S56 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



importance, is not disturbed or distorted by any influence adverse to 

 nature. But as instruction is now arranged at school and home, we 

 should first of all direct attention to the phase of a child's age imme- 

 diately preceding the period of puberty. When the growth is at the 

 lowest the child's capacity for resistance is weakened, and his liability 

 to illness increases from year to year. We must learn how to obviate 

 this liability to^illness, and it is for science to forge the weapons with 

 which to do it." 



It is not our purpose to dilate upon the various diseases and mal- 

 formations for w^iich the exactions of the schoolroom are responsible ; 

 doubtless you are familiar with them. We desire to say a few words 

 upon the subject of prophylaxis. As stated before, there exists a 

 popular notion that physical exercise is the universal remedy, the 

 panacea to the child and the adult. Educators seem to realize that 

 the health of the child is affected by long-continued mental appli- 

 cation, and attempt to provide relaxation by the introduction of 

 physical exercise, in the shape of calisthenics, or some other gymnas- 

 tics. As generally practiced, these exercises fall far short of actual 

 requirement, and may be termed a farce. It is a fact that the child 

 who needs physical exercise the most takes the least interest in what 

 is intended for their physical well-being. This may be due to the 

 fact that the methods adopted are not sufficiently recreative or are 

 difficult of execution. Difficult exercises cannot be recreative. This 

 is a reproach to our gymnastics, when it is applied to children sub- 

 jected to school work, and who have so great need of amusement in 

 the interval between their studies. It is not a relaxation to the brain 

 of a child, but rather one more lesson added. Our gymnastic move- 

 ments are not hard enough to discourage the child, but so destitute of 

 interest that they repel by their monotony. Take, for illustration, the 

 floor exercise. Twenty or more children are arranged in three lines, 

 and wait with body erect and fixed eye the command of the master. 

 At his order they turn the head first to the right, then to the left ; 

 they count aloud one, two, three ; and while they count extend their 

 arms, bend them, raise them, drop them; then the legs have their 

 turn, and finally the trunk and loins. We concede these motions are 

 hygienic ; but where does the child find a place for transport and joy 

 in that cold discipline — a discipline that fixes the features and eft'aces 

 the smile in those insipid gestures, of which the slightest distraction 

 would destroy the grouping ? 



Pleasure is not only a moral satisfaction, but a hygienic element 

 that is indispensable to its health. To impose an exercise of this 

 character, one in which it finds no pleasure, is an offense against hy- 

 giene. Those artificial gymnastics do not favor the physical educa- 



