lift. It is possible he might be, but such a est would be no proof that he was so. Let any one try to lift heavy weight by handles, that canbe easily raised or lowered, ie will find that there isa certain fixed height for the handles 0 be fixed at, at which height he can lift the weightmore easily han at any other. Let now another, differing considerably in leight, and length of arms and legs from the first, make the ame experiment. He also will find a certain height for the andles at which he can lift more than at any other, but the hances arethis heightwill not correspondwith that which suited he first one best. Suppose one isa short man, that aheight f 12 inches suits best,the other a tall man that aheight of 18 nches suits best. Suppose that,with the handles at 12 inches, he short man can lift 800 lbs. ; and that at18 inches, the tall nan can lift 700 lbs. Now, if both men were put to lift a weight f 700 lbs., with the handles at 18 inches, the tallman could ift it, but the short one perhaps could not. Is the tall man hen the strongest at a hand lift ? Certainly not, for lower the andles to12 inches, and the short one will lift not only 700 ut 800 lbs. So with our original 1000 lb. weight, by shifting he handles it might be found that some of the five who could