Wednesday afternoon, July 8

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

TRAINING OF THE WHOLE INDIVIDUAL

Dr Edward Hitchcock, director of Amherst college gymnasiumDoubtless the speaker would not be standing here this afternoon were it not for the secretary of this Convocation: I mean Mr Dewey. We are proud that some of us had a hand in putting him through a course of education, and now we see he can turn the tables and put us through something else. You know as we grow older we are glad to submit to the younger people.

Allow a few words this afternoon upon the training of the whole individual, in our system of education, I mean the total man or woman. It certainly is conceded by all that we are made of body, soul, and spirit, three parts; and the plea I would make, is, that all these parts be attended to, no one part more unduly than another. This statement is older than we are, but at the same time old truths need to be reenforced and stated afresh. The old idea, as many of us remember, is that the scholar must be a lean, pale, lank fellow, rather dignified, pretty solemn, very little abdomen, and a good deal of head. I leave it to this audience to decide whether these are the characteristics we want to-day. We do want, it is true, as much, perhaps more, training of the head and heart, but we want more of the physical. Every advance in science, every bit of talk, every bit of discipline that we have gained shows that we must harmonize these three elements of our nature. A big over-developed physique is not our model for a man; the lean puny fellow is not our pattern. We want the all-round man; the fire, the boiler, and the engine. The engine is well enough; but what is it all good for without steam. Steam is all right but what if we haven't the fire to make the steam? Wo want the rightly equalized three parts as the good Lord intended there should be. Look at Mr Beecher. He had a good physique, but he was not less of a spiritual man because he had this physique.

We have seen in yesterday's paper that Sup't Jasper of New York city is going to try physical education as a department in five of his city schools. This seems a step in the right direction. And Pres. Ballantine, in his inaugural address at Oberlin college a few days ago, in outlining his proposed methods, spoke of athletics as one of thom and, will you believe it? he spoke of athletics first. Is not

this little fact symptomatic of the groaning of the world for more health and vigor of body? Do we not want a body developed and trained before we put much intellectual furniture into it? "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but which is natural."

We have found at Amherst college that the physical man wants proper attention, and so we provide a gymnasium, or as its donor, Mr C. M. Pratt of Brooklyn, thought of calling it, a health building. In this building during the cold and unpropitious weather of the year, we require regular physical exercise, in the same proportion as we require, in their appropriate places, the literary and scientific exercise of the intellect.

The point seems settled that physical exercise rightly and judiciously handled can be required of the student as profitably as can any other college work. This idea should reach down to the common school. A mistake it is true will be made if the public schools should try to do as much in the line of competitive sports as college students do, but they may open in that direction.

You ask about systems. I do not believe we have an American system of gymnastics. We are not wrought up to this yet. We are working in that direction. We want something that all primary and preparatory schools can use, rather in distinction from the college, and that, partly, from the difference in age of the students. There are several different skeleton plans now. The Boston people are all alive to the so-called Swedish system; and it does seem a good thing to give this a fair trial, for it is well worked out on paper and has met with success in the old world. A benediction is due to make this subject more

Mrs Hemenway for her generous gifts to familiar than it is. The dumb bell, club, and free-hand class drill is stronger than it ever was before, and has come to stay among the colleges and older schools. And yet this, like most teaching, depends greatly upon the animus, power, and skill of the teachers; upon his or her individuality. They can spoil a system or a method if they have a mind to, or have not a heart or head in it.

Another thing you are asked to consider: we have the medical profession, and there is to be another one before long. It is not to be of the doctor or surgeon who patches us up when we are sick, but of him who will help us to take care of ourselves, and try to keep us in health of body and mind. The physician takes us when we are tumbling to pieces and tries to stick us together again. The new profession will not displace the old one, but give better bodies to be patched up and stuck together.

But what has this profession to do with our common schools? Why, that we need this supervision and advice in all educational institutions, public and private, just as much as we need boards and examiners for the public health. We need this all the more in our schools, because attendance in them is compulsory. Every scholar should have a physical examination and measurements - within limits. Many an average child or its parents do not know whether it is near or far sighted, defective in hearing in one or both ears, or has some muscular or nervous defect. The examiner could often find out whether a child was weighted with a physical defect, or underdevelopment, which would account for his being a so-called stupid, naughty, or careless child. A pair of glasses has often raised the grade of a scholar 15 per cent. In other words the science of anthropometry is coming to reach into our common schools. The brain power develops alongside of, and proportionately with, a will power over the muscles. The boy or girl active and bright with the eye, hands, arms and legs, will be much more apt to work acutely in mental processes than the reverse.

It is said that some young people go to college to play ball and become athletes. Perhaps it is so; yes, one in 100, because facilities are good there for these things. And in some colleges there is a larger number who go simply because they want an A. B. appended to their names. Athletic training does not affect merely the "nine," or the "eleven," or the record breakers. For while a college nine is in training, there are class nines also, and 50 others, some of whom stand as substitutes, and above all catch the spirit, the poetry, and delight of vigorous freedom of muscular exercise. The contagion and example of the athletic men reach out to men not specially gifted, or hopeful or crazed in athletic contests, and help scores to go into the gymnasium or athletic field, and breathe more, sweat more, shake up the viscera more, sprawl around more on the grass and mother earth, and thus keep in better physical condition. It makes them for a time forget their brain work and sends their. nerve force to the skin and grosser organs of the body, and shoots the red blood corpuscles all over the body after more ozone and oxygen. Not all the boys want to go on the nine, or are wanted there; but the training they get by example and physical touch is where the leaven works.

A matter incidental to this subject seems in place here. It is the test examination of children at the end of the year for promotion. The evil is the intense draft and pressure on the nervous organs and

functions of young and growing minds and bodies, at a critical time of life. The great and growing number of nervous and kidney diseases, and the yearly increasing number of commitments to our insane asylums may find their germs in the intense pressure of school promotion examinations.

May not this be lessened in part by more frequent reviews and examinations during the year instead of bringing all the agony at one fell swoop?

And who knows best the attainments of the scholars, the teacher who has daily contact with the mind, character and temperament of the scholar for a year, or the ever so brilliant and keen examiner who with the experimentum crucis in a few minutes passes his judgment on a complex matter of body, mind, character, susceptibility, home training, heredity and kindred components of the child.

RELATION OF PHYSICAL TRAINING TO EDUCATION IN GENERAL

Dr Luther Gulick, Y. M. C. A. Training school, Springfield, Mass. It is my desire to show that physical training should be an integral part of general education, to indicate briefly the lines that should be followed, and to present a scheme capable of immediate adoption and involving little expense for its introduction into the public schools of this country.

That physical training bears an important relation to education in general is usually admitted. As to the nature of this relation there is much disagreement. This is due sometimes to a lack of knowledge as to the effects of exercise. I therefore preface my remarks with a brief epitome of these.

The subjective effects of exercise may be divided into two general classes, the physical and psychical. It is impossible to draw hard and fast lines between these classes, still the division is a useful one.

Physical effects

"Function develops structure in the line of its activity." Muscular action increases the number and size of muscle cells engaged in the movement. The quantity of blood flowing through the muscle is increased. This is ordinarily accomplished by the arteries that lead to the seat of activity becoming enlarged while others are slightly contracted. The blood tension is thus kept constant. When the amount of muscle used is too great to allow the demand to be satisfied in this way, the heart beats faster, and this with the preceding, will accomplish the desired result. The blood flowing from

the used muscle contains carbonic acid gas (carbon dioxide) in considerable quantities exactly commensurate with the number of footpounds of energy expended, as this is one of the chief products of expended energy. This blood is carried to the lungs and there the carbon dioxide is given off and oxygen taken in. If the amount of energy expended is at all great the carbon dioxide is passed into the lungs faster than it is breathed out, soon the blood is unable to bring itself to the ordinary degree of purity, some portion of this impure blood passing around through the general circulation flows through the respiratory center in the medulla and stimulates it to greater activity and this causes the respiratory movements to deepen and hasten. When much muscular energy is expended the nutritive processes are all accelerated and the blood is furnished with materials to make good the waste.

Thus we see at once that there are two classes of physical effects: the local or effect on the muscle itself, and the general or effect on the heart, lungs and digestive organs through the blood. You have also noticed that in order to the general effect a considerable amount of energy must be expended. It matters not whether this be expended by a few small muscles or by many large ones. The amount expended, not the locality, is significant. These two classes of effects are in a measure antagonistic to each other. The condition which favors muscle growth most markedly is that as few muscles as possible shall be used at a time in order that each may secure its full supply of food. The condition which favors the general effect of exercise is that many muscles shall be used at a time so that a large amount of energy shall be spent in a short time, thus calling for activity of the heart and lungs. It is needless to say that as far as health is concerned, the general effects are what we desire, increase in muscle growth not being particularly effective in this direction.

In addition, however, to these there are others in some respects of even greater importance. The nerve fibers that carry the stimulus to the muscle cells develop. They become more numerous, transmit stimuli more rapidly and with greater economy than formerly. The nerve centers that originate the stimuli become gradually more highly organized, more capable of prolonged activity and of more intense action. During the period of their activity these centers receive a markedly increased supply of blood.

To sum up the physical effects of exercise. Muscles increase in size and in contracting ability. This is the local effect. The heart is strengthened by the extra demand on it, the lungs profit by their