re heating or indigestible in their nature,
but with an unreasonable quantity even of those which are considered
highly proper, is almost in an exact proportion. And it is hence
scarcely possible for the causes of disease and premature death to be
more operative in factories and in cities than in farm houses and the
country. Indeed it may be questioned whether the abuses of the ANIMAL
part of man--more common in some of their forms in country than in
city--though they may be less conspicuous, are not more certainly and
even more immediately destructive than those abuses which, in city life,
and bustle, and competition, affect more the MORAL nature.

Be that as it may, however--for this is not the place for the grave
discussion of so broad a question--one thing, to my mind, is perfectly
clear, namely, that until physical education shall receive more
attention from all those who hold the sacred office of instructors of
the young, humanity can neither be much elevated nor improved. Mothers
and schoolmasters especially--they who, as Dr. Rush says, plant the
seeds of nearly all the good or evil in the world--must understand, most
deeply and thoroughly, the laws which regulate the various provinces of
the little world in which the soul resides, and which, like so many
states of a great confederacy, have not only their separate interests
and rights, but certain common and general ones; as well as those laws
by which the human constitution is related to and connected with the
objects which everywhere surround, and influence, and limit, and extend
it.

This book contains little, if anything, new to those who are already
familiar with anatomy and physiology. Indeed, whatever may be its
claims, its merits or its demerits, it disclaims novelty. It is, indeed,
in one point of view, _original_;--I mean in its form, manner, and
arrangement. What I have written is chiefly from my own resources--the
results of patient study and observation, and careful reflection; but
that study and observation of human nature, and this reflection, have
been greatly aided by reading the writings of others.

In the prosecution of the task which I had assigned myself, no work has
been of more service to me than an octavo volume of 548 pages, by Dr.
Wm. P. Dewees, of Philadelphia, entitled, "A Treatise on the Physical
and Medical Treatment of Children." It is one of the most valuable works
on Physical Education in the English language, as is evident from