MUSCLE AND MIND. 391 



psycho-physics and psychology, to which reference has been made. 

 This experimental evidence, having been drawn from observations 

 on the extremes of human capacity and character (exemplified in 

 the young idiot, the adult criminal, and the university student, 

 during the intermediate developmental period), may be accepted as 

 virtually covering the entire ground of human nature in its vari- 

 ous phases, and therefore as conclusive of the universal applica- 

 bility of systematic physical culture in education. The cases cited 

 show that in the processes of mental and moral development the 

 muscles, as well as the purely sensory mechanisms, play a con- 

 spicuous part ; and, while the period of growth is undoubtedly 

 most favorable to this work, Dr. Wey's experiment shows that 

 even the adult brain and mind may be improved by the various 

 procedures included under the head of physical culture. 



That health has an important bearing upon morals is un- 

 doubted.* Count Tolstoi', through the lips of one of his dramatic 

 impersonations, says, " I must have some physical exercise or my 

 character will entirely spoil " ; f and it is probable that not even 

 the finest examples of human development have attained a height 

 so great, either intellectual or moral, as to be beyond betterment 

 by these means. Descartes testified to the importance of atten- 

 tion to the physical nature in saying, " If it be possible to perfect 

 the human race, it is in medicine that we must seek the means " — 

 employing the term " medicine " in its broad sense as a science 

 devoted to the care of the body. The curative value of physical 

 exercise has long been recognized. Boerhaave said that most of 

 our fashionable diseases might be cured mechanically instead of 

 chemically, by climbing a bitter- wood tree or by chopping it down, 

 rather than by swallowing a disgusting decoction of its leaves and 

 bark. Asclepiades was accustomed to prescribing a course of 

 gymnastics for nearly every form of bodily ailment. Tolstoi' 

 also proposes to enrich medicine with a new term, " labor-cure," 

 as a sovereign specific for nervous affections. J 



We have found that activity is in itself an end. The excite- 

 ment which attends voluntary muscular exercise is a natural 

 stimulant in which all can afford to indulge, since, unlike the 

 artificial stimulants, it adds to the stock by promoting the nutri- 

 tion of the entire body. Voluntary exercise also tends to develop 

 the general power of volition (including that of self-restraint), 

 which, as we have seen, first appears on the stage of animal life 

 in connection with movements. 



But emotions and thoughts as well as movements may be 

 inhibited and brought under control ; and it is in this region of 



* See author's article, "Hygiene as a Basis of Morals," " Popular Science Monthly," 

 May, 188*7. 



f See " Anna Karenina." \ Loc. cit. 



