110 EVILS RESULTING FROM INACTIVITY* 



sound physiology should step in to root out all such 

 erroneous and hurtful practices. Taken in con- 

 nexion with the long confinement, the custom 

 of causing the young to sit on benches without 

 any support to the back, and without any variety 

 of motion, cannot be too soon exploded. If 

 the muscles of the spine were strengthened by 

 the exercise which they require, but which is so 

 generally denied, and if the school employments 

 were varied or interrupted at reasonable intervals, 

 to admit of change of position and of motion, no- 

 thing could be better adapted for giving an easy and 

 erect carriage than seats without backs, because the 

 play of the muscles necessary for preserving the 

 erect position would give them activity and vigour ; 

 and, accordingly, the want is scarcely, if at all, felt 

 in infant-schools, for the very reason that such va- 

 riety of motion is, in them, carefully provided for. 

 But it is a gross misconception to suppose that the 

 same good result will follow the absence of support, 

 when the muscles are weakened by constant strain- 

 ing and want of play. The incessant and fidgety 

 restlessness observable after the second or third 

 hour of common school confinement shows the 

 earnest call of nature for a little wholesome exer- 

 cise ; and the quiet that ensues when it is granted 

 indicates clearly enough that the restlessness 

 springs even more from bodily than from mental 

 weariness. It is, in fact, a degree of what we all 

 feel when kept long standing on our feet, or sitting 

 at a desk. We become wearied and uneasy from 

 the continued strain on the same muscles, and feei 

 at once relieved by a walk, a drive, -or any change 

 whatever. The same principle explains the fatigue 

 BO often complained of, as experienced in " shop- 

 ping," or in an exhibition-room. We saunter about 

 "till the muscles become sore from the fatigue of 

 being always in the same attitude, and we are re- 

 freshed by a walk or a dance, or any thing which 

 alters the position The same languor of the mus- 



