776 rUANSACTIONS OF SECTION L. 



Priestley to remind us that the key of the situation lies in getting new ideas and 

 greater keenness into the secondary schools, and that we should do nothing to 

 weaken individual initiative and private experiment by taking any tempting short 

 cuts offered by excessive State control. 



The following Papers and Report were read : — 



1. Physical Education. By Sir Lauder Bkunton, M.D., V.P.R.S. 



Education ought to consist in the development of faculties which would other- 

 wise remain latent. In order to be complete it should consist of three parts — 

 physical, mental, and moral — and in the arrangement of these parts the object of 

 development should be kept clearly in view, and they should not be allowed to 

 degenerate into processes of cramming or routine. The brain is the organ 

 through which the mind acts upon the body, but the body also reacts upon the 

 brain and on the mind, and therefore mental education cannot be regarded as 

 complete unless combined with physical education. Mental processes are only 

 rendered evident to others by muscular action, or sometimes, to a slight extent, by 

 secretion, e.i/., tears. Muscles are set in action by nerves, which proceed from the 

 nerve centres, spinal cord, basal ganglia, and cerebrum. The spinal cord presides 

 over simple reflex action, the basal ganglia over complex involuntary co-ordinated 

 movements, and the cerebrum over voluntary action. Physical education should 

 be adapted to train all these structures : (1) The muscles, by simple movements 

 frequently repeated ; (2) tlie spinal cord and basal ganglia by both simple and 

 complex movements, such as those of gymnastic apparatus ; and (3) the highest 

 voluntary centres by games, and especially games of ball, or by the Japanese 

 system of ju-jitsu, wherein all of which rapid judgment and decision are 

 requisite. In order that these organs should remain functionally active they 

 require free circulation of blood and a free supply of air, and physical education 

 requires training in respiratory movements and supervision of the circulation to 

 see that no harm is done by over-exertion. Increased exercise also requires in- 

 creased food ; and not only must this be supplied in proper amount and proportion, 

 but it must be digested and assimilated. Proper physical education is thus 

 almost impossible without systematic medical inspection. A good deal of training 

 may be done in rooms, but it is better carried on in the open air, and thus play- 

 grounds are really as essential as schoolrooms. In order to obtain all the requisites 

 for physical education a good deal can be done by the Board of Education and 

 county councils ; but a good deal will still depend upon voluntary agencies, and it 

 is most essential that these should be able to work together so that each one shall 

 be aware of the best methods as followed by others, and there shall be no over- 

 lapping. It is the object of the National League for Physical Education and 

 Improvement to bring all bodies working for the good of the people into relation- 

 ship with one another, and thus to ensure throughout the country a perfect system 

 of physical education. 



2. Medical Insjjection of Schools. By Dr. Ethel Williams. 



3. Physical IWaiidiig in Denmark and its Application to Enylish Needs. 



By Major Salmon. 



Military gymnastics have greatly developed in Denmark, and the Swedish 

 system is now adopted to the exclusion of every other for the schools throughout 

 the country, it being found after long experience to be that of all others most 

 suited to the needs of the people. It has now a strong hold on the national life. 

 It is compulsory in all elementary and high schools, and is an integral part of 

 every school-teacher's training, four to live hours a'week being allotted to it at 



