Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1869-08-06
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M..NHN
PHYsICAL EDUCATION.
We ere glad to perceive that the
/" Muscular Christianity" that Kingsley
started out to teach, and which met
with every species of opposition, from
the most Incorporate invective to the
most undigni6ed ridicule, is every day
entering more fully into the reqaire-
ments of our educational system. It's
progress is slow, but We imagine the
result will be certain. The most prom
inent movement to this end We have
noticed is that Of the large German
population Of New York demanding
various reforms in the public schools Of
that city; among others, that q teacher
of gymnastics shall be appointed, and
regular hours be devoted to physical
exercises, the same as are now given to
merely mental labors. Children are
very generally what either their moral,
mental, or physical training make them.
II the morals are not properly developed
the growth will be a bad one; tho intel
lect left lying fallow produces no fruits,
and the child to whom no i%nvigorating
exercises Of the body are given will be
puuy aud tender; if his brain is con-
stantly given employment at the expense
of ais muscles he cannot be active or
healthy.
A strong mind almost invariably ac-
companies q strong body, and in this
connection the experience of an emil
nsnt surgeon, who has for years made
the cure Of deformed children his study,
is curiously illustrative. In the course
of his large practice, he has restored
hundreds of deformed children to their
proper bodily condition, and he says
that while in almost every instance Of
physical distortion there has been a
sympathetic distortion of the mental
faculties, be has never cured o single
case Of mal-formation Of the body in
which there was not at once TO be per.
ceived an increase Of intellectual
power. As the distorted limbs assumed
their proper shape and performed their
natural functions, so did the brain, in
answer to the redeemed body, exert q
renewed vigor.
One of our late exchanges brings us
an account of a boy who died in New
Bedford, Mass, a few days ago, from
the result of severe application to study,
in the eudeavor to qualify himself for
promotion at the beginning Of the fol-
lowing school year. But where one
such case as this is recorded, there are
thousands Of others, less sudden in
their effects, but not less fatal in the
end, Of which no account is ever taken.
At a late meeting Of the Wisconsin
State Medical Society, when the subject
of the " Debility in children, especially
with reference to the evils Of over.tax.
ing children in our schools" was under
discussion, DR.. Morehouse said:
In our common schools Of the present day
(everywhere, but more especially in cities
and the larger villages, where the best
teachers are sought and generally obtained)
every inducemcnt, every incentive that can
be devised and brought to bear to stimulate
and encourage study, is faithfully and per-
s~istcntly applied. Tho consequence is, that
many OF our brightest and best children, OF
from six to ten yeers Of age, are performing
more study, more mental labor, than most
Of the business men, or more than their
teachers. I am aware that many children
are sluggish in their temperament, and will
bear, and seem to require, great urging to
get them to learn; yet, with many Of this
class, 1t is their rapid growth that takes away
their energy, and even ability to study; and,
consequently, you must fail to get them to
or, if you succeed in getting study out Of
them, you induce annmia. What else can
you cxpects You cannot get more from the
blood than there is in 1t; and since the blood
must supply nourishment to the brain and
the body, and all its organs, for their growth,
besides repairing the waste Of all their ex-
c%rtions, it follows that, whenever you tax
that fluid beyond its income, annmia is the
result.
The facts and recommendations ad-
ducsd by DR.. Morehouse were consid-
cred Of such value that the Society
adopted q resolution requesting the
general publication, by the press Of the
country, Of the Doctors address.