xxvi Appendix. 



more liable to disease than the past ? How do we explain the fact that 

 diseases of the brain and nervous system are more common now than 

 formerly ? 



It may be argued that the men of the present day are taller and larger 

 than those who lived before us (as is proved by the small armour generally 

 in use amongst the ancients) ; but this increase in mere size does not 

 necessarily imply increase in health ; indeed, when we consider the kind of 

 lives the past generations have lived, giving way to excesses of every kind, 

 and not suffering to any extent from them, we may, I think, faMy infer 

 that their physical qualities were greater than ours now-a-days. We may 

 then ask ourselves the question : How is it that we, who live under such 

 improved sanitary influences, including in the word sanitary, food, clothing 

 and ventilation — how is it, I say, that we are incapable of the same 

 amount of physical strain as our ancestors, who lived in defiance of the 

 laws of health ? I believe there are several causes for this : First, our 

 ancestors were obliged to breathe a purer air than we do, because they had 

 not the same means of keeping it out as we have. They lived in houses 

 less airtight than ours, having doors and wmdows which only partially 

 served their purpose, for the latter instead of being glazed were merely 

 closed at night with a shutter. 



But I think that the chief cause of the decrease in physical power in the 

 present day, is owing to the excessive mental strain put upon growing boys 

 and guis. In this day the cultivation of the mental faculties is made to hold 

 the first place in education. There are some, doubtless, who still maintain 

 the superiority of physical over mental culture ; but, generally speaking, the 

 favour once exclusively tendered to purely physical training, is all but gone. 

 Physical strength may, if it show itself in some singular manner, create a 

 sensation for a time, but the excitement ends in the silence that follows 

 clamour. Is it incompatible that physical and mental training should go hand 

 in hand ? I maintain it is not only compatible, but necessary for the pro- 

 per cultivation of either. I think that if our attention be enthely devoted 

 to one, to the comparative exclusion of the other, we shall not arrive 

 at the same pitch of perfection, even in the one cultivated, as we shall 

 by an equal cultivation of both. As a general rule, you will find at school 

 and college, that the men who take the most active part in aU athletic 

 sports, are those who pass the best examinations, and pass with a less 

 amount of work, and infinitely less injury to themselves. As a notable 

 instance of the successful combination of physical and mental qualities, I 

 may mention the late Bishop Selwyn. While at Cambridge he took a 

 prominent part in athletic sports, and excelled in them, being for some 

 years stroke of the University Eight ; of his mental powers I need not 



