Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HEREDITY. THE BOARDING-SCHOOL. OVERPRESSURE. I. The Absolute Necessity of Physical Education in the Education of the Race.—Reasons for its neglect at the present day—Sedentary habits and their dangers—Precocity. II. The Boarding-School Question.—English public schools—The tutorial system—Germany—The United States. III. The Question of Overpressure.—Necessity for recreation and games—Gymnastics, its advantages and shortcomings. IV. Manual Work in Schools. V. The Physical Progress of the Race, and the Growth of Population. I. The A bsolute Necessity of Physical Education in the Education of the Race. It is said that the first pen ever used for writing was a cornstalk. With the stem of the corn that nourishes the body the first intellectual food is prepared. Whatever the sex of a child, its bodily powers may always be developed without any inconvenience, for physical health under all circumstances is a desirable possession. On the other hand, intellectual overpressure, by fatiguing the body, may disturb the equilibrium of the mind. " To brace the mind, we must strengthen the muscles," said Montaigne. AndRousseau observed that "the weaker a body is, the more it commands; the stronger it is, the more it obeys." "The rationale of our high-pressure education is that it results from our passing phase of civilisation." " In primitive times," says Spencer, " when aggression and defence were the leading social activities, bodily vigour, with its accompanying courage, were the desiderata; and then education was almost wholly physical; mental culture was little cared for, and indeed, as in feudal ages, was often treated with contempt . But now that our state is relatively peaceful, — now that muscular power is of use for little...