the Farnese Hercules. In truth, he is every inch a man, and such a one as a woman might well take to her bosom as her protector and the partner of her life. In like manner, compare the limp and delicate young miss of eighteen or nineteen who languishes her life away in drawing rooms, at evening parties, or in her carriage, with the brusque beauty of the same age who indulges in the training and exercises proper to her sex--whose muscles, through judicious manipulation and use, have become firm and strong, and who can walk two or three miles at a rapid rate, without suffering the slightest fatigue. What a contrast we have here: The cheek of the one is dull and colorless, and her eyes devoid of true fire and brilliancy. Her whole frame is unstrung and limp, and her step uncertain and feeble. On the part of the other, we perceive the roses of health lighting up her face; we observe her arms beautifully rounded and firm, and her bust splendidly developed, while her step is as elastic as that of the fawn. All her muscles having been trained, her whole form becomes a model of classic beauty, and she, in consequence of her constant use of the sponge and cold water, and from her absolutely breathing fresh, pure air only, renders her skin as fair as snow and as smooth and fine as satin, while her health becomes so robust that she enjoys all the blessings and comforts of life with tenfold zest. But, as already observed, physical culture must never be characterized by anything approaching overtraining; for to tax the muscles or the system beyond their well-defined power of endurance, would be to injure both materially and perhaps permanently. We must, in this relation, study our own _physique_, and be guided by its premonitions. If we find that any of our muscles are weak and not fully developed, we must bring them into training gradually, never testing them to the fullest at first. If we are capable of lifting but eighty or a hundred pounds when putting forth our full strength, let us begin with fifty or sixty pounds, adding to that weight, day by day, a single pound for example, until we reach the eighty pounds, which we shall be able then to lift with the greatest ease. By this system of judicious or gradual augmentation we shall find ourselves, in a few weeks, able to lift a hundred pounds with greater ease than we had lifted the sixty pounds when first testing our strength in this direction. And this may be taken as an example of how we ought to proceed in all our exercises for developing, strengthening and hardening the muscles, expanding the chest and enlarging the lungs. We must perform the work gradually and intelligently. We must not fatigue ourselves to an uncomfortable extent when we first take up our dumb-bells, or clubs, but accustom ourselves to them by degrees, until their use involves but little exertion. In like manner, when we would inflate our lungs with fresh air, should they be weak in any degree, we must commence by inhaling