In his domestic life he is regular and abstemious. He eats largely of meat, and is fond of raw beef, which he believes to be wholesome and strengthening. He is a very moderate drinker, rarely, if ever, touching strong liquors, and partaking of wine and beer in moderate quantities. The only excess of which he can be said to be guilty is that of smoking, as he is seldom seen without a cigar. Those who meet Hogan for the first time are invariably surprised at his intelligence and gentlemanly bearing.
It should be remembered that he is still in the prime of life. His exploits in the future may furnish material some time for another volume, although it is doubtful whether its hero can be styled THE WICKEDEST MAN IN THE WORLD.
AN ESSAY ON PHYSICAL CULTURE AND THE ART OF ARRESTING DISEASE, AND OF BUILDING UP A ROBUST AND HEALTHY MANHOOD.
BY BEN HOGAN, THE CELEBRATED ATHLETE AND TRAINER.
As several Physicians of eminence, and other noted personages, have done me the honor to ask, on more than one occasion, for my views on Physical Culture, and the best method of building up a Healthy and Robust Manhood, the confidence which these gentlemen have invariably expressed in my system of physical training induces me to present, most respectfully, the few succeeding pages to all who may be interested in this, the most vital of subjects.
[Illustration: _RECEPTION OF BEN HOGAN AFTER HIS LECTURE ON PHYSICAL CULTURE._]
Flourens, the famous French physiologist, and member of the Paris Academy of Science, asserts that the normal period of the life of man is ONE HUNDRED YEARS. How comes it, then, that so few attain to this age, and that the alarmingly small average of thirty-three years only is now the measure of human existence? The question is a most momentous one, inasmuch as it affects vitally every fireside and project in the world, and bears strongly upon whatever measure of health, happiness and prosperity may be permitted to us in this world.
Monsieur Flourens' theory of the longevity of our race is founded upon data the most conclusive. By the careful and lengthened observation, and by numerous analytical experiments, he ascertained, beyond a shadow of doubt, that it is a law of animal life, that all creatures that move upon the face of the earth, and doubtless the tenants of the watery world also, should exist for five times the number of years it took their physical structure to come to a state of perfection. Man, it has been decided, attains this condition of perfection at the age of twenty--that is, his bones become united to the epiphyses and no longer grow. He has reached the ultimatum of his stature. As long as the bones are not united to the epiphyses he continues to grow; but once the epiphyses (which is a portion of a bone separated from the body of the bone by a cartilage) becomes converted fully into bone by age, then he has attained the climax of his natural growth, so far as his osseous structure is concerned.