Year: 1875

Gymnastic training has received a


temporary back, set by the death OF


young Gushing from injuries sustained


in the gymnasium connected with the


Boston Institute of Technology. OF
course, his case was somewhat exception
al, and abuse furnishes no argument
against use. But it seems to be law
of human development to push a par
tieular tendency to an extreme, regard
less Of consequences, and then,to push
the opposite tendency to similar ex-
treme. A few years ago the Graham
fever swept over the country, and
hundreds of people dropped the eating
of flesh as poisonous, and starved them
selves on hard bread and cold water
with raw turnip now and then by way
of variety, the good in the Graham
system was turned into evil by abuse
Hydropatby was an invaluable discov-
cry in itself, but no sooner was it found
that class of peculiar cases might be
benefited by treatment of cold water
| than the extremists set about soaking
and bathing sand showering and pack
ing and douehing everybody for all real
| and possible maladies, and doubtless
hundreds of people had their vitality
quenched and washed into their graves
by the unreasoning application of a
method which is admirably suited to
particular cases and constitutions.


Half century ago systematic physi-
cal exercise was hardly thought of, and
students, clerks, and people of seden-
tary habits and quiet pursuits suffered
for want of muscular development and
activity. Physicians and health re-
formers preached exercise to people
who could not afford horseback riding,
and had not time to walk enough to get
the exercise they required. The gym
nasium grew out Of a necessity. But
like other needful and useful things it
has been carried to an extreeme, in many
cases, which has proved injurious, if
not fatal. The notion has gained cur
rency that exercise is a good thing in
and of itself, and when a person has
exhausted his vital forces by brain work
it is only necessary to exercise his
muscles in vigorous way to regain his
equilibrium. Expenditure of nerve
power must be balanced by an equal
expenditure in muscular activity, and if
the time is shortened the action must
be correspondingly increased in vio-
lence. The folly of this notion is ap-
parent when it is remembered that the
system is unit, and the vital force ex-
pended in one way cannot be recovered
by another expenditure in a different
way, any more than man regains
the money he expends out of one
pocket by spending an equal amount
from smother. It is constantly forgotten
that recuperation requires rest as we'll
as exercise, and that every tension of
the will should be followed by pas
sive condition. Modern life is an ag-
gregation of activities. Everybody is
on the Jump. The faculties are strained
to their utmost tension. Study, and
business, and pleasure are done on the
gh-pressure principle, and the sane
intensity of movement is carried over
into recreation and appears in violent
exercises in climbing, rowing, ball-play-
ing, and the performances of gymns-
SUM. It should be borne in mind that
the antithesis of action is not action in
another way, but quiet and passive re-
pose. The vegetative processes must
be respected, and the iaded faculties
must be given time. for recuperation.
The thing wanted is not a crusade on
calisthenics and the gymnasium, but a
wise discretion in their use. We have
learned how to make perfect horse
and OK and hound we have not yet
learned how to make perfect man or
woman. In this respect the wise old
Greeks were far ahead Of any modern
people, and it would be well for our
teachers to borrow a hint from their
methods and experience.