EDUCATED TO DEATH. 57 



duration of the pressure. For the left foot there is a grayish rectan- 

 gle shaded with oblique lines. These alternations of gray and white 

 express by their succession that in walking the pressure of one foot 

 succeeds the other, without allowing any interval between the two. 



Line 2 is the notation which corresponds with the ascent of a stair- 

 case. It is seen that the strokes lap, or encroach on each other, and 

 that, consequently, the body during an instant rests on both feet at 

 once. 



Line 3 corresponds with the rhythm of running. After a shorter 

 pressure of the right foot than in the walking-pace, an interval is seen 

 which corresponds with the suspension of the body ; then a short 

 pressure of the left foot followed by a fresh suspension, and so on 

 continually. 



Line 4 answers to a more rapid rate of running. It shows a shorter 

 duration of the pressures, a longer time of the suspension of the body, 

 and a more rapid succession of the various movements. 



This method of representing the different modes of progression by 

 the notation of their rhythms, though hardly necessary to make clear 

 the simple paces of man, will greatly aid us in understanding the more 

 complicated paces of the horse, which will be the subject of another 

 article. 



--+*+- 



EDUCATED TO DEATH. 1 



A MOTHER'S STORY. 



AT the age of fifteen Mary was a remarkably fine and healthy 

 girl : she seemed to be safely over the critical period, and, till 

 after that time, had never suffered as many girls do at the commence- 

 ment of their womanhood. Her thinking powers were quick and vig- 

 orous, and she was the pride of her teachers and joy of her parents. 

 Unlimited mental progress was laid out for her, and it seemed that 

 there were to be no bounds to her acquirements. 



She had then finished a good common-school education, at the 

 best high-school, and had entered an institute for young ladies (a 

 boarding-school) of the highest character. The curriculum of study 



1 From " The Building of a Brain," by Edward H. Clarke, M. D. The appearance of 

 this narrative in Dr. Clarke's volume is thus explained by him in the following prefatory 

 remarks : 



" Last February I received a letter from a gentleman, personally a stranger to me, 

 but well known as an accomplished scholar and writer, to the effect that the case of his 

 daughter, who died less than a year previous, aged eighteen, would furnish an excellent 

 illustration of the evil results of inappropriate methods of female education, and that he 

 would be willing to have the history of her case published, if its publication would ren- 

 der any service to the cause of sound education. In reply to a request for the history 

 which he had so kindly and unexpectedly offered to prepare, the following note was re- 



