Physical Culture im the. Tropics. 297 
Having seen these exercises you will naturally want to know how often and 
how long they should be continued. Opinion is very varied on this point and as 
this article stands in my name I shall not confine myself to opinions other than 
my own. [ have tried both the hard and gentle form of exercise and I am 
quite convinced that in a climate like this the gentle form is the only one 
advisable. In cold healthy climates a more vigorous form of exercise is per- 
missible but even here there is the danger of overdoing it with the gravest 
results. Physical culture is by its nature exercise in a concentrated form, that 
means a tax on both our energy and will-power. The brain and the body can- 
not be overtaxed with impunity ; therefore be moderate in physical culture as in 
everything else. But there is another aspect of the question of overdoing it in 
this particular direction. No good can result from any form of exercise unless it 
is indulged in heartily, and if we wish to derive any benefit from private exercise 
with dumbbells we must concentrate the will-power on every movement that 
brings each muscle into play and into the muscles themselves, otherwise the 
brain will not do its work of supplying the necessary amount of blood to each 
muscle for its growth and nourishment. This is a physiological fact which 
must be accepted in order to understand the importance of will-power in exer- 
cise of this sort. In games or exercises in association apart from the pleasure 
of associating with others the chief benefits that arise are from an improved 
circulation of the blood. You will easily see therefore that the chief danger of 
overdoing physical culture lies in the brain. Introspection or concentration 
on self is bad at all times. The egoist is voted a nuisance and is left severely 
to himself. Ina physical sense the egoist is as apt to grow as diseased in body 
as he is in mind only with more material degeneration. To be practical I should 
say ten minutes a day first thing in the morning or last thing at night followed 
by or preceded in the former case by a cold shower is the correct regimen in 
the tropics. The simple course I go through every day a couple of hours 
before breakfast is directed mainly to the development of the lungs and chest 
and abdominal muscles with a few additional calisthenics to make the body 
erect and supple. This is all that is necessary to keep the lungs, heart and 
stomach in a vigorous healthy condition ; unless there is any inherited or ac- 
quired organic disease of either organ. 
But a word or two of warning is necessary both to the regular physical 
culturist and to the beginner. First, never attempt to exercise if you do not 
feel well or if you are tired. It should be borne in mind that everyone wakes 
up daily with a given quantity, more or less, of physical energy — one’s 
opsonic index or personal equation. This energy has to last till bedtime : 
it can be used up before breakfast through indiscretion or it can be husbanded 
till the day after to-morrow and is to a certain extent accumulative. The 
wise man is he who uses his energy equally for the improvement of brain and 
body and so acquires mens sana in corpore sano—the motto of the phy sical 
culturist. 
Ten minutes brisk exercise in a climate like this produces every desirable 
result. Generally perspiration and increased respiration and circulation and 
particularly, determination of blood to the parts or organs exercised. All this 
is good. 
