hygienic laws. Serious injury would result from inattention to plain hygienic principles in this regard in growing children, and this is much more likely to occur in private than in public schools. In regard to questions of hygiene, therefore, it does not appear that the conditions under which children are placed during the hours of attendance at school are unfavorable to proper physical or mental development.

A more important question, and one which properly comes within the province of the physician and physiologist, relates to the advantage of physical training as a part of the discipline and education of school children. In many private schools, especially the so-called military schools for boys, physical training is very prominent. As a part of the education of young men, the advantage of careful and thorough physical training, involving even severe physical exercise, is well illustrated at the United States Military Academy at West Point. It is true that the students at the Academy are subjected to a careful physical examination, and when admitted are practically perfect in their physique and have no recognizable vices of constitution; but the four years' course of mental and physical training is most severe and exacting, and the hygienic conditions with regard to food, hours of sleep, absence of vicious habits, such as intemperance, excessive smoking, etc., leave nothing to be desired. Taking all these circumstances, however, into consideration, the result of four years' training, both physical and mental, is a class of men perfect in bodily health and vigor. Very few break down physically during the course, and fewer still are rejected on account of physical disability at its close. These statements are made after a pretty thorough examination of the methods of training at West Point, and they are in accordance with the views of army surgeons who have long been attached to the Academy.

The practical question of physical training in public schools is, however, one of considerable difficulty. There is no physical selection of pupils; the age is such that severe physical training would be injudicious, even if it were practicable; teachers have no control of pupils out of school hours; the hygienic conditions at home are seldom of the best; and it is impossible to

guard against bad habits, such as the prevalent vice of cigarettesmoking. These and other like considerations render impracticable any complete and thorough system of physical training in public schools; but, on the other hand, it seems that much good may be accomplished in this direction.

Young children, when in perfect health, take an immense amount of light physical exercise. Their simple games and sports, for girls as well as boys, are full of active movement. These should be encouraged and, as far as practicable, subjected to intelligent direction. The more that healthy amusement can be combined with physical training the better; and it requires much more time devoted to purely muscular exercise to develop a growing child than to keep the functions of an adult in a perfectly normal condition. Children consume, in proportion to the weight of the body, about twice as much oxygen as adults, and exhale a corresponding quantity of carbonic acid, which is a physiological measure of muscular activity. Children do not commonly accumulate fat to any great extent, and the carbohydrates of food are the chief matters oxidized, this process saving the elements of food which contribute mainly to the development of the muscular system. Unless the muscles are properly exercised, especially in youth, their development is imperfect and irregular, and many begin the real struggle of life in early manhood under the disadvantage of a feeble physique, the result of faulty hygiene in childhood.

Assuming that the great object of early education at public expense is to make useful members of society in the different and inevitable social grades, will it contribute to that end to give any considerable part of the time to purely physical training? In other words, will it pay to devote more time in the schools to physical culture?

In communities that maintain large standing armies, upon which the public safety is supposed to depend, this question would undoubtedly be answered in the affirmative. In Germany, for example, physical education in childhood and youth is much more prominent than it is here. A large part of the life of the most useful members of society, as far as production is concerned, is taken by the state for the ostensible purpose of

protecting the state. Physical training goes hand in hand with mental discipline and the enforcement of obedience, punctuality, and decorous conduct. Could not the qualities thus developed be made here indirectly useful to society in improving the physique and morals of rising generations? There is little room for doubt with regard to this, and it is a question, indeed, whether it be not more important to fit men and woman physically for their life's work than simply to train the intelligence, leaving the body to take care of itself. In selected individuals subjected to the highest degree of mental as well as physical culture, the experience of the Military Academy at West Point shows that the "candle is not burned at both ends." The same should be true in the great majority of young persons trained less severely for usefulness in ordinary avocations. As a rule, those who seek relief in public hospitals and those who are inmates of pauper institutions are burdens upon the community by reason of excesses, and these excesses are largely the result of physical inability to cope with the world. The inexorable law of the survival of the fittest applies to man, educated or uneducated, as well as to the lower animals; and it seems useless to educate a man for work which he is physically unable to perform. In many or most of our chief cities, wisely or not, provision has been made for public education, from the rudiments of knowledge to the highest grades of mental culture. The number of those who, in passing to the higher grades, are able and willing to avail themselves of the educational advantages thus afforded is progressively smaller and smaller, but it seems wise to see to it that all shall be taught at least to read, write, and cipher. With these simple acquirements, all should be compelled so to develop their physical organization that they shall have a healthy mind in a healthy body.

As far as I can ascertain, physical culture in public schools does not exist, except in the form of so-called calisthenic exercises for girls, which do not involve enough muscular exertion to be of any sensible benefit. There is no provision whatsoever for boys. If I be correct in my estimate of the importance of phys. ical culture, the only questions to consider are those of expense and practicability. Aside from the question of expense, the

provisions for proper physical culture are simply a suitable room and grounds, a single hour after the ordinary school exercises are completed, and competent direction and instruction.

The hour may be taken from the ordinary course of instruction, or an additional hour might well be given. The room and grounds—a room for inclement weather-and properly selected gymnastic apparatus are a mere question of expense; but the most important and difficult part of the problem is the selection of competent teachers. To organize a system of physical culture on a proper scale, there should be an efficient superintendent of this department for all the schools, under whose direction the apparatus should be constructed and kept in order. Competent instructors should be appointed, one for each school, and under his direction all pupils should be compelled to take proper exercise, at least three times in the week, for one hour after the close of the ordinary school sessions in the afternoon. A male instructor could very well conduct both the boys' and the girls' classes, and two hours in the week would be sufficient for girls. This definite suggestion is made after a not inconsiderable experience in gymnastics.

The subject of manual training in public schools is now engaging public attention, and may very well be considered in connection with what has been said with regard to physical culture. Early physical culture would serve as a natural preparation for manual training as well as a useful addition to the system.

It is recognized by nearly all writers on this subject that to teach a trade is not one of the legitimate objects of education in public schools. This is clearly set forth in a recent article on "Manual Training in School Education," by Sir Philip Magnus, who says that "the object of workshop practice, as a part of general education, is not to teach a boy a trade, but to develop his faculties and to give him manual skill." It is no more within the province of an elementary public school to teach the trades than to prepare boys for the professions, although an exception may be made in favor of schools for the training of teachers. With this reservation, there can be no doubt with regard to the wisdom of establishing workshops in our public schools. This is by no means an untried experiment. In Great Britain,

France, Austria, Belgium, Holland, and Sweden the system has been thoroughly tried, and the results have been most satisfactory. If the experiment should fail in our public schools, the causes of failure should be looked for in defects either in the plan or in the efficiency of its execution. With plans already formulated and the experiment certain to be made at an early date, it would be out of place here to discuss details.

The most important use of the public schools, aside from the acquisition of a certain amount of knowledge, is in the general influence exerted upon the mind and character of pupils. Personal cleanliness, habits of obedience and punctuality, honesty, and a proper sense of personal honor, are as important as knowledge acquired from books. A proper comprehension and use of the English language, with kindliness and courtesy of demeanor, contribute much to success in life. Brutality in school discipline belongs, happily, to the past; and civility and gentleness are not now regarded by any class as unmanly. A boy may be taught to be a true gentleman in his own sphere in life, however humble that sphere may be.

Leaving for others a discussion of questions relating to general education, an interesting and important subject relates to elementary scientific instruction. To what extent is it desirable to teach the elements of chemistry, physics, and human physiology? It is beginning to dawn upon the minds of men interested in the higher education that actual knowledge has made great, not to say enormous, progress within the last century, and that what an educated man must know at the present day is not to be measured by the standard of a liberal education of a hundred years ago. We cannot now afford to spend much time in pure mental training by studies that do not convey a fair proportion of practical and useful information. The evils of a too close adherence to antiquated methods of education are shown in the distress of a large class of educated persons unemployed. To a great extent the very elaborate education obtained at some of our universities fits men only for elegant idleness, and the class of men of leisure in our own country is not large and does not command much respect. Men and women who would be quite unwilling to be regarded as imperfectly educated, fre