0* THE MUSCULAR SYSTEM. 100 



most melancholy of all processions, a boarding* 

 school of young ladies in their walk) that all her 

 companions were pallid, sallow, and listless. We 

 can assert, on the same authority of personal observa- 

 tion, and on an extensive scale, that scarcely a single 

 girl (more especially of the middle classes) that has been 

 at a boarding-school for two or three years, returns 

 home with unimpaired health ; and for the truth of 

 the assertion, we may appeal to every candid father, 

 whose daughters have been placed in this situation."* 



Dr. Barlow justly remarks, that the superintend- 

 ents of such schools cannot generally be blamed for 

 indifference about the welfare of their pupils ; that 

 most of them are extremely anxious to do their 

 utmost to improve those under their charge ; and 

 that it is ignorance alone which misleads them as to 

 the proper means : he might have adverted also to 

 the ignorance of parents, who insist on so many 

 hours a day being dedicated to the study of accom- 

 plishments for which their children have neither 

 taste, capacity, nor use. From similar ignorance, 

 the young girls in a public hospital in this country 

 used to be shut up in the hall and school-room during 

 play -hours, from November till March, and no romping 

 or noise, or, in other words, no real play, relaxation, or 

 exercise allowed ; and in 1830-31, from fear of typhus 

 fever, they were seldom, if ever, out of doors, ex- 

 cept at church, from November to April than 

 which a more efficient method of infringing all the 

 laws of health could scarcely have been devised. 

 Here, too, the object was unquestionably benevolent, 

 but the method was radically bad ; and, in conse- 

 quence, a great deal of sickness prevailed. 



The sedentary and unvaried occupations which 

 follow each other for hours in succession in many 

 of our schools have also been the cause of needless 

 suffering to thousands; and it is high time that a 



* Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine, article Physical Educa- 

 tion i vol. 1. p. 698. 



K 



