PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 57 



nauseous, even in the smallest quantities. A drop of prussic acid fills 

 a whole room with its bitter aroma. But arsenious acid is tasteless 

 and odorless, and so unsuspicious to the most wary animals that its 

 name has become a synonym of ratsbane. The reason is apparently 

 this : that Providence (or " natural selection ") has endowed animals 

 with a protective antipathy against all poisons they could possibly 

 mistake for comestibles, but not against such out-of-the-icay things as 

 arsenic or sugar of lead, nor against the mixtures by which the art 

 of man has disguised the taste of naturally unpalatable substances. 

 Coffee, without sugar and milk, "straight and strong," as the Turks 

 drink it, would hardly tempt a Christian schoolboy ; mixed, it can be 

 made seductive enough to deceive even the ex-officio opponents of the 

 stimulant - habit. In such commixtures as milk - punch, beer - soup, 

 " Scutari sherbet," the taste though not the effect of alcohol almost 

 disappears ; the Algeria trappers catch monkeys with a melange of 

 rum and manna-sirup. A famous cook of the " Freres Provenceaux " 

 used to boast his ability of compounding delightful ragouts from meat 

 in any state of decomposition. Early habits and the influence of evil 

 examples also tend to corrupt the integrity of that physical conscience 

 whose arbitrations form the health-code of our dumb fellow-creatures. 

 In large cities the panders of vice vie in the art of making their poi- 

 sons attractive, and, where such dangers can not be avoided, it is always 

 the safest plan to meet and master them in time. 



Eaidy impressions are very enduring, and can make useful habits 

 as well as evil ones a sort of second nature. In order to forestall the 

 chief danger of in-door life, make your ckildi*en love-sick after fresh air ; 

 make them associate the idea of fusty rooms with prison-life, punish- 

 ment, and sickness. Open a window whenever they complain of head- 

 ache or nausea ; promise them a woodland excursion as a reward of 

 exceptionally good behavior. Save your best sweetmeats for out- 

 door festivals. By the witchery of associated ideas a boy can come 

 to regard the lonely shade-tree as a primary requisite to the enjoyment 

 of a good story-book. " Or, ones pensees ne voulent jamais aller qiC avec 

 mes jambes," says Rousseau (" Only the movement of my feet seems to 

 set my brains a-going "), and it is just as easy to think, debate, rehearse, 

 etc., walking as sitting ; the peripatetic philosophers derived their name 

 from their pedestrian proclivities, and the Stoic sect from their mas- 

 ter's predilection for an open porch. Children who have been brought 

 up in hygienic homes not rarely " feel as if they were going to be 

 choked " in unventilated rooms, and I would take good care not to 

 cure them of such salutary idiosyncrasies. 



Every observant teacher must have noticed the innate hardiness of 

 young boys, their unaffected indifference to wind and weather. They 

 seem to take a delight in braving the extremes of temperature, and, 

 by simply indulging this penchant of theirs, children can be made 

 weather-proof to an almost unlimited degree ; and in nothing else can 



