The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-05-09
From the Baltimore American.T
EdacaffOn and Health.

/ lFTOH1 Tie Daltlmofe Amer1CaA.l
Education and Health.
AT one time articles written by physician.
/ were OF such an abstruse character tnat
they could only be understood by those
who had made study OF physic, and the
peculiar nomenclature with which they
abounded caused them TO be only OF value
to medical journals or learned societies
There has, however, Of late, been desire
shown by the medical profession not sc
much to show its erudition and learning as
| to deal with matters affecting US socially,
and throw out suggestions which, II fol-
lowed out, would be likely TO conduce to
the health and longevity OF the community.
), Amongst the subjects which have thus been
| discussed is that OF the health OF children.
In many of the large cities, both OF this
country and England, we find that pbysi.
clans are making specially Of the dis.
eases OF the young, devoting their entire
attention to them, and planning remedies
by which their ravages can be restricted.
DR.. r. w. Richardson. a well-known Lon.
don surgeon, has lately contributed an arti-
Gle to an English magazine on the subject
OF "Learning and HEALTH" in which he
deals with the present system of educa.
ton, and unhesitatingly declares it. as his
conviction that to it is due much Of the
physical weakness and want OF activity seen
in childhood. The present age is so wrapped
up in the idea Of giving to each child an
education that it is apt to forget to how Sc
we're strain their young faculties are often
| subjected. When to confinement in q close
and overheated room is added course
Of study which makes drain upon physi-
cal vitality, it cannot be expected that they
will develop into strong and robust
children. The result will more naturally
| be that the system will become enervated
| and more receptive to the seeds Of conta-
gion and infection. The memorizing which
children are forced to do at school must to
bright and lively boy and girl, whose
| thoughts roam freely, be almost unendura-
| BILE, and this storing up in the young mind
Of days and dates without regard to classifi-
cation makes the brain only 4 lumber-room,
| from which it is difficult to extract the arti-
Gle which may be wanted at any particular
| time.
The writer OF the article in question ar
CUES that until they are seven years OF age
instruction should only be given to chill
dreu through the medium OF play, that
their natural propensity for fun and free
dom should not be checked, and that in the
open air, in the garden or woods, they are
unconsciously receiving impressions which
will be Of benefit to them in after life. 1t
has been often noted that infant prodigies
and precocious children seldom grow up to
be men or women, and il they do they
rarely achieve that distinction expected Of
them when they are prosecuting their stu
dies. There have, OF course, been excep.
tions to this. Pope tells us that when a
child he "lisped in numbers and the num-
bers came," but, as a rule, the talent for
rhyming which some children show never
develops into the fire and the genius Of po-
etry. Infapt Roscuses, boy orators, and
musical phenomena, and the unnatural sys-
tenn of forcing to which they are subjected,
is destructive of vital activity, and makes
the young heart old before its time. Con-
cerning children Of this class DR.. Richard
| son says:
"These precocious, coached-up children
are never we'll. Their mental excitement
keeps up flush, which, like the excite
ment caused by strong drink in older chill
dren, looks like health, but has no relation
to it. If you look at the tongues Of these
children:you see them to be furred, or coy-
cred with many red points like strawberry
or to be too red and very dry. If you in-
quire into the state Of their appetite, you
find that the appetite is capricious:; that
strange foods are asked for, and that the
stomach never seems to be in order. If you
watch the face for long, you note that the
| frequent flush gives place to an unearthly
paleness. II you watch the eyes you per-
ceive that they eeam with light ut one
time, and are dull, depressed, and sad at
another, while they are never laughing
| eyes. Their brightness is the brightness OF
| thought on the Strain-an eYanescent anu
dangerous phenomenon. II you feel the
muscles, they are thin and flabby, though
In some instances they may be fairly coV-
cred with fat. II you inquire into the
sleep these children get, you hear that it Is
Idisturbed, restless, and sometimes broken"
We are apt sometimes to assert that mar
row streets and alleys are productive OF
disease. To certain extent this Is true.
Closely-confned tenement-houses, without
proper air and ventilation, make sad havoc
with infant life; but when it succeeds IN
| overcoming these conditions and arriving
at an age when it can go out into the streets,
we find that their free, outdoor existence
conduces more to health than that system
which makes boys and girls little ladies
and gentlemen, which brings them accord
ing to the rules of fashion and loads them
down with books when they should be free
and untrammelled. There is danger, there
fore, that in our love for education we may
forget the necessity of building up the ply
steal organization of the young, and any
suggestions by those who have made the
human system their study should receive
attention, so that physical and mental growth
NAV not conflict with each other, but that
the rising generation should grow up with
sound minds In sound bodies. 81