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144 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATIONAL NEEDS 



physical fitness ; the training was part of life itself. 

 The advances of civilisation, especially in locomo- 

 tion and industry, have prevented in countless cases 

 the development of physical fitness, or have brought 

 about degeneration. This has been recognised, and 

 attempts to counteract it are found in legislation 

 dealing with industrial employment and schemes of 

 infant welfare, boy-scouts, cadet corps, compulsory 

 physical training in schools and conscription for 

 military service. 



Atrophy from disuse is a fundamental principle 

 of life, and any one, who has eyes to see, can find 

 the proofs. Let him contrast the feeble and clumsy 

 flutter of a domesticated duck with the swift, strong 

 and controlled flight of the wild duck ; compare 

 the pot-bellied hutch-rabbit with rabbits of the 

 same breed turned loose in the woods, the wild 

 boar with the domestic pig, or the mountain sheep 

 with the sheep which are confined to their pens. 

 It matters not if objection be raised on the grounds 

 of selective breeding. The young of such breeds 

 show much of the primitive capacity of their 

 ancestors and this capacity will result in physical 

 fitness, if the opportunity and stimulus are supplied. 



Under natural conditions the development of 

 physical fitness requires no special safeguards, the 

 capacity is within the germs at the time of con- 

 ception and it is as easy (if not easier) to under- 

 stand a perfect and symmetrical growth as an 



