62 MUSCULAR WORK 



hood and youth, pleasurable activity leads to a much 

 more wholesome development of the nervous system than 

 the same amount of exercise taken in a sober humdrum 

 fashion. The old adage, "All work and no play makes 

 Jack a dull boy," is truer to-day than ever, when exer- 

 cise is too often made another form of work. 



Exercise. Exercise differs from play, because it has 

 a definite conscious object, the development of the body. 

 It is planned to supplement the ordinary muscular work 

 of the body, in order to bring about an all-round and 

 complete development, which ordinary play and work 

 may not accomplish. 



Work. Work, in contrast to both play and exercise, 

 ignores the individual's pleasure and development and 

 concerns itself solely with the thing to be accomplished. 

 Throughout the history of the human race, a fair share 

 of hard physical work has been the lot of practically 

 all persons. In very early times, when hardships were 

 many and the conveniences of life few, the keeping of 

 body and soul together was a physical task of no mean 

 proportions and those who survived were hardy and 

 strong. As civilization progressed, physical activity was 

 still essential to success and physical perfection was 

 eagerly sought. In recent years, however, labor-saving 

 invention has progressed so rapidly that the conven- 

 iences of life have been enormously increased. Machines 

 have tended to take the place of the muscular work of 

 men and brain work has become the most productive 

 form of activity. As a result, the necessity and the 

 opportunity for physical activity have become for many 

 persons so slight that their bodies do not get the vigor- 

 ous muscular work which they need. The danger of 

 mental work without physical activity during the period 

 of growth is proved to be very real by the tendency 



