162 BULLETIN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. 



not be urged upon dancing until 12 o'clock at night once a week 

 or once in two weeks or at longer or shorter intervals. This 

 must be extreme for the average individual ; and, like all kinds, 

 of excess, it must result in a positive detriment to the organism. 

 While we have little data other than the testimony of experience 

 for this statement, jet I think most people will agree that danc- 

 ing for four hours produces fatigue, and that the individual is 

 rather the worse for his recreation. If dancing be practiced as 

 a form of business or of dissipation, that is one thing; if it is 

 indulged in for recreation and recuperation, that is an altogether 

 different thing. In order that recreation re-create it must re- 

 fresh and not overtax; it must leave the individual with more 

 of potency than he had when he started in, which cannot be the 

 case when one dances four or five hours continuously. If we 

 could only have dancing more frequently and for shorter pe- 

 riods, say twice a week lasting in no case beyond two hours, I 

 believe it would be a valuable form of recreation ; but it cannot 

 be so considered as it is now practiced by many in our midst. 



Brain workers will probably be benefited more by activities 

 requiring the greater use of the fundamental than of the peri- 

 pheral muscles. Gymnastics and games then should not re- 

 quire too exact and delicate co-ordinations, since it would seem 

 that student life really demands enough of this sort of thing in 

 the prosecution of studies. The cerebral areas controlling the 

 peripheral muscles are doubtless involved in thinking, and it is 

 desirable that our recreation should relieve these areas from 

 active exercise while calling others into play. Again, it seems 

 to me especially desirable that our amusements should engage 

 the muscles principally rather than the- mind. Cards, checkers, 

 authors, and the like must be poorly suited to the needs of those 

 who use their heads constantly in their regular employments. 

 Whist is a study ; it probably dissipates as much energy as al- 

 gebra, and utilizes somewhat similar parts of the brain. A stu- 

 dent's life economically planned would aim to expend in study 

 all of the energies which should be devoted to intellectual activi- 

 ties, while recreation would involve motor activities almost 

 wholly. Billiards, for example, must be regarded as a very su- 



