2i 8 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



neglected. The very recent appearance, and for the first time in Eng- 

 lish, of " Histories of Education," offers excellent opportunity for that 

 detailed and thoughtful consideration of our subject which its impor- 

 tance demands. 



"We pass to a brief consideration of Mr. Spencer's work on " Edu- 

 cation, Physical, Intellectual, and Moral." This title gives plain recog- 

 nition of the fact that education is threefold because man is threefold. 

 Mr. Spencer's treatise originally appeared in four review articles, as 

 follows : 1. " What Knowledge is of most Worth ?" 2. " Intellectual 

 Education." 3. " Moral Education." 4. " Physical Education." It 

 may be allowable to preface our remarks upon Mr. Spencer's teaching 

 in these ftapcrs with some expression as to its value. We would vote 

 to-day for compulsory legislation which should see to it that every par- 

 ent and instructor and rational person read Mr. Spencer's articles on 

 education, and then read them over again, and then studied them, and 

 then practiced such portions of their teachings as we accept. With- 

 out doubt, the bearing of this last clause is all too apparent ; but, as it 

 is needed for the fair expression of our conviction, it shall remain un- 

 altered. 



Mr. Spencer has discovered that pigs, sheep, and horses are better 

 taken care of than children. There is more and better science applied 

 to the physical well-being of pigs than to that of our own race and 

 kindred. Mr. Spencer states the desideratum in physical education 

 as follows : " To conform the regimen of the nursery and school to the 

 established truths of modern science." 



" Without calling in question the great importance of horse-train- 

 ing and pig-feeding, we would suggest that, as the rearing of well- 

 grown men and women is also of some moment, the conclusions indi- 

 cated by theory and indorsed by practice ought to be acted on in the 

 last case as in the first." 



I quote at this point one of those paragraphs which would secure a 

 vote for the compulsory legislation before mentioned : "There is a 

 current theory, vaguely entertained, if not put into definite formula, 

 that the sensations are to be disregarded. They do not exist for our 

 guidance but to mislead us, seems to be the prevalent belief reduced to 

 its naked form. It is a grave error. We are more beneficently con- 

 stituted. It is not obedience to the sensations, but disobedience to 

 them, which is the habitual course of bodily evils. Perhaps nothing 

 will so much hasten the time when body and mind will both be ade- 

 quately cared for as a diffusion of the belief that preservation of health 

 is a duty. Few seem conscious that there is such a thing as physical 

 morality. Men's habitual words and acts imply the idea that they are 

 at liberty to treat their bodies as they please. The fact is, that all 

 breaches of the laws of health arc physical sins. When this is seen, 

 then, and perhaps not till then, will the physical training of the young 

 receive all the attention it deserves." In his paper on "Intellectual 



