EXERCISE AND NUTRITION. 35t 



fender it susceptible of being cut with a knife. 

 Now, what is strongly marked in the extreme case 

 is not less active, although it may be less palpably 

 apparent in cases where there is great, though not 

 total, deprivation of exercise : and hence one cause 

 of the bad health, crooked spines, and deformed 

 figures, of which the habitual restraint and condem- 

 nation to attitude in modern education lay so wide- 

 spreading and so deep a foundation, evils which 

 could never stand for a moment before knowledge. 

 Or reason. The bones are the solid organs of mo- 

 tion ; and unless they be duly exercised in effecting . 

 motion, they, like the muscles which move them, 

 suffer and decay in virtue of that universal law 

 which requires exercise as the condition of their 

 well-being as the stimulus necessary to their ex- 

 istence. 



In early youth, in particular, when every part 

 teems with life and activity, and is almost hourly 

 acquiring an increase of dimensions, the nutrient 

 system is in a state of unceasing and powerful 

 action, and a rich and abundant supply of food is in- 

 dispensable to health. Nature points out this fact, 

 in the keen and vigorous appetite and strong powers 

 of digestion which every healthy child uniformly 

 manifests. To put ourselves in accordance with the 

 intention of nature, at this period of life, it is, there- 

 fore, absolutely necessary to supply in abundance 

 wholesome and nourishing food. The non-fulfil- 

 ment of this condition, so often seen in times of 

 distress among the labouring classes, gives rise to 

 that tumid softness and consequent weakness of the 

 bones and soft parts, which is known by the name 

 of rickets ; and which, if it continue till maturity, 

 t. e. during the years of active nutrition, invariably 

 leads to distortion and deformity. 



The next requisite for the development and health 

 of the osseous system is adequate exercise ; and 

 this condition cannot be infringed with impunity 

 O 



