The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-02-17
lChicaxn Trihune.l

Chicago Tribune.)
of man. In the millennium simple
lessons in physiology, followed by
more difficult ones, and finally by the
most difficult ones, will be a part of
all school training. from the first
grades to the bachelors degree.
When men known physiology from
A to q and live up to their best knowl-
edge, there will be some chance of
their being examples Of sublime eff
cheney. h subject as taught
for a few weeks merely-by means
OF hopclessly Inadequate and %inaccur-
ate books. and very dull and dry one
at that. and by teachers who know
little and care less about tho subject,
is the most tedious and useless study
in any course.
Those who really know physiology
in all its latest advances, If they write
books at all. write profound ones.
fuller of technical terms than any
other books under the sun. These
are. indeed. closed books to the man
who is not a Psychologist. Yet it Is
only men Of the widest knowledge
who could write the simple books that
would not be filled with half truths
often quite equivalent to lies.
Our best magazines, however. arc
entiffc advances made in physiology
by getting such men as Ellie Metch-
nilSoff, professor Of the Pastcur In
stitute in Paris. and other such men
or heir disciples to present the re.
suits of their work in the magazine
pages.
OF all phases of this subject the
physiology OF physical activity, of
muscular action. of what the psyche
losists call the motor elements. is of
the most profound and Of the utmost
practical interest to humanity. The
facts of this physiology are being
worked out in technical laboratory ex.
periments. and the experimenters are
beginning to give us the results of
the work in terms which all can un-
derstand. and should give their at
tention to understanding.
The motor or motion part Of life
is almost all there is to life for the
larger part of humanity. 1t is the life
of the child in his play, of the col
lege hoy in his games. and "even the
highest and most developed forms of
mental activity. motor ideas and rep
reservations are by far the most pre.
dominant" says DR.. Boris Sidis. the
eminent psychologist and physician.
DR.. Sidis. moreover, that Through.
out the scale Of animal life. from the
lowest to the highest forms. inteIIi-
gence 81 intimately related to the de.
system and to the delicacy of the mo-
tor adjustment.
|. When we come to nan we cannot
help admiring the high completely
and extreme delicacy of the motor adj
1ustment. Most marvellous, however,
is the human hand. that divine or
gan which gives shape and form to
works of art. to all outward visible
manifestations of civilization. The
artists and thinkers of antiquity. held
the hand in great v%eneration."
examples OF the part motor activities
play In mental life as that so we'll
known concerning the greater ease in
remembering words and facts or syl.
tables and numbers if they are writ.
ten down. The motor elements are
SO important in mental life as really
10 form the Very nucleus of conscious
ness. Children learn best by acting
out what Is taught them, and the
world is full Of examples Of impov-
erished mental processes because of
lowered motor activity.
DR.. Sidis goes so far as to say that
motor consciousness Is at the very
heart of personality We are what we
accomplish. Extreme variability and
adaptability Of reactions to environ
ment are the main characteristic
traits of intelligence, will, personal.
ity." -
The muscle takes a very high ranl:
IN u organism. This is one rcaso
why its abuse is so dangerous. Anoth-
er reason Is expressed in the warning
gwen by a great physician concerning
Its abuse. He says: muscular tissue
is the only tissue in the body which *
unde the direct control of our will
as implied by its name-'yoluntary'
muscle. You may order your stom-
ach to serve a certain quality and
v OF gastric juice. or your liver
10 secrete a certain color of bile, and
Keep on ordering. without as much
result as Whistling down the wind
You have absolutely no control yer
your heart beat. But Won
can order practically any voluntary
muscle in your body TO contract. and
1t springs to your service at once, and
Will keep on obeying until 1t falls
from sheer exhaustion. It is on this
account that the muscular system is
so peculiarly defenseless and liable
10 apuse-because 1t is under the will,
or reason. instead of instinct. A man
cannot add n cubit, or even an inch
to his height by taking thought. hut
he can increase the girth Of his bi.
cepts Of the expansion of his ches
Muscle is one of the tissues through
which a man can directly modify
and change his body"
"A great servant, almost wholly sub
1ect to discipline. the muscle is on.
tirely at the mercy of the ma with
u sense OF judgment. 1t is often
as much abused by the worker as II
IS ny the man HI dissipates his en-
ergies IN riotousness and excess
mere fs no limit to what we can i'm
pose on the muscle, short of utter ex-
naustion. but there is a fairly definite
limit to the food we can consume Ia
build 1t up. We listen when the stom-
c says enough. if we have n sense
u 1t has been considered a virtue
to ignore the cry Of "T am tired"
when 1t is the muscle that cries.
DR.. Woods Hutchinson, the paul.
lar and prolific writer on health ton
les, says: 1.-THE man who stops work
Just because he is tired is generally
aeemed lazy, s%hiftless. good for moth
ing. the man who stops eating because
nc reels satisfied is a rational, praise
worthy being. AS a result, muscular
e11ort mas been pushed to extremes,
notn IN amateur athletics and daily
Toll. Though highly beneficial and alb
solutely essential to life and happi-
ness in considerable amounts, it has
peen made physically injurious and
mentally degrading"
our lawmakers are being called in
TO regulate the muscular abuses caus
ed by the prevalence Of the long dav
IN Industry. Men Of IS. who have