THE PHYSICAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION. 471 



one meridian to pass through the cornea of the observer. If he 

 wishes to look at a painting done by an artist whose vision 

 is normal, or nearly so, the observer turns the slit around to 

 correspond with the meridian of his own best vision. If, how- 

 ever, he looks at a picture in which it is desirable to have over- 

 lapping of the retinal images at one, where the colors must be 

 mixed in the eye, for example it is necessary to rotate the slit to 

 another position, usually at right angles to the first, and with this 

 a canvas which before showed too clearly the blotches of color now 

 becomes blended into a much more perfect whole. I would rec- 

 ommend this simple device to any one who has not already ex- 

 perimented with it. Thus, by adjusting our own personal equa- 

 tion of eyesight to that of the artist, we literally obtain his point 

 of view. The colors are heightened, the daubs blend, and new 

 beauties appear. Instead of seeking, like our friend mentioned at 

 first, for " the handiest way to get out of this 'ere place," we are 

 glad to stay longer to study and to enjoy. Here, as everywhere, 

 it is art and science together that yield the richest result. If 

 science is allowed to be the interpreter, we may gain a heightened 

 enjoyment of art, and the artist a comforting increase of appre- 

 ciation. 



THE PHYSICAL ELEMENT IN EDUCATION. 



By EUGENE L. RICHARDS, 



PROFESSOR OF MATHEMATICS IN YALE UNIVERSITY. 



IT would be as unwise as it is impossible to expect that every 

 person engaged in education should be able to survey the 

 whole field. Each educator takes a part, and is very apt to think 

 that his or her part is the most important. Education, until quite 

 recently, has been so widely regarded as brain culture that the 

 whole trend of education is to develop the mind as one organ of 

 the body, as if mind resided in the brain alone. And even those 

 who know and admit that the mind is something more than brain, 

 disregard the fact in their systems of education, following almost 

 unconsciously the old ruts. Thus Bain says in one place : " The 

 organ of mind is not the brain by itself ; it is the brain, nerves, 

 muscles, organs of sense, and viscera/' And yet, in Education as 

 a Science, he says : " Now, when we inquire into the meaning of 

 physical education, we find it to be the rearing of a healthy 

 human being by all the arts and devices of nursing, feeding, 

 clothing, and general regimen. Mill includes this subject in his 

 article, and Mr. Herbert Spencer devotes a very interesting chap- 

 ter to it in his work on Education. It seems to me, however, 

 that this department may be kept quite separate, important 



