112 ADVANTAGE OF COMBINING MENTAL 



be familiar to every one ; but as the principle on 

 which they depend is not sufficiently attended to, 

 I shall add a few additional remarks. 



Everybody knows how wearisome and disagree- 

 able it is to saunter along, without having some ob- 

 ject to attain ; and how listless and unprofitable a 

 walk taken against the inclination and merely for 

 exercise is, compared to the same exertion made in 

 pursuit of an object on which we are intent. The 

 difference is simply, that, in the former case, the 

 muscles are obliged to work without that full ner- 

 vous impulse which nature has decreed to be essen- 

 tial to their healthy and energetic action ; and that, 

 in the latter, the nervous impulse is in full and har- 

 monious operation. The great superiority of active 

 sports, as a means of exercise, over mere measured 

 movements, is referable to the same principle. 

 Every kind of youthful play interests and excites 

 the mind, as well as occupies the body ; and by thus 

 placing the muscles in the best position for whole- 

 some and beneficial exertion, enables them to act 

 without fatigue, for a length of time which, if occu- 

 pied in mere walking for exercise, would utterly ex- 

 haust their powers. 



The elastic spring, bright eye, and cheerful glow 

 of beings thus excited form a perfect contrast to 

 the spiritless and inanimate aspect of many of our 

 boarding-school processions ; and the results in 

 point of health and activity are not less different. 

 So powerful, indeed, is the nervous stimulus, that 

 examples have occurred of strong mental emo- 

 tions having instantaneously given life and vigour 

 to paralytic limbs. This has happened in cases of 

 shipwrecks, fires, and sea-fights, and shows how in- 

 dispensable it is to have the mind engaged and inter- 

 ested along with the muscles. Many a person who 

 feels ready to drop from fatigue, after a merely me- 

 chanical walk, would have no difficulty in subse- 

 quently undergoing much continuous exertion in 

 active play or in dancing; and it is absurd, there 



