Kemp.—On the Medical Aspects of Education. xxvii 
speak—his work in New Zealand will last after those who now see it have 
passed away, and I suppose there are few who will not own, that he was 
physieally and mentally one of the greatest men New Zealand has ever 
seen. ; 
The brain, like every other organ of the body, requires exercise in : 
order to keep it in a state of health, and to assist it in growth. “In 
nature's order, the nervous system of an individual is the last to arrive at 
full development, and, of the nervous system, the brain arrives at full 
maturity later than any other part. Without exercise, an organ will attain 
little or no development; excessive or premature exercise will abnormally 
develope it, in either case to the injury of the rest of the organism." This 
being so, we must see then how great must be the injury inflicted on chil- 
dren and growing lads by undue mental pressure. More or less constitu- 
tional disturbance will surely follow an exertion of brain beyond the normal 
amount; and when the exertion is not sufficient to cause absolute illness, 
as would be the case in children pre-disposed to disease, it is sure to lay the 
seeds of impaired physical health, which sooner or, later ends in confirmed 
nervous disease. The due performance of every vital act depends upon an 
adequate supply of good blood. If this be impure no part can properly 
perform its functions, for it has not brought to it the elements by which it 
grows, and healthy growth is essential to healthy action. This leads me to 
make a few remarks upon the subject of competitive examinations. 
Itis generally granted that those who cram, as it is called, for these exami- 
nations, do not learn as much as those who devote less time to their studies. 
I do not say that the former do not know more facts—certainly they do, but, ` 
whereas the less hard-working student keeps the greater part of his learning, 
the other probably forgets a great deal more in proportion, as soon as the 
examination is over. The mind, like the body, cannot assimilate more than 
a certain quantity of food ; and if you force in facts faster than the mind 
can assimilate them, they are soon thrown out again; instead of being 
incorporated with the general fund of knowledge, they fall out again as soon 
as it is no longer necessary to keep them. Has it ever struck you that, in 
higher examinations, the student has to put forth his mental strength against 
an examiner who is generally an expert at his own subject, who could not 
perhaps compete with his pupil on the other subjects of the examination ? 
and yet the unfortunate student has to face an expert in every subject, and 
be able to hold his own against them all for fear of failure. This, I need 
hardly say, implies unceasing toil for a long time before, toil carried on 
day after day, without sufficient time being given to recreation ; ending 
often in a break down before the examination takes place, or, if the health 
lasts until the ordeal is over, the collapse comes afterward. Many, of course, 
