DOMESTIC AND INTERCOLLEGIATE ATHLETICS. 551 



onism between them; the one supplements the other. Every partici- 

 pator in field sports should bring to his games a body well developed 

 by judicious gymnastic training. On the other hand the trained gym- 

 nast is entitled to the peculiar delights and rewards of athletic games. 



The Relation of Physical to Mental Vigor. 



There is in the minds of many people a natural and reasonable 

 fear that an enthusiasm for athletics involves a loss of interest in 

 scholarship, in the high ideals of the spirit and in the details of a 

 chosen course of study. It is feared that even when one does not lose 

 his interest in study in consequence of his interest in athletics, he must 

 suffer a loss of the time which athletics require. I doubt if any of 

 these fears are well grounded. There is great economy of time in 

 spending a proper amount of it in healthful, invigorating exercise; 

 and again there is a great waste of time in lingering and poring long 

 over one's books. On this point I can speak from considerable expe- 

 rience and observation. Again and again I have felt it my duty to 

 order students to close their books and go out for exercise or for a 

 game. The physical ills that students suffer from as a rule arise from 

 too little exercise, not from too much. 



Says Dr. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, in a little book labeled 'Wear 

 and Tear': 'A proper alternation of physical and mental labor is 

 fitted to insure a lifetime of wholesome and vigorous intellectual exer- 

 tion.' 



Again he says: 'Eat regularly and exercise freely, and there is 

 scarce a limit to the work you may get out of the thinking organs.' 

 Mental action is a distinctly physical process. Without the free cir- 

 culation of blood in the brain there can be neither thought nor sensa- 

 tion, emotion nor ideas, and the quality of the mental action is largely 

 dependent upon the quality of this supply of blood. Here then seems 

 to lie the solution of this vitally important problem. We succeed best 

 not by diminishing the amount of brain work, but by so regulating 

 the manner of our lives as to make that amount of work harmless. 

 The time we spend in judicious and absorbing exercise is not lost. 



Will you pardon me for drawing upon my personal experience? 

 I am old enough to draw some safe conclusions as to the immediate 

 and permanent value of moderate athletics. 



When I entered Harvard there was no gymnasium, no baseball, 

 no Rugby football, no athletics of any kind except rowing, and that 

 was too expensive for me. So I got on a while without any exercise. 

 I had always been accustomed to an active life on a farm, and I was 

 soon in a bad way. Fortunately my people became alarmed and insisted 

 upon my joining a boat club; so I joined a club near the end of my 



