The Athletes and Athletic Sports of Scotland

24 ATHLETIC SPORTS OF SCOTLAND. not lift it with the handles at 15 inches, could lift more than 1000 lbs.with the handlesat the height that suited them best. So with the handles on the levelof the floor: a man with short legs and long arms would have a great advantage over aman with long legsand shortarms. Many other popular methods of testing strengthare equallymisleading. One ofthe commonest is what in Scotland is called "drawin' the sweir tree." The two opponents sit down opposite each other, with the solesof their feetbraced against one another. A strong stick isplaced horizontally across between the pointsof their toes. Both then seize thestick with both hands, and the signalbeing given, each tries topull the otheroff the groundtowards himself. The one who succeeds in doing this isupposed to be the stronger, which may be the case ifboth areabout the samein weight andbuild, if they differmuch inweight orbuild itis a most unreliable test. While onemay be able to reach forward with ease to his toes to grasp thestick, theother may with difficulty geta hold, so that he may be almost oif the ground before the pull begins. In many otherfeats it will be found, aswe proceed, that it is not always thestrongest man that does what seems the best perform­ ances. Especially when two strong men differ much inbuild it is often a most difficult matter to find who is really thestrongest, in the end themost thatcan often be said is that atcertain feats the one appears the stronger,at others the other. Test themat three particular feats of strength : A wins at two out of the three; victory for A. Add two more different feats :B may be the better atboth these, andwin thereby three out of the five; vic­ tory for B; and soon. In fact, in bodily asin mental training now-a-days, no man can be the best all round. It isthe height of absurdity for any man to say he is the strongest man on earth, exceptat one ora very few particular feats. An athlete who trains himself especiallyfor one feat will increase his strength at that feat,so that another athletewho might have beat him at that featwithout either of them having any special training for