SECTION IV.

PHYSICAL CULTURE:

XX. HEALTH.

XXI. ATHLETICS.

XXII. ATHLETICS.

XXIII. MILITARY TRAINING.

XX.

HEALTH.

BY CLEMENT DUKES, M.D.

PUBLIC thought is now so obtrusively charged with educational problems and perplexities that temporary weariness of the subject is not to be wondered at. Its importance, however, remains perennial; and following Coleridge's aphorism, that old truths acquire freshness when expressed in the concrete form of new experience, I propose to consider from a practical point of view-the result of many years of observation and reflection-the effect of the more modern systems of training upon the formation of the body, mind, and character of the pupils in our public schools.

The more technical aspect of the question-the modes of teaching and learning-I leave to specialised experts; and where I hereafter advert to this aspect, I do so in connection with the physical conditions which are necessary for mental effort, and the modes of securing or thwarting those conditions.

And this medical and hygienic inquiry, it need scarcely be added, is related not simply to the promotion of a sound intellectual state-the easier acquisition of knowledge, the clearer perception of its application, and the gradual appreciation of method, and not merely of rules-but it bears a definite relation also to the moral development of character.

The practical nature of these remarks will become evident as we proceed.

It is now more than a generation ago that I first became practically concerned in the wide and intricate subject of school hygiene, and my official association with the question has been continuous and intimate ever since. I am able, accordingly, from personal observation, to take a connected survey of the past, both in its historical interest and as a guide to the future, and to submit an inventory of the progress effected with a view to deciding where the changes introduced have proved conducive to the pupil's permanent benefit, or where, in any instances, their wisdom and value may be doubted.

The changes during this period have undoubtedly been extensive. Have they shown that slow, graduated nature-lamentably slow they have been in many cases—which, being adjusted to the natural growth of youthful body and mind, ensure the steady and normal development of the individual; or have any of these changes belonged rather to the class of deformities where, through want of thought and foresight, one region of the body or mind becomes maimed in the endeavour to facilitate progress in another? In short, has the boy been generally regarded, in these changes of method and practice, as a composite organism, where each part acts and reacts upon every other part, so that a concurrent development has been sought; or has attention been devoted to one or other of the parts chiefly, with a neglect of the remainder, and a consequent absence of harmony and proportion in the result?

To go back to the birth of the public school educational system would involve the traversing of several centuries, but this course, though full of deep interest, would not instruct, and would, conse

quently, prove of small material advantage to our present consideration. But the survey of our steps during the last half-century will be of substantial service, seeing that many methods which were then in their infancy, and which had not even been brought into relation with the elements of sanitary science (which was itself in its infancy), have grown to such an extent that many schools are, in this respect, on the verge of manhood.

In this retrospect many points occur which arrest attention at once. Some of them I can merely mention in passing; while with the more important I shall deal in detail. And, first, I would mention the notable fact-originally accepted almost as an axiom of public school administration-that boys (as the phrase ran) had to "rough it," and practically

look after themselves.

In later, and more so in modern, times "the master and pupil" distinctive feeling has, to a large extent, disappeared, and the very prevalent, though

means universal, sense of friendship has usurped its place, with a more genial disposition between the teacher and the taught. But such friendship, be it remembered, is in no way identical with familiarity or an assumption of equality. The natural respect of the younger for the older must necessarily be preserved, and this relation will be most fully maintained in its reality and reciprocal benefit, and yet lose all its formality, when associated with that cordial and unaffected concern which the young are keen to detect and appreciate.

It must be observed, too, that the class-rooms have been rearranged with some reference to the necessary cubic space, to the natural and artificial light, and more adequate care is exercised in their warmth and ventilation. It should be remarked, nevertheless, that few class-rooms in our historic public schools will bear comparison with most of those erected for