Part 16

The Roman emperors, and other luxurious persons, often made use of perfumed ointments instead of oil. See Suetonius (in Vita Caligulæ), Lampridius (in Vita Heliogabali.) It would appear that under the empire the people of Rome were supplied gratuitously with oil in their public baths. (Lamp. c. 24, and Burman, de V. R. c. iii.)

SECT. XVI.—ON EXERCISES.

Exercise is a violent motion. The limit to its violence should be a hurried respiration. Exercise renders the organs of the body hardy and fit for their functional actions. It makes the absorption of food stronger, and expedites its assimilation; and it improves nutrition by increasing heat. It also clears the pores of the skin, and evacuates superfluities by the strong movement of the lungs. Since, therefore, it contributes to distribution, care ought to be taken that neither the stomach nor bowels be loaded with crude and indigestible food or liquids; for there is a danger lest they should be carried to all parts of the body before they are properly digested. It is clear then that exercise ought to be taken before eating. The colour of the urine will point out the proper time for exercise. When it is watery, it indicates that the chyme absorbed from the stomach is still undigested. When it is of a deep yellow colour, and bilious, it shows that digestion had been long ago accomplished. When it is moderately pale, it indicates that digestion has just taken place; and this is the proper time for exercise, after having evacuated whatever excrementitious matters are collected in the bladder and bowels.

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COMMENTARY. The remarks of our author on the effects of exercise are exceedingly pertinent and comprehensive. See, in like manner, Aëtius (iii, 2), and Oribasius (Med. Collect. vi, 11.) But Galen is the great authority on this subject, which he treats of very fully and philosophically, in the second book of his ‘Hygiene.’ He agrees entirely with Hippocrates, that the proper time for exercise is before a meal, because, the excrementitious superfluities being thereby evacuated, the body is in a fit condition for receiving a new supply. He explains, however, afterwards, that it is after the digestion and distribution of a preceding meal have been accomplished that exercise will be most proper.

According to Haly Abbas, exercise is useful for three purposes: 1. For rousing the innate or natural heat, whereby the processes of digestion and distribution are accelerated. 2. For opening the pores of the body, and evacuating its superfluities. 3. For strengthening and rousing the animal actions, by the friction it occasions. (Theor. v, 2.) Avicenna gives nearly the same statement of the good effects of exercise. Haly Abbas forbids exercise immediately after dinner. He adds, that exercise taken immediately after a meal makes the food descend to the intestines, where it is absorbed by the veins before it is properly concocted, and thereby the liver becomes loaded with crudities. (Pract. i, 3.)

Alsaharavius recommends exercise before a meal, but advises it not to be continued after one feels fatigued and languid. (Theor. ii, 2.) The same rule is distinctly laid down by Rhases. (Contin. xxxiii.)

It appears that, instead of taking exercise after food, the ancients were in the practice of indulging in a short sleep after their dinner or mid-day meal. See Plautus (Mostell. ac. iii, sc. 2, 1. 8), and the note of Meursius (Ed. Gronov.) Homer says that it is beneficial to old men to indulge in sleep after the bath and taking food. (Galen. Hyg. 1.)

Plutarch mentions that Cicero was cured of debility of the stomach by taking moderate exercises. (In vita Cicer.)

It was one of the extravagant opinions of Erasistratus, that exercise is not at all necessary for the health of the animal frame.

SECT. XVII.—ON THE KINDS OF EXERCISE.

The common effect of all kinds of exercise is to produce an increase of the natural heat of animals. But each species has something peculiar to it. Strong, that is to say, violent exercise gives vigour to the muscles and nerves: such are digging, and lifting a very heavy burden, while one remains in the same spot, or moves about; or lifting small weights and walking about as much as one can. Of this kind, is the exercise of scaling a rope, and many others of a like kind. The swift kinds of exercise are such as do not require strength and violence, namely, running, fighting with one’s shadow, wrestling with the extremities of the hands, the exercise with the leather bag, and that with the small Ball. This last is compounded of intension and velocity; and such exercises as are intense may become violent by adding velocity to them. Besides, some kinds of exercise bring the loins into action, and some the hands or legs; others the spine or the chest alone, or the lungs. And exercise ought to be carried on until the body becomes distended, and the skin of a florid hue; and until then, the motions ought to be strong, equable, and spirited, upon which you may see warm sweat, mixed with vapour, break out. It will then be time for you to stop, when any of the symptoms which I have mentioned have undergone a change, namely, when the bulk of the body becomes contracted, or when the florid colour of the skin declines. And, should any of the motions remit, it will then be time to stop immediately; or, if there should be any change in the quantity or quality of the perspiration; for if it should become smaller in quantity, or colder, we must desist, and, besmearing the body with oil, endeavour to restore it. It will then be proper to use the Restorative friction, as the masters of gymnastics are wont to practise.

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COMMENTARY. We shall now give a brief account of the ancient exercises, some of which are altogether omitted by our author.

The σκιομαχία is thus explained by Cornarius: “Porro σκιομαχίαν accipio umbratilem pugnam, quâ quis privatim domi aut sub umbra, non in propatulo se exercet, ac veluti præparat ad justam pugnam publicè faciendam.” (Notæ in Paul. Ægin. h. 1.) This account, however, does not agree with that of Oribasius, who describes it as a mock encounter at boxing and jumping with one’s own shadow. (Med. Collect. vi, 29.) It is thus described in the Latin translation of Avicenna: “Et ex eis est, insequi umbram suam, ut ipsam percutiat in capite, et manus ad invicem percutere.” (i, 3, 2, 2.) It is mentioned in this sense by Plato (de Legibus, vii), by Plutarch (Probl. Conviv. vii), and by Achilles Tatius (p. 115.) Juvenal probably alludes to this sport. (Sat. vi, 246.) We have therefore translated it, “fighting with one’s own shadow.”

The ἀκροχειρισμὸς is thus described by Scaliger: “Est autem ἀκροχειρίζειν luctæ pars, cum primoribus tantum digitis insertis roboris faciunt periculum.” (Poet. i, 22.) Suidas explains it thus: “A man taking hold of his antagonist’s fingers, strove to break them, and did not give over until he compelled him to yield.” The term occurs in Aristotle. (Eth. Nicom. iii, 1.) See also, Athenæus. (Deipnos. iv, 13.) It is called ἀκροχέιρισις by Hippocrates (De Diæta. ii, 42), who says it reduces the body.

The exercise with the κώρυκος, or leather bag, is described by Oribasius in the following manner: A bag filled with flour or sand was suspended from the top of the house, on a level with the navel; it was then pushed forwards with the hands to the extremity of the rope, and, as it recoiled, the person performing the exercise retreated backwards, so as to escape from it. (Med. Collect. vi, 33.) This exercise is mentioned by Hippocrates. (De Diæta, ii.) Cornarius and the translator of Hippocrates confound it with the follis of the Romans; but Mercurialis clearly shows that they were quite different. The follis was a leather ball, inflated with air; such is the description of it by Cælius Aurelianus: “Follis erat pila magna ex aluta confecta, soloque vento repleta.” Martial represents it as a becoming exercise for boys or old men:

“Ite procul juvenes, mitis mihi convenit ætas, Folle decet pueros ludere, folle senes.”

(Epigr. xiv, 45.)

They were different from the pila magna and parva; that is to say, the large and small ball. These balls were of different sizes, and were played with in various ways. They are minutely described by Oribasius. (Med. Collect. vi, 32.) See also Horace (Sat. ii, 2), and Martial (Epigr. iv, 15.) See a most learned and accurate account of all these sports in Mercurialis. (De Arte Gymnastica, ii, 4.) Galen has written a treatise on the exercise of the parva pila. To this class of exercises we may refer the pitching of a stone, which is mentioned by Avicenna.

Our author has neglected to make mention of the halteres in this place, but recommends the exercise for the cure of elephantiasis. (iv, 1.) It is described by Galen, who says, it can be made to exercise the spine transversely. (De Sanit. tuend. ii, 11.) The exercise with them is thus described by Potter: “The exercise of leaping they sometimes performed with weights upon their heads or shoulders, sometimes carrying them in their hands; these were called ἁλτῆρες, which, though now and then of different figures, yet, as Pausanias reports, were usually of an oval form, and made with holes, or else covered with thongs, through which the contenders put their fingers.” (Antiquities of Greece, c. 20.) Mercurialis describes them as masses or weights of different materials, and of such a size as that they could be held in the hands. Ropes, too, he adds, were often fastened to them, to hold with. (De Arte Gymnast. ii, 12.) The Pythagoreans were fond of this exercise. (Iamblichus de Vita Pythagoræ, c. 21.)

The funambulatio consisted merely in scaling ropes, which, as we may suppose, was done in various ways. See Mercurialis (iii, 5), and Baccius (de Thermis, viii, 7.)

The ἐκπλεθρίζειν, as Galen and Avicenna explain, consisted in running round the plethrum, or sixth part of the stadium, and always contracting the circle of one’s course, until one stopt in the middle. The πιτυλίζειν, as the same authors explain, consisted in walking upon one’s toes, and tossing one’s hands backwards and forwards.

The cricilasia appears to have been a large hoop, or circle, which was rolled on the ground. Even Mercurialis admits the obscurity of Oribasius’s description of it. (Med. Collect. vi, 26.)

The petaurum was a seat suspended by ropes, in which seat the person taking the exercise sat, and was tossed about by assistants. It is mentioned by Juvenal (Sat. xiv), and Martial (Epigr. xi, 22.)

Antyllus thus describes the effects of equitation on the human frame: “It strengthens the body, especially the stomach, more than any other mode of exercise; it clears the organs of the senses, and renders them more acute; but it is most inimical to the thorax.” Oribasius (Med. Collect. vi, 24), Pliny (Hist. Nat. xxviii, 4), and Aëtius agree with Antyllus as to the good effects of equitation on the stomach. Hippocrates and Cælius Aurelianus state that equitation is hurtful in disease of the hip-joint. All agree that riding on horseback is hurtful in diseases of the chest.

Of ἀιώρα, or gestation, there were various modes. That in a carriage was very ancient, and is often mentioned by the medical authors. It appears from Pliny (Hist. Nat. xvi, 42), that carriages were generally made of fir, and that the axles were of ilex, mountain ash, or elm. Sometimes, however, the whole chariot was adorned with gold and silver. (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxiv, 17.) They appear to have been often covered in with skins. (Plutarch, Prob. Roman.) They were generally drawn by horses or mules, sometimes by oxen, and occasionally by slaves. They were so constructed that a person could either sit or lie, according to pleasure. (Galen, Hyg.) At first, according to Pliny, they had only two wheels; the Phrygians, he says, added two more; and Hippocrates mentions that the Scythians introduced the use of six-wheeled carriages. The sedan and chair are often mentioned by the Latin poets, as well as by the medical writers. It is sufficient for our purpose to state that they were so constructed, that one could either sit or lie in them. They sometimes had windows, formed from the lapis specularis. (Juvenal, Sat. iv, 21.) Navigation, or sailing in ships and boats, is often mentioned by ancient authors as a remedial measure. It was practised on the sea or in rivers. According to Aëtius, gestation in general ventilates the natural heat, produces excitement, dispels collected humours, strengthens the frame, and rouses the actions when in an indolent state. (iii, 6.) Celsus has an interesting chapter on gestation. The following rule for the application of it is very judicious: “Gestatio quoque longis et jam inclinatis morbis aptissima est; utilisque est et iis corporibus quæ jam ex toto febre carent, sed adhuc exerceri per se non possunt; et iis quibus lentæ morborum reliquiæ remanent, neque aliter eliduntur.” Upon the whole, he holds it to be a doubtful practice in ardent fever, although sanctioned by the authority of Asclepiades Bithynus: at all events, he insists that gestation is improper when there is any local pain or swelling. After characterizing the different modes of gestation, he remarks respecting them: “Levia quidem genera exercitationis infirmis conveniunt: valentiora vero iis qui jam pluribus diebus febre liberati sunt; aut iis, qui gravium morborum initia sic sentiunt, ut adhuc febre vacent, quod et in tabe, et in stomachi vitiis, et cum aqua cutem subiit, et interdum in regio morbo fit; aut ubi quidam morbi, qualis comitialis, qualis insania est, sine febre, quamvis diu, manent.” (ii, 15.)

Galen eulogises hunting as being an excellent exercise to the body, and an agreeable recreation to the mind. He says, that by the mental excitement which it produces, many have been cured of dangerous diseases. (De parva Pila.) Rhases mentions, that during the prevalence of a certain pestilential epidemic, it was observed, that huntsmen were the only class of people who escaped its contagion. (Contin. iii.) The ancients have transmitted to us many elegant treatises, both in prose and in verse, on this delightful recreation. Those of Xenophon, Oppian, Gratius, and Nemesianus will be found particularly interesting. The younger Pliny attributes his recovery from a certain complaint, to the exercise of hunting. (Epist. v, 6.)