The manner of training among the ancients bears some resemblance to that now practised by the moderns. But as their mode of living and general habits were somewhat different from those of the present age, a difference of treatment is now required to produce the same effects. The great object of training, for running, or boxing matches, is, to increase the muscular strength, and to improve the free action of the lungs, or WIND, of the person subjected to the process, which is done by medicines, regimen, and exercise. That this object can be accomplished, is evident from the nature of the human system. It is well known, (for it has been demonstrated by experiments,) that every part of the firmest bones is successively absorbed and deposited. “The bones and their ligaments, the muscles and their tendons, all the finer, and all the more flexible parts of the body, are as continually renewed, and as properly a secretion, as the saliva that flows from the mouth, or the moisture that bedews the surface. The health of all the parts, and their soundness of structure, depend on this perpetual absorption and perpetual renovation; and exercise, by promoting at once absorption and secretion, promotes life without hurrying it, renovates all the parts, and preserves them apt and fit for every office[25].” When the human frame is thus capable of being altered and renovated, it is not surprising that the art of training should be carried to a degree of perfection almost incredible; and that by certain processes, the BREATH, strength, and courage of man, should be so greatly improved as to enable him to perform the most laborious undertakings. That such effects have been produced is unquestionable, being fully exemplified in the astonishing exploits of our most celebrated pedestrians, which are the infallible results of preparatory discipline. The skilful trainer attends to the state of the bowels, the lungs, and the skin; and he uses such means as will reduce the fat, and at the same time, invigorate the muscular fibres. The patient is purged by drastic medicines; he is sweated by walking under a load of clothes, and by lying between feather-beds. His limbs are roughly rubbed. His diet is beef or mutton; his drink, strong ale; and he is gradually inured to exercise by repeated trials in walking and running. “By extenuating the fat, emptying the cellular substance, hardening the muscular fibre, and improving the breath, a man of the ordinary frame may be made to fight for one hour, with the utmost exertion of strength and courage[26],” or go over one hundred miles in twenty-four hours.