C24) For the. Commercial and Agricultural Magazine:

THE INCREASING DEBILITY OF MANKIND.

The general and daily increafing Debility of each ſucceſſive Genera- tion of Mankind(particularly the higher Orders) fince the year 151Z.—inferred from the changes which have taken dlace in the armour of ancient and modern warriors.

Extracted from a German Treatiſe, publiſhèd at Hanover. By G. À. EBELL-

NDER the term debility, or weakneſs, I comprehend, in

the firſt place, a want of power or force in the members,

a deficiency in point of manly ſtrength and vigour; and, ſecond-

Iy, a proneneſs to receive injury from every trifling expoſure to

inclement weather,&c.—as likewiſe wearineſs or laſſitude quickly

ſupervening upon, bodily exerciſe, and the incapacity of long en- during any kind of perſonal exertion, labour or fatigue.

The ſlighteſt retroſpe&t“ to former times, eſpecially to the periods ſubſequent to the year 764, and further to A. D. 1500, is ſufficient to convince us, in how great a degree all civilized nations have decreaſed, fince this latter period, in frength and bodily vigour. fk

Thus, indeed, is it, that ſince the’ year 1454, in conſequence of the invention of gun-powder and cannons» the ta@ics of our anceſtors have neceſſarily undergone a total alteration. The coat of mail of the ancients, which, from the acceſſion of the Caro- lingian race to thé crown of France, and conſequently from A. D759, or, as ſome with ercaver preciſion date it, from the year 764 to 15135 conſtituted, and, till towards the cloſe of the 16th century, ſolely conſtituted the armour of the knights, was by no means aleulatedito reſiſtithe impetus Of A Cann ball; and quick and nimble as were» according to all accounts, the motions of theſe knights in this Heavy armour, ſtill we may ſup- poſe, that, after the 1nvention of cannons, much more depended upon the utmoſt poſſible celerity in marching, and in the evolu- tions of the ſhock, than upon perſonal ſecurity againſt the thruſt of a lance, the cut of a ſabre, or the barbed point of an arrow- This being the caſe, it might very well have happened that war-

riors, of equal ſtrength and vigour to any that preceded them, might have made, for the laff four hundred years, and conſe- quently fince the invention of gun-powder, 4 complete change in their weapons, without being compelled to this change by a de- creaſe of bodily rength. But this did not altogether take place. The cuiraßs, the ſabre,&c. continued“ to” be almoſt univerſally the armour of the warrior, till towards the middle of the 16th century; for not till then was this kind of armour found too heavy and unwieldy. Now this, as already obſerved in the pre- ceding pages, 1s the very identical period in which the glazing of earthen veſſels, by means of lead, came univerſally into vogue»