158 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 



breaks up the unity between intellectual and motor activities 

 which seems to i be essential for the best mental health and 

 balance. A certain amount of motor activity is without doubt 

 necessary for the stability and integrity of mind, and this is 

 becoming more apparent every day as the pathological aspects 

 of psychology are being more carefully examined. 1 On account 

 of this close relationship between mental and motor activity, 

 it is probable that at no time in life can one divorce them en- 

 tirely with safety to either mind or body. 



The question respecting the amount of exercise which is 

 most suitable for students is a vital one. In the present state 

 of our knowledge it is impossible to give a definite answer to 

 this; about all that can be said now is that each person must 

 test the matter for himself, taking for his guide the principle 

 that his physical activities should serve the purpose of keeping 

 the organism in proper repair and furnishing energy to sustain 

 mental effort. In so far as it fails to do this, it must be regarded 

 as of little value, and it may be distinctly detrimental. If one's 

 experience in the gymnasium or out of doors lessens the capacity 

 for sustained mental effort, it shows that it is either excessive or 

 not adapted to the needs of the individual. If one will become 

 conscious of the matter for a time, he can doubtless make a rule 

 fairly well adapted to his peculiar necessities. 



While it is probable that many students in our university 

 do not have exercise enough, yet it is certain that some have 

 too much for the best intellectual work. I have been able to ob- 

 serve with some care for one year the mental processes of one of 

 our athletes. During the fall he was under heavy training, and 

 throughout the whole of that period he was less keen, vigorous, 

 and sustained than usual in all of his intellectual labor. He 

 could not reason well, was not quick in apprehending a point, 

 was not ready in retaining or recalling what had apparently been 

 mastered from day to day. Two or three weeks after the ath- 



1 Ct. Seguin : The Treatment of Idiocy by the Physiological Method; cf. also 

 Wey, quoted by Hanciock, A Study of Motor Ability, Ped. Sem.. Vol. Ill, p. 24 ; 

 Burk, op. cit ; Oppenheiui, op. cit., chap. V. 



