HOW TO GET STRONG
gent or Hartwell or Anderson could so well give; gradually advanced in every direction; would suddenly find that his narrow, thin, and hollow chest had departed; had given way to one round, full, deep, and roomy; that the feeble lungs and heart which, in cooler weather, were formerly hardly up to keeping the extremities warm, are now strong and vigorous; that the old tendency to lean his head forward when standing or walking; and to sit stooping; with most of his vital organs cramped; has all gone. In their place had come an erect carriage; a firm tread; a strong, well-knit trunk; a manly voice; and a buoyancy and exhilaration of spirits worth untold wealth. Who will say that all these have not assured him years of life?
Well, but did all this increase of weight and size actually change the shape of the chest, for instance, and take the hollowness out of it? That is exactly what it did; and Maclaren and Gardner Smith have drawings of the same chest at the beginning and end of the period, showing an increase in the breadth, depth, and fulness of the lower chest, which makes it seem almost impossible that it could have belonged to the same person. It will be remembered that Maclaren claimed[1] that just such a readjustment of the osseous framework would result. Is not this, then, remaking a man? Instead of a cramped stomach; half-used lungs; a thin, scrawny, caved-in make; poor pipe-stems of legs; with arms to match; almost every one under forty, at least, can, in a very few months, by means of a series of exercises, change those same slender legs; those puny arms; that flat chest; that slim neck; and metamorphose their owner into a well-built, self-sufficient, vigorous man; fitter a hun-
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