PHYSICAL TRAINING 145 



abnormal one. The build of the body depends 

 chiefly upon the characteristics transmitted by the 

 ancestors and has been determined in great part 

 even before birth. At the very beginning of exist- 

 ence animals have a potential fitness for some 

 special mode of life ; some will become swift 

 runners, others divers and other flyers. In them 

 no system of physical training has been handed 

 down by tradition ; the opportunity for exercise is 

 all that they require, and the result is a physical 

 fitness which excites our admiration. Here at this 

 early stage physiology comes into conflict with 

 those keen reformers and educators, who will not see 

 the problem as a whole. One-sided schemes may be 

 excellent in their design, but they will not produce 

 physical fitness. Ante -natal treatment, infant 

 welfare, medical and dental inspection of school 

 children, physical drill in schools and the like are 

 not based upon broad physiological principles. Only 

 the sick need the physician. Physical training is 

 a question of physiology, not of medicine or surgery ; 

 its aim is the healthy performance of all the 

 functions of the body and the development of a 

 resistance to the noxious factors of life. 



It will be well now to consider the natural pro- 

 cesses of physical training from birth onwards. The 

 healthy infant needs only the instinctive care that 

 wild animals devote to their young. It does not 

 require to be taught to live by an educated mother 



