SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY OF RECREATION. 773 



always be compelled to take recreation and to profit by its use, whether 

 or not they are acquainted with its science and its philosophy ; but 

 there can be equally little doubt that here, as elsewhere, an intelligent 

 understanding of abstract principles as well as of practical applications 

 will insure more use and less abuse of the thing which is thus intelli- 

 gently understood. 



With a view, then, of obtaining some such intelligent understand- 

 ing of recreation, let us begin by clearly understanding what recreation 

 means. First of all, the mere word, like many of our other English 

 words that signify abstractions, condenses much philosophy within 

 itself. For, as " creation " means a forming, " re-creation " means a 

 forming anew ; and, as in etymological derivation, so in actual truth 

 re-creation is nothing other than a re-novation of the vital energies ; 

 leisure time and appropriate employment serve to repair the organic 

 machinery which has been impaired by the excess of work. The lit- 

 eral meaning of the word is therefore in itself instructive, as showing 

 that what our forefathers saw in recreation was not so much play, pas- 

 time, or pleasantry, as the restoration of enfeebled powers of work. 

 And I do not know that within the limits of one word they could have 

 left us a legacy of thought more true in itself or more solemn in its 

 admonition. Recreation is, or ought to be, not a pastime entered upon 

 for the sake of the pleasure which it affords, but an act of duty under- 

 taken for the sake of the subsequent power which it generates, and the 

 subsequent profit which it insures. Therefore, expanding the philoso- 

 phy which is thus condensed in our English word, we may define rec- 

 reation as that which with the least expenditure of time renders the 

 exhausted energies most fitted to resume their work. Such is my 

 definition of recreation ; yet I know that many things are called by 

 this name which can not possibly fall within this definition, and I doubt 

 whether nine persons out of ten ever dreamed either of attaching such 

 a meaning to the word, or of applying such a principle to the thing. 

 Nevertheless, I also know that in whatever degree so-called recreation 

 fails to be covered by this definition, in that degree does it fail, prop- 

 erly speaking, to be recreation at all. It may be amusement, fun, or 

 even profitable employment ; but it is not that particular thing which 

 it is the object of this paper to consider. Therefore the definition 

 which I have laid down may be taken as a practical test of recreation 

 as genuine or spurious. If recreation is of a kind that renders a man 

 less fitted for work than would some other kind of occupation, or if it 

 consumes more time than would some other kind of occupation which 

 would secure an equal amount of recuperation, then, in whatever de- 

 gree this is so, in that degree must the quality of such recreation be 

 pronounced impure. 



So much, then, for the meaning of recreation. The next point 

 that I shall consider is the physiology of recreation. It may have 

 struck some readers as a curious question, why some actions or pur- 



