Human Physiology. 229 



might work as well, if work could be found that was varied 

 and amusing. Therefore, a child brought up in the freedom ot 

 an out-door life, with genial playfellows, grows up strong and 

 healthy. The curse of childhood is to be shut up six hours a 

 day in unventilated school-rooms, breathing bad air, and wearied 

 with useless tasks, called education. Better a healthy brain, 

 vigorous lungs, a pure blood and good circulation, and free 

 action of the skin and all organs of purification, than ever so 

 accurate a knowledge of the names, dates, and ages of the 

 Kings of Israel and Judah, or even those of England, and all 

 the other useless and quickly forgotten things which burden 

 the mind of childhood. 



Girls fare far worse than boys, and we see the result in the 

 ignorance, the helplessness, and the wretchedly ill health of 

 great numbers of women. From birth to seven or eight years 

 of age girls and boys live and play together, and are much 

 .alike ; but when the little Miss of the upper and middle classes 

 becomes a young lady all is changed. While the boy is expand- 

 ing his chest and hardening his muscles with football and 

 cricket, and all the vigorous sports and pastimes of the English 

 schoolboy, his sister is at her pianoforte, her needle work, her 

 drawing, or walking out in boarding-school processions. A 

 young female costermonger is as hardy and agile as a tigress , 

 but a young lady is too often a bundle of nerves, and very unfit 

 to become a wife and mother. The consequence is, that great 

 numbers become a prey to consumption and nervous diseases. 



Another principle of life is what may be called the Law of 

 Habit. All acts required to be done frequently grow easy by 

 repetition. Repeat a sentence a few times, and it is learned by 

 heart. Perform any muscular act a certain number of times, 

 and we do it without effort. It is the first step that costs 

 Each repetition requires less effort, until we can perform the 

 feat without difficulty, and finally without consciousness, and 

 >even in our sleep. Nerves and muscles after a time become 



