148 PHYSIOLOGY AND NATIONAL NEEDS 



kind. The Inter-departmental Committee on the 

 Model Course of Physical Exercises reported to the 

 Board of Education in favour of a system of drill 

 which has no sound physiological basis and is deadly 

 dull. As in the services, so in schools, drill is 

 used as a punishment. Many schools have no play- 

 ground, but it is proposed to supply them with a 

 gymnasium, for it is stated that " in a climate such 

 as ours exercises in the playground must necessarily 

 be suspended for weeks together." Such is not the 

 way to increase the physical fitness of children and 

 their capacity to resist the vagaries of our climate : 

 far better results would be obtained at less cost by 

 providing ample playgrounds for games organised 

 by the children and played during school hours. 

 Drill indoors increases the risk of infection and 

 lowers the resistance to disease ; the fatigue pro- 

 duced by drill is out of proportion to the exercise 

 involved ; there is an absence of pleasure, freedom 

 and scope for individuality. 



Physical training is most necessary during the 

 years of growth, but it is also essential for the adult, 

 if he is to live a full and healthy life. Manual 

 labour may in certain instances supply in itself 

 all the conditions necessary for the maintenance of 

 physical fitness. Such is the case in the oldest of 

 the industries, agriculture. The farm labourer has 

 most varied work in the open air at all seasons of 

 the year and is not subjected to continuous hard 



