Kemp. — On the Medical Aspects of Education. xxvii 



speak — his work iu 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 

 physically and mentally one of the greatest men New Zealand has ever 

 seen. 



The brain, hke 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 

 natiu'e's order, the nervous system of an individual is the last to arrive at 

 fuU 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 sm-ely 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 iu 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 iipon the subject of competitive examinations. 



It is 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, 



