Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-09-06
Mental and Physical Education.

There are abundant instances of the re-
ciprocal influence of the imagination and
the physical organization. Commonplace,
however, as is the doctrine, we have per-
haps hardly learned to apply it as syste-
matically as could be wished. One
fayorite piece of contemporary slang sets
forth the advantages of physical education.
Our young men interpret this theory after
their own fashion by endeavoring TO con-
vert themselves into finished athletes. But
the misfortune Is that they overlook the
intimate connection between the two pur-
poses of education. They argue-assum-
ing, indeed that they argue at all, which
Is, we need not add. a very bold assump
tion-that because the mind and the body
are intimately connected. therefore the
more you develop your body the more you
must improve the mind. The fallacy is
obvious enough Neither the mind nor
the body can be In perfect order without a
corresponding development of its ally; and
any change In one reacts upon the other.
But it does not follow that you can stimu-
late the Imagination by improving the di
gestion, or, reciprocally, that cultivated
Imagination is incompatible with dyspep-
STA. No part of this complex machinery
can be touched without some influence be-
ing propagated to every other part: but
the inference is not that we are at liberty
to attend exclusively to one set of func-
lions, but, on the contrary, that good
system of education should regard the har-
| monious development of all.
Familiar as the observation is in theory.
it is strange to observe how completely it
is neglected in practice Mr.. w. R. Greg,
some years ago published an interesting
essay on the ''Non-survival of the Fittest. =
| If we examine into the meaning of his
| rather melancholy forebodings, We find
that they rest chiefly on the neglect of
| which we are speaking. We will take one
! instance The ''fttest, in one sense of
| the word. are the men of highly developed
| brains One class cultivate brain at the
| expense of muscle: and the other, muscle
to the neglect of brain. Now, whatever
the value of our higher facilities, it is
plain that the lower are, in one sense,
more necessary; they supply the base with
| out which there can be no satisfactory
superstructure. A man can manage to
| live, and even to thrive, with a very
| limited allowance of intellect; but nobody,
| were he Shakespeare and Newton COM
| bined. could thrive or live without a
| stomach. If, therefore, society is so or
| ganized IN any case as to stimulate intel
lectual activity at the price of the still
more essential quality of sheer vitality. we
| shall have such a phenomenon as that
| which Mr.. Greg laments. With all the
advantages of keener intelligence, the
weaker race will be gradually worn down
| by the stronger. The fttest-if by the
| tittest we mean the cleverest-will not
| survive; but the true inference will be,
| that in the case suggested the httest are
! really the most vigorous. In short, 1t Is
| plain enough that. permanently to I'M
| prove any breed of men. their animal ma
| ture must be developed simultaneously
with their spiritual faculties. However
| civilized we may become, that nation will
| have the best of it in the long run which
| has the toughest physical fibre. and the
| problem is how to combine this with the
| greatest intellectual energy.
| If we ask how far our present methods
are favorable to such a result, the answer
| does not at first sight appear to be en-
couraging. Granting the general PROPOSE
| ton that physical and spiritual health are
seems to be verified in individual cases
There is AN obvious limitation to Mr. Gal,
| ton s doctrine of hereditary genius 1t has
been often said since the time of Bacon
| though we do not know that anyone has
collected statistics to prove the fact-that
| great men seldom leave descendants. II
| we run over a few of the most eminent
| names in English literature, it certainly
strikes one that the doctrine has at least
a prima facie justification. If we take
| the eminent names that occur at the mo-
ment, they almost give the same result
| Nobody now living can boast of a descent
| from Bacon himself, or from Shakespeare,
or Milton. or Hobbies, or Newton, OF
| Locke, or Swift, or Pope, or Addison, OF
Johnson, or Hume, or Gibbon; and it
| would be easy to increase the list without
| mentioning more recent names. If men
of exceptional ability are seldom the fore
fathers of distant posterity it is evid-
ent that we can not expect to
| produce men of genius as we
| produce race-horses and, beyond this, it
seems to be also true that an abnormal de-
velopment of certain faculties Is generally
! accompanied by defect of others. The
man of genius is more liable to certain
temptation than his commonplace brethren,
| though the highest results are attained
| where the other faculties are too strong to
| be Overpowered. and frst-rate intellectual
| power is consistent with perfect health.
For the great bulk, however, of even the
| most cultivated classes these instances are
| not quite in point. Few mems minds are
so powerful as to upset the balance OF
| their faculties. But it may still be argued
that, even in class far below the great
leaders of thought, the tendency is in some
degree to sacrifice general constitutional
vigor to the development of special talent.