re education is that it results from
our passing phase of civilisation. In primitive times, when aggression
and defence were the leading social activities, bodily vigour with its
accompanying courage were the desiderata; and then education was almost
wholly physical: mental cultivation was little cared for, and indeed, as
in feudal ages, was often treated with contempt. But now that our state
is relatively peaceful--now that muscular power is of use for little
else than manual labour, while social success of nearly every kind
depends very much on mental power; our education has become almost
exclusively mental. Instead of respecting the body and ignoring the
mind, we now respect the mind and ignore the body. Both these attitudes
are wrong. We do not yet realise the truth that as, in this life of
ours, the physical underlies the mental, the mental must not be
developed at the expense of the physical. The ancient and modern
conceptions must be combined.

Perhaps nothing will so much hasten the time when body and mind will
both be adequately cared for, as a diffusion of the belief that the
preservation of health is a _duty_. Few seem conscious that there is
such a thing as physical morality. Men's habitual words and acts imply
the idea that they are at liberty to treat their bodies as they please.
Disorders entailed by disobedience to Nature's dictates, they regard
simply as grievances: not as the effects of a conduct more or less
flagitious. Though the evil consequences inflicted on their dependents,
and on future generations, are often as great as those caused by crime;
yet they do not think themselves in any degree criminal. It is true
that, in the case of drunkenness, the viciousness of a bodily
transgression is recognised; but none appear to infer that, if this
bodily transgression is vicious, so too is every bodily transgression.
The fact is, that all breaches of the laws of health are _physical
sins_. When this is generally seen, then, and perhaps not till then,
will the physical training of the young receive the attention it
deserves.

[1] _Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine._

[2] _Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine._

[3] _Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology._

[4] Morton's _Cyclopaedia of Agriculture_.

[5] Morton's _Cyclopaedia of Agriculture_.

[6] It is needful to remark that children whose legs and arms have been
from the beginning habitually without covering, cease to be conscious
that the exposed