Now, though games are more to be recommended than mere exercise for those who can afford the time and money for them, inasmuch as the enjoyment derived from them is greater (the benefit derived being therefore greater),[3] and all sorts of qualities are called out, which mere exercises do not demand, it must not be supposed that all games (or for that matter all exercises) are suitable to all ages and constitutions. For in the human body speed (as in these exercises) is naturally developed before strength, and a lad of twenty will beat a man of forty in a hundred yards’ race, though he has not nearly the same amount of pure physical force at his disposal. Short and violent exercises, exercises demanding top speed, or a swift stroke, are natural to youth, and, broadly speaking, as with advancing years (even though a man is still in his prime) strength increases, speed somewhat diminishes. Thus, though exercise and exercises are quite undoubtedly good for a young boy, it seems by the example of nature herself, that exercises demanding strength and continued effort are bad. Thus for children we should never recommend dumb-bell or developer exercises at all, except with weights and resistances so small that they practically call forth no extra strength to manipulate, but which serve in so far as the hand is occupied to fix the child’s attention on what he is doing. Even in later years strength, or at any rate that sort of strength which is measured and accompanied by very bulky muscles, not only does not assist, but even hinders speed of any movement; and though a certain amount of strength is required for movement of any kind, it is (though it is possible not to have enough) also possible to have too much of the wrong sort. Of course, if a man’s physical ambition is limited to weight-lifting, there is nothing more to be said: let him continually lift weights. But if it is in the direction either of good health or athletic excellence, we think he can do better than practise habitually with dumb-bells, or “grips,” or other strain-producing apparatus. Finally, exercise in company with others is more entertaining and likely to be then done both better and more beneficially than exercise practised alone, and it is with this among other objects that we have advocated in the chapter on Mind and Morals the formation of city clubs where both practice-exercises like those given above could be done in classes, and also such games as squash, badminton, fives, and covered tennis be played. In the separate volumes which deal with individual games will be found special practice-exercises for those games, some of which can take the place of the general exercises given above, since they exercise the same muscles, but in a way more directly adapted for the games in question. CHAPTER IV. DIET AND STIMULANTS.