164 On the Use and Abuse of 



On the USE and ABUSE of 

 POPULAR SPORTS and EX- 

 ERCISES, resembling those of the 

 Greeks and Romans^ as a National 

 Object. 



By SAMUEL ARGENT BARDSLEY, M. D. 



Read March igth, 1S02. 



iriUMAN nature is so constituted as to re- 

 quire both bodily and mental recreation. This 

 instinctive propensity to amusement in man, 

 is suuiciently proved by the universality of the 

 appetite, in every stage of life, under every va- 

 riety of clime, and constitution of government. 

 But the regulation of this natural propensity 

 differs greatly according to the circumstances 

 under w4iich he is placed. The recreations 

 and sports of mankind are therefore diversified 

 by the influence of moral, political and phy- 

 sical causes. The means of gratification are 

 various and complex : the end simple and 

 uniform. To escape Ixom the sensations which 

 may be induced by too great or too little ex- 

 ertion of body or mind, and to enjoy the 

 pleasure which sympathy extracts from the 

 varied intercourse with fellow man, give rise 



