8.He broke a rope of about two inches in circumference which was in part wound about a cylinder of four inches diameter, having fastened the other end of it to straps that went over his shoulders; but he exerted more force to do this than any other of his feats, from his awkwardness in going about it: as the rope yielded and stretched as he stood upon the cylinder, so that when the extensors of his legs and thighs had done their office in bringing the legs and thighs straight, he was forced to raise his heels from their bearings, and use other muscles that are weaker.But if the rope had been so fixed, that the part to be broken had been short, it would have been broken with four times less difficulty.
9.I have seen him lift a rolling stone of about 800 lib.with his hand only, standing in a frame above it, and taking hold of a chain that was fastened to it.
By this I reckon that he may be almost as strong again as those who are generally reckoned as the strongest men, they generally lifting no more than 400 lib.in that manner.The weakest men who are in health and not too fat, lift about 125 lib.
having about half the strength of the strongest.(N.B.This sort of comparison is chiefly in relation to the muscles of the loins; because in doing this one must stoop forward a little.We must also add the weight of the body to the weight lifted.
So that if the weakest man's body weighs 150 lib.that added to 125 lib.makes the whole weight lifted by him 275 lib.Then if the stronger man's body weighs also 150lib.the whole weight lifted by him will be 550 lib.that is, 400 lib.and the 150 lib.
which his body weighs.Topham weighs about 200 lib.which added to the 800 lib.
that he lifts, makes 1000 lib.But he ought to lift 900 lib.besides the weight of his body, to be as strong again as a man of 150 lib.-weight who can lift 400 lib.
Now as all men are not proportionably strong in every part, but some are stronger in the arms, some in the legs, and others in the back, according to the work and exercise which they use, we can't judge of a man's strength by lifting only; but a method may be found to compare together the strength of different men in the same parts, and that too without straining the persons who try the experiment.
Here follows a long description of a machine for the above purpose.
Topham was not endowed with a strength of mind equal to the strength of his body.He was married to a wanton who rendered existence so insupportable that he committed suicide before he was forty years of age, on August 10th, 1749.[4]
[4] Interesting accounts of Topham's career may be found in Wonders of Bodily Strength, New York, 1873, a translation from the French of Depping, by Charles Russell; Sir David Brewster's, Letters on Natural Magic; London, 1838; Wanley's Wonders of the Little World, London, 1806; Wilson's Wonderful Characters, London, 1821, (but not in the reprint of 1869).
About the year 1703 there appeared in London a native of Kent, by the name of Joyce, who won the name of a second Samson by a series of feats of strength that to the people of that day seemed little short of superhuman.
Dr.Desaguliers, in his Experimental Philosophy, gives the following account of Joyce and his methods.
About thirty years ago one Joyce,[5] a Kentish man, famous for his great strength (tho' not quite so strong as the King of Poland, by the accounts we have of that Prince) shewed several feats in London and the country, which so much surprised the spectators, that he was by most people called the second Sampson.[6]
But tho' the postures which he had learned to put his body into, and found out by practice without any mechanical theory, were such as would make a man of common strength do such feats as would appear surprising to everybody that did not know the advantages of those positions of the body; yet nobody then attempted to draw against horses, or raise great weights, or to do anything in imitation of him; because, as he was very strong in the arms, and grasped those that try'd his strength that way so hard, that they were obliged immediately to desire him to desist, his other feats (wherein his manner of acting was chiefly owing to the mechanical advantages gained by the position of his body) were entirely attributed to his extraordinary strength.
[5] Or William Joy.
[6] This is the spelling used by Joyce, Eckenberg and others, for the Samson of the Bible.
But when he had gone out of England, or had ceased to shew his performances, for eight or ten years; men of ordinary strength found out the way of making such advantage of the same postures as Joyce had put himself into, as to pass for men of more than common strength, by drawing against horses, breaking ropes, lifting vast weights, &c.(tho' they cou'd in none of the postures really perform so much as Joyce; yet they did enough to amaze and amuse, and get a great deal of money) so that every two or three years we have a new SECOND SAMPSON.
Some fifteen years subsequent to Joyce's advent, another so-called Samson, this time a German named John Charles Van Eckenberg, toured Europe with a remarkable performance along the same lines as Joyce's.Dr.Desaguliers saw this man and has this to say of him:
After having seen him once, I guessed at his manner of imposing on the multitude;and being resolved to be fully satisfied in the matter, I took four very curious persons with me to see him again, viz.the Lord Marquis of Tullibardine, Dr.
Alexander Stuart, Dr.Pringle, and a mechanical workman, who used to assist me in my courses of experiments.We placed ourselves in such a manner round the operator, as to be able to observe nicely all that he did, and found it so practicable that we performed several of his feats that evening by ourselves, and afterwards I did most of the rest as soon as I had a frame made to fit in to draw, and another to stand in and lift great weights, together with a proper girdle and hooks.
