Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1890-03-13
The ReIati Of Our Bodies to Modern
Civilization.

This article was occasioned by some
remarks made before the Iron County
Teachers \ AssOciation by me on the sub
ject of Physical Culture. [ then pre-
ferred to Use tie word enllure in q
broader sense than is usual. Really.
It - subject treated 0} assthe one stat
ell as above: The Relation nf Our
Bodies to Modern Civilization :" After
the adjournment Of the Assoc alton. it
was thought best t1'transfer the discus
sion to the presence ofa larger audience
through the newspaper.
I take the broad ground. that all cult
ure Is primarily sysical culture. That
on the condition of this body the great
fabric Of our modern civilization is
nuIlt. That the dream Of the poet, the
theories Of the philosopher. the reason
| ing OF the mathematician the skill of
| the artist, the specuiations ofil1e NOR,
| alist, are quite as much the result of the
| cultivation of the physical man, as the
arm of the blacksmith or the thews
ani sinews OF the ancient giadiator or
| modern pugilst. The great law Of
| human progress is human effort. Eff
| fort of any kind must always find its
expression in physical terms. There
can he no effort on the part of an or
ganized being, without decomposition
of tissue, which results in the lit erati
of force which again exhibits itself n the
various functions of the body. This
waste of tissue is more than r,paired
by the increased supply of nutriment,
ard an organ much ustd, under health
ful conditions, grows up to the limit of
development originally imposed upon
il by the Creator.
In this view OF the subject there is no
difference IN sind between the effort
! nece ssary to shoe a horse and that nee
| essary TO produce brilliant editorial.
In the case Of the editor, the N re COM
pleX organ, the brain, bears the bur
den; in the case of the blacks smith, the
less complex organ, the hand, is the
more prominent factor. III each case.
effort has been followed 10y waste OF
tissue, which, # supplied by proper
muterIal, under heaithful conditions,
leaves the organ used with an incTeas
ei capacity FIR effort in the same direc-
ton. In the language of Professor
Huxley, the case may be briefly stated
thus: "In properly nournished man
stream Of food is constantly catering
the body in the shape of complex COM
pounds, containing comparatively 1T
tie oxygen as; constantly the elements
of the iood are leaving the body com
bined with n49re oxyget3s And 'he in-
cessaut breaking down and oxidation
of the complex compounds which enter
is definitely propOrti0ned 10 the amount
of force the body eXerts, whether in
the shape of hea: or otherwise, just III
the same way as the amount of work
10 b. got out Of a ste4m engine and the
amount of heat it and It's furnac~ give
off bear strict proportion to its con-
sumption of fuel" Education has to-
10 with the direction of this created
energy. | take il that all educA ton
consists in the enabling Of an organ TO
perf5rm its functions without unpieds-
ant and in some instances, wholly with
out conscious, effort. The piano player
has great-d f1iculty in the beginning to
control the fingers and make them DO
their Office property after awhile" with
long practice. the fingers receive no at
tentiOn: the sight of the notes unc0n-
sciously produces reflex action, ana
they do their office independent OF Voll-
ton Their education has been COM
pleted. This is the case III every trade
or profession. The carpenter drives
nail without thought; the painter rap
idly puts on the house coating OF
paint without thought; we walk along
the street without giving heed to our
steps. We have repeated the samea act
20. often that c nscious action has be-
come organized into UNCONSCIOUS or re-
fieX action. If, then, the frequent per-
formaDce Of an act by the muscles
Greats habit and releases attention,
why may the same not be true OF the
| brain? The essay of the schoolboy re-
!
| uuires bis utmost effort; to him it Is no
| Slight task to indite letter. When
| the boy has grown 10 mans estate,and,
after much practice, he can glVe'oH
ipage after page of manuscript, contain
| ing his best thought, with none other
than pleasurable sensations. w hen
vou have read one work of an author,
put forth at his maturity, to a Certain
iexfent YOU have tend ali that will come
after that work. His other volumes
NAV be more finished, and better liter
ary productions, but they will be found
to be but expansions of the one IN
which he made his greatest struggle
To achieve success. E4ch author has
styIe peculiar % himself. No man can
mistake the later writings of Carlyle,
Charles Dickens, or jules Verne. Each
has formed habits of though that eX-
press themselves through their writ
ings, aud we know them, whether they
bear any superscription or not, as we
know the face of a friend.
Molecular change in the BRAIN, oft re-
peated, of the same nature. aud per-
haps taking place in the same organ of
the brain. produces habit Of thought.