•<v^ 



THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY 



APRIL, 1888. 



COLLEGE ATHLETICS AND PHYSICAL DEVELOP- 

 MENT. 



Bt Pkofessok EUGENE L. EICIIAEDS, 



OF YALE COLLEGE. 



N" an article on " The Physical Proportions of the Typical Man,"* Dr. 

 Sargent has taken occasion to speak of athletics in connection with 

 the general subject of physical development. In the following pages 

 I wish to show that neither in that article nor in the subsequent article, 

 on the " Physical Characteristics of Distinguished Athletes," f did he 

 do justice to the influence of athletics in " reminding the individual of 

 the ultimate aim of every kind of physical exercise" ; that his re- 

 marks on the loss resulting to athletics from "making excellence in 

 achievement the primary object " of them would have had more force 

 if they had been more discriminating ; and, finally, to present some 

 statistics which lead to conclusions favorable to athletics. 



" Every writer on education, from Plato to Herbert Spencer, has 

 advocated physical activity as a means of attaining that full-orbed and 

 harmonious development of all parts of the human economy so essen- 

 tial to robust, vigorous health." Theorists, then, are agreed upon this 

 as the " ultimate aim of every kind of physical exercise." But we all 

 know how difficult it is to get the best theories put into practice. 

 They may commend themselves as the very best, but they fall far 

 short of their good to men till they can be made working theories. In 

 this respect the " harmonious-development " theory, whether mental or 

 physical, forms no exception to other theories. But once get hold of 

 some motive by which to induce even a few individuals to put a theory 

 into practice, and half the battle is won. If it is a really good theory, 

 its own practical examples prove the fact. " Wisdom is justified of her 



*"Scribncr'3 Monthly," July, 188Y. f Ibid., November, 1SS7. 



VOL. xxxii. — 46 



