New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-02-18

sound and healthy condition. Failure
to recognize this truth has been the
main cause of unhealthfulness among
students. The prevailing notion mas
been that the ideal student must be pale and
more or less bilious, and that the college athlete
} must of necessity stand at the foot OF his
class Certain well-meaning opponents OF
outdoor college sports take this ground now
and cry out for the abolition of such exercise
They fail to recognize the fact that there Is
rational as well as irrational exercise. Against
many of the more prominent forms Oh cohege
sports, as football and baseball matches ana
| boat traces, much can reasonably De uISeu'
They are too violent for all except the more ro-
bust students, and are necessarily c0nilned 10
only few. Still, when properly controlled anu
restricted as they are at present In most COL
leges to trials of skill between colleges, inc
harm they do is very slight and is greatly eX-
ceedrd by the good. President Eliot OF har-
vard in his last report says that OF the elShty :
four men engaged in boating, baseball ana
football from 1878 to 1881, m re than
quarter stood above the middle of their classes,
and the average standing of the whole number
was represented by ~ in supposed
class of 100. He adds that the increased at
tention given to physical exercises and athletic
sports has been of great advantage to the
university, and that under their influence the
ideal student has been transformed from
" stoopng. weak and sickly youth into one
we'll formed, robust and healthy"
But these more violent forms of exercise
are participated in only by those who need
exercise the least. According to Pres
ident Eliot there were only elghty-t0ur
of them between 1873 and 1881. This
is a very small proportion of the whole body
of students. What is to be done with the
others They are the boys who most need
exercise They have weaker bodies to begin
with. and they do nothing to strengthen them
during their four years course. Clearly this is
the class whose physical condition should most
concern the college authorities who are in
trusted with their welfare. On this point DR..
Dudley A. Sargent contributes thoughtful
and interesting article to the February num-
Der of The North american Rerier. DIR.
Sargent is the director of the Harvard Gym
nasium. and perhaps the best authority in this
country on physical culture. lie has made 1t
the study of his life, and by constant expert
ment has sought To discover the best and sur
est methods, not for the training OF strong
men into athletes. but for building up weak
bodies into strong ones. lie says the proper
physical training of our youth can never he
accomplished until or gymuasiums are put in
good hygiene condition, are furnished with
appropriate apparatus, and are placed
IN charge of thoroughly competent in-
sructors. To these requirements he
adds, rs most important of all, The recon-
mcndation that the gymnasium exercises be
made part of the regular curriculum. He
rnforccs this recommendation with arguments
which commend themselves 10 the ~ son of
every competent judge.
Why should not physical development be
made rs compulsory a. intellectual develop
mcntP OF course the instruction should be-
given by a thoroughly competent person
and when such supervision i. assured,
what parent would not choose above all
others ~ the college for his boy to
attend. the one whore his body could be dcvel
opcd with hi- mind2 That the weak body can
Doc made strong is no longer disputlble fact.
All that Is necessary j. that there shall Dc some
foundation 10 work upon. As there are some
head, which no amount of trimming viii i'm
prove 80 there are some bodies which nOamount
o, exercise viii strengthen; but NIL that can be
said in favor of the culture of the mind can
bee said In favor of the culture of the body, and
one development is a, practical and desirable
ms the other In fact, neither is capable Of
reaching its highest state without the other
| util our colleges shall take this tn heart and
make it the guiding principle of their work
they will fall short in the fulhlment of their
mission.