The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1857-11-19
Physiology i'm Schools.

All OF our faith in human progress, and i,
'he development and perfection of the human
race' lies in the general diffusion of the scenc,
VI rnyslology. All other sciences are auxiliar,
'othis. All departments of learning are useful
oh'V as they conduce to this one grand result n
knowledge Of ourselves. And for this reas1or
rhySology ought to be one of the most n,omi.
nent educational features in our schools II,
Vi our schools from the primary up to the ooI
t9ge a9d reoa 1hs y@rSily The Summit B,oco
So soon as parents shall have made the grand
discovery that theirchildren have bodies as we'll
as minds, and that those bodies in order to at
tain their greatest value, either as things useful
or ornamental, need judicious education, they
Will demand of school officers and eachers, ey-
erywhere, that Physiology and the LalUs of Health
be well taught in our common schools.
NotD, these essential branches of even half an
education are taught only in few of the high
schools and standardization in suitable shape,
they will be voted part of the course of study
in every primary school. They will be contin-
ued up through the schools Of higher grade SO
that every pupil may come to a clear knowledge
of the things on which alone must rest the sal
vatlon OF mis- body and the capabilities of his
mind. He is dull observer who does not see
in the mis-shapen, half developed feeble bodies,
and still feeber minds of those around him, the
clearest proofs that Physical Education has.
heretofore, been most wickedly neglected.
Ot the $4,000 persons (of ages from Is to 60)
whom our school examiners arm with certificates
which establish their fitness to teach, and who
are therefore employed as teachers, not 1000 OF
them can teach Physiology successfully, while
not 500 out of the remaining 1900 know
enough Of it to poke the fire dscreetly-to open
or close window at the right tme-or to put
readng-class in the right position for free
exercise of the vocal organs or to manage the
ventilation and heating of the schooI-room
properly.
Only think Of it--according to the commits.
sioners' last Report, of the 100000 pupils en-
rolled in the common schools of Ohio, only g.
800, or less than one in every two hundred, re.
cite Physiology of the or 5000 attend
ing school in our own enlightened county, only
2i are reported as engaged in that study.
The mass of our teachers are but "blind
guides and until they be given in exchange for
some clearer sight, there will be no dearth Of
weak voices, narrow chests, crooked spines, dis
eases of the brain, ami neuralgias, whose pater-
nifty may be traced to the school room and
neither elocution, nor cotton, nor whaebone MOI
rest, nor valerian, can save the bodies and minds
thus manned, from premature imbecility and
early decay. The life-force needed TO do lie:
duties decrntly cannot b. bought of the mantus
maker nor the druggist. If it be not the gift O
| lnheI tance, guarded as precious boon, it car
be had only as the blessing which Hygeia vouch
safes to those who worship her truly in the light
OF practical Physiology the outlines o.
which must be among the first lessons in the
primary schools, and its fulness BE- given in the
teachings OF the higher departments.