Sketcher.

Southern Cross, Volume 1, Issue 28, 14 October 1893, Page 10

Sketcher.

HERR SANDQW, THE STRONG MAN. (From the Ludgate Monthly) In comparing the different methods of exercise as favoured by the Englishman, German, or Frenchman, much useful instruction may be obtained. We English go in greatly for outdoor sports, cricket, foot-ball, running, heing until lately our chief, and in a broad sense, our only exercise, the result being that the muscles of the lower limbs are best developed, to the detriment of the muscles of the chest and arms etc. Looking at the Germans, we see that gymnastics, as understood by the parallel and horizontal bars, are their chief form of exercise,the result being the antithesis of the Englishman. Turning to the Frenchman, we find an entirely different physique, he excels in sword and rapier practice, rendering him agile and lithesome, with no particular mil cular development. Gradually we are changing all this; we find our Continental friends going in for football, rowing, and such English sport. I remember being present at the quinquennial “ turnfest,” held at Munich a few years ago, when some thirty thousand gymnasts and athletes were assembled from all parts of the habitable globe, and I was greatly struck with the different physiques of the various nationalities represented. Now, to my mind, the perfect man would be a combination of the three national types mentioned. Such a man is to be found in the person of Herr JSandow; the doyen of strong men 1 efore the British public. I have seen Samson, Hercules, St. Cyr, Milo, Victorina, Athleta, Dan Sullivan, all, more or less, good in their way, many relying on show-tiicks and displays for effect more than genuine exhibition of strength and muscular power, but not one of them can for an instant 16 compared with Herr San--dow. Thinking an interview with Sandow would be both instructive and •amqsing, I waited on him one morning, and joined them at their breakfast, i.e., Sandow and Juno, his Danish boarhound. For a strong man, Sandow'’s breakfast was frugal in the extreme, some scrambled eggs on toast and a glass of good claret. Tea and coffee he never drinks, believing them to he most injurious. Sandow was born twenty-six years ago at Koenig sberg ; lie first went to school there, afterwards to Hanover, and from thence to the University at Getting’. He was not a particularly strong lad. If anything, he was rather delicate. To improve his physique, lie started gymnastics, and, seeing the marked improvement, he determined to develop his muscles, and with this object.in view, he proceeded to the University at Brussels to study' anatomy. The muscular development of Sandow has been a surprise to both medical and scientific men. At Glasgow University, Sandow once gave an exhibition of his muscles before tee medical fraternity, and caused Sir William Turner to remark that the cast of the arm of Donald Dinnie which they had at the University as an ideal arm, was not to he compared to Sandow’s. Sandow has developed muscles that are not even attempted be shown in | uch master-pieces of statuary as those of Michael Angelo or Canova. Such muscles, for instance, as the serratus magnus , the latissinn s dorsi and the abdominal muscles are rarely, if ever, prominent on the human form ; in Sandow, however, they are marvellously and fully developed. Sandow is an all-round athlete; he is a good boxer, by no means an indifferent ft ncer, goes in greatly for swimming, is a good w'restler, has wen over two hundred prizes, medals, etc., Las never been defeated, and has carried off the amateur all-round championship of Italy. Sandow’s exhibitions before the public are interesting and varie \

He, after a kind of preliminary canter with sundry fifty'-six pound weights and dumb-bells, turns somersaults with two fifty-six pounders in his hand; this, he assured me, took him a long time to accomplish. He lifts a large, very large dumb-bell over bis head with one arm, the weight heing somewhat over three hundred pounds ; having done so and replaced the bell on the stage, the bells open and out step tw r o men, one out of each hell. This is convincing proof that the weight must be considerable. Another feat is to balance a platform on his arms and knees, and allow a guardsman on horseback to ride over. The weight of this is considerable; and add to this the fact that he has to balence his living freight as it passes over, and it will at once be seen that this adds considerably to the strain. The Roman Column is another very pleasing exercise he goes through. He places his feet on two rests on the column ; from the top of the pole hang two chains, which are fixed to a leathern garter below r the knee; in this position he Langs dow r n and picks up two living beings, and raises them above his feet. The strain while doing this is not to he laughed at. His great feat, and the one to which most danger is attached, is that of balancing three horses on a platform placed on his chest and knees, and allowing these horses to play sea-saw while there. The W'eight of this is nearer a ton and a half than a ton and a quarter, and the great difficulty is getting the three horses to work exactly together and to maintain their equilibrium, and it is this which sometimes prevents the feat from heing successfully accomplished. Sandow' has been to Chicago during the Exhibition, giving a display, and for this he has been drawing the modest salary of £3OO a week. No doubt my reader would like to hear something of the dimensions of this modern Hercules, and as to what diet he takes. As to diet, he says: “ Eat or drink anything you like, of course, in moderation,” and the only exception he makes to this is abstention from tea or coffee. Two meals a day satisfy him, a dejeuner about noon and a dinner about seven. When in training he takes twice a day the juice, warmed and seasoned, of about a pound and a half of raw lean beefsteak. He smokes and enjoys a good cigar, and has a sneaking regard for Scotland on account of it£ whisky. With regard to practice, light dumb-bells are to develop the muscles, and once he used such, but now his muscles are developed he practices occasionally with a tw r o hundred or two huudred and fifty pound bell. His dimensions are somewhat astonishing; his w'eight is fourteen stone and a few pounds, his height five feet nine inches. His chest measures forty-seven inches in circumference, and this he can increase by inflation to fifty-nine inches', a truly wonderful accomplishment. His forearm is sixteen inches, his biceps nineteen and a half inches, his thigh is twentyseven inches, his calf is eighteen incl-.es, and he takes an eighteen and a half collar and an eight and a half glove and a nine in boots.