Apeil 15, 1887.] 



SCIENCE. 



373 



Nor does our own republic fail to furnish us il- 

 lustrious examples of, noble men worthy to be 

 ranked with Cato and Brutus, whom an admiring 

 nation lifted from village or farm to the highest 

 places of honor and power. I need not call the 

 roll from Washington to Lincoln ; I need not 

 name Garfield and Grant, and a host of others. 



Notwithstanding a popular superstition, there 

 is no necessary antagonism between brain power 

 and muscular power. A man may be a scholar 

 and artisan, as well as a scholar and an artist. 

 Physiology teaches that the brain is best devel- 

 oped by the best development of the body. Dr. 

 Henry Maudslay says, "It is a foolish and fruit- 

 less labor to attempt to put asunder mind and 

 body, which nature has joined together in essen- 

 tial unity. The right culture of the body is not 

 less a duty than — is indeed, essential too — the 

 right culture of the mind. The muscles are not 

 alone the machinery by which the mind acts upon 

 the world : their actions are essential elements in 

 our mental operations." 



Dr. Edward H. Clarke says, "The development 

 of the soul and mind — of the ego — I'esolves it- 

 self into the development of the brain. No per- 

 fect brain ever crowns an imperfectly developed 

 body." Dr. Clarke, writing not in the interest of 

 manual training, maintains that parts of the brain 

 preside over special muscular movements, and are 

 more or less developed by such movements. And 

 it is a well-known fact that that side of the brain 

 w^hich controls and animates the right hand is, in 

 right-handed persons, larger than the other side ; 

 and an eminent living physiologist has lately rec- 

 ommended the training of the left hand of chil- 

 dren, in order to increase the brain-power of the 

 race. Of course, it is possible to develop one part 

 of the human organism at the expense of another. 

 We have illustrations of this in the gourmand, 

 frequently in the scholar, too often in the laboring 

 man, driven by stern necessity. 



Tyndall remarks, "We need muscle as well as 

 brains, character and resolution as well as expert- 

 ness of intellect. Lacking the former, though 

 possessing the latter, we have the bright foam of 

 the wave without its rock-shaking momentum."' 



Before considering some charges brought against 

 public schools, I wish to speak of the opinion 

 which has gained currency in certain quarters, 

 that the advocates of manual training are the 

 enemies of the public-school system. Whatever 

 may be the sentiments of others, this accusation 

 is groundless in regard to myself. To the superi- 

 ority of the public schools of America I am 

 always ready to bear cheerful testimony. But, in 

 my judgment, the position taken by the friends of 

 manual training in regard to public schools is of 



far less importance than the position of the friends 

 of the public schools in regard to manual train- 

 ing. In many cities it is clearly perceived that 

 manual training is neither the enemy nor the rival 

 of the public school, but is an essential part of it. 

 Both European and American schools must 

 plead guilty to the charge of over-pressure. Med- 

 ical men testify to the injurious effects of long- 

 continued taxing of the brain combined with in- 

 activity of the body. The public has insisted 

 upon long hours and close confinement of chil- 

 dren in school, often against the protests of their 

 teachers. The latter, in their laudable ambition 

 ft)r the progress of their pupils, have fallen into 

 the same error. After making allowance for the 

 ill health due to late hours, improper food, and 

 other causes for which parents are responsible 

 (and this amount is greater than parents will ad- 

 mit), the ill effects of school-life on many children 

 tmust be acknowledged. It is not surprising that 

 he proposition to make an addition to our already 

 overloaded curriculum seemed to many a move in 

 the wrong direction. The assertion that a pupil 

 could accomplish his regular school tasks, plus the 

 manual work, with less tax upon his strength 

 than that demanded by his academic work alone, 

 certainly has the appearance of a i)aradox. But 

 such is the truth. Improved health, more rapid 

 advancement, greater enjov ment of school, is the 

 frequent voluntary testimony of pupils in manual- 

 training schools, and of their parents. On the 

 other hand, no pupil entering the Chicago manual- 

 training school in good health has, as far as my 

 knowledge extends, ever been withdrawn on ac- 

 count of loss of health from school-work. The 

 manual-training school recognizes the fact that 

 alternation of work is rest. It brings into activity 

 a rested portion of the brain, and permits the 

 restoration of the wearied parts. A course in 

 Latin and Greek, combined with violin and bil- 

 liards, was lately prescribed for a railway presi- 

 dent threatened with softening of the brain from 

 overwork. A cure was effected. Assuming, 

 however, what seems not to be true, that the 

 book-work of the high-school boy exceeds in 

 amount that of the manual-training school pupil, 

 it is still true that the best knowledge of the world 

 and of the age in which he hves, and the greatest 

 power to subjugate that world to his own will, is 

 in the possession of the graduate of the manual- 

 training school. 



There is a mental discipline obtained from the 

 course in wood and iron working. The knowledge 

 of the properties and laws of matter secured in 

 the laboratories of the manual-training school 

 exceeds the knowledge that can be obtained in 

 the ordinary school. Three years' actual work 



