O'SHEA ASPECTS OF MENTAL ECONOMY. 159 



letic season had closed his mind brightened up considerably, 

 showing improvement in every direction. I conversed with 

 him frequently regarding his mental performances, and he was 

 conscious himself that undue physical exertion occurred at the 

 expense of intellectual acumen and vigor. 



It may appear to some who read the above paragraph that 

 it conflicts with the popular belief that athletes make the best 

 scholars. I am inclined to think that an athletic student who 

 does not go beyond bounds in his training for contests is likely 

 to be superior in his mental tasks, since he has more energy 

 which can be employed in this direction if he will only reserve 

 it in right measure for that purpose. It is easy to see then why 

 a. good athlete should attain high rank in scholarship in the long 

 run, and at the same time do poor work while under training. 

 When he does give himself up fully to his studies, he can ac- 

 complish more than the general run of folks and so keeps up his 

 average; but if he continues in severe training throughout the 

 whole year, I think it is altogether unlikely that he will attain 

 fame in things of the mind. 



Our students vary a good deal in the amount of exercise which 

 they take. Twenty say they spend one hour a day in the gym- 

 nasium, forty-eight spend two hours, and thirty-four spend three 

 hours. In many of the answers it was impossible to tell whether 

 exercise was taken every day or only on special days in the week. 

 A majority of our students reporting spend more time out of 

 doors than in the gymnasium. One hundred and thirty-three 

 spend about an hour a day out of doors, eighty-three spend two 

 hours, and forty-two are in the open air three hours a day. If 

 one should hazard an opinion upon the practices of our students, 

 he might say that those who take exercise systematically have 

 probably on the average enough to meet their needs. One hour 

 a day of quite vigorous exercise out of doors or in the gymna- 

 sium will probably, for the majority of individuals, serve to 

 stimulate beneficially all the organs of the body, to eliminate 

 waste materials, and to keep the motor centers in a healthy, ac- 

 tive condition. 1 



1 cf., for instance, Newsholme, loc. cit. 



