324 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



I said there was no remedy for this impending doom that 

 would be heeded. Physiologists have been flooding medical litera^ 

 ture for years with their warnings; but, unfortunately, like the seed 

 of the sower, much falls on unproductive ground, because it does 

 not reach those most interested. The remedy must begin first 

 at home, then in the public school, then through all the avocations 

 of life. This wonderful remedy, this elixir of life, the secret that 

 seems to have escaped the notice of nations, is simply exercise, exer- 

 cise, exercise. Not toil, or drudgery, or fatigue, but motion. Every 

 limb and muscle must be brought into active play, whether for profit 

 or pleasure, especially in the growing frame and until mature life. 



In myriads of homes the child is told that it is naughty to romp 

 and play and make a noise, and wicked to soil its clothes, and that 

 the good man won't like it if it does thus and so; but if it sits still, 

 folds its hands, learns verses and be good, when it dies will go to 

 heaven. It obeys, fades like a flower and dies, — '• The Lord gave, 

 and the Lord taketh away." We take no blame to ourselves. If we 

 fail to lay the foundation of confirmed invalidism in the home, the 

 public school puts on the finishing touch. Nearly six hours a day 

 on benches harder than iron, the soft, pliable frame is compelled to 

 sit cramped until the bones are almost molded to the form it occupies; 

 a few moments recess is given grudgingly. Tn the interval food is 

 hastily swallowed that has no chance to digest. No opportunities are 

 given for exercise except in good weather, which, from its novelty is 

 generally excessive — exercise to the point of fatigue is almost as in- 

 jurious as no exercise. This method of culture is kept up for the 

 greater part of each year, during the school-age period, and we won- 

 der why going to school does not agree with the children. From 

 school again into the home — the young lady is expected to improve 

 her mind from books, music, painting, all that is beautiful and pleas- 

 ant to the eye and ear is acquired, yet the frame, the brain, the tem- 

 ple that is to contain and display all these acquirements is entirely 

 neglected. In our greed for gain we sacrifice everything to our 

 selfish ends. In the material world marvels of beauty in art and 

 architecture are i)roduced, and the foundations that are to support 

 them are laid deep and strong, and which endure long after the 

 hand that constructed them is forgotten. We rear the human frame 

 in all the beauty and accomplishments of an advanced civilization, 

 but we neglect the superstructure and it soon crumbles and is lost. 



"Instinct will perpetuate the race; but it develops a savage. 

 Instinct never rises to the plane of reason." It will preserve the 

 race, that is all. Education, as we have it, refines the savage, in- 

 vents labor-saving, encourages indolence and luxury, enervates and 

 lowers vitality, and the nation or people passes into tradition and 

 history. 



I have repeatedly said that there was no remedy, none, at least, 

 that will be followed. If I were to say train your children as you 



