In number 446 of the Bibliotheque Britannique, is to be found a report of some trials made by a Mr. Shulze, in his manufactory, of the strength of men of different heights. These trials show what influence an elevated stature has upon the vertical height to which a man can raise any weight. A short man is, in his turn, capable of employing more force in another direction. THROWING THE DISCUS. Among the Greeks, throwing the discus did not form part of the games till the eighteenth Olympiad. This exercise consisted in throwing, as far as possible, a mass of wood or stone, but more commonly of iron or copper, of a lenticular form. From the testimony of ancient authors, there was no mark or butt fixed, except the spot where the discus thrown by the strongest of the discoboli alighted. Mercuriali has handed down to us three engravings, in which the discus is not of the same shape. The first engraving represents four discoboli in the act of throwing with the right hand a discus which is as thick at the circumference as at the centre, which has been bored. The second represents the statue of a discobolus holding a discus apparently of a spherical form, in the left hand. The third shows the arm of an athlete with a flat discus. The discus in the last two engravings now mentioned, covers the greater part of the front of the forearm; and all that the ancients have written respecting this instrument, tends to show that it was of enormous size and weight. Homer tells us, that the athletes threw the discus either up into the air merely as a prelude to accustom their arms to it, or horizontally when they were striving for the prize. [Illustration: _Plate XVII_ _Page 63._ Throwing the Discus.] To perform this exercise properly, the thrower should not only balance the discus well on the right arm, (supposing it to be on that arm, as in Plate XVII. fig. 1); but at the moment it leaves the hand, he should throw the whole of the right side forward, so that the impulse may be assisted by the weight of the whole body.--(Plate XVII. fig. 2.) This exercise very much strengthens the body, and developes, in a particular manner, the limb by which the discus is thrown. It may be usefully employed in cases where it is desirable to remedy weakness in either of the arms; and it is well calculated to bring up the power of the left arm to that of the right. The modern quoit differs from the ancient discus only in this, that the instrument so called is much smaller than the discus, that its use is a mere idle pastime, and that the object is always to throw it as close as possible to a fixed mark, requiring more skill than strength. It is evident that the discus may be heaved from above the shoulder as well as flung from below.--(See Plate XVII. fig. 3.) No exercises can excel these for the acquirement of power. They ought to be much practised with both hands. A man of moderate strength will throw a pound weight of lead a distance of 140 feet, or thereabouts.