PHYSICAL EDUCATION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume XXI, Issue 1064, 24 April 1890, Page 3

PHYSICAL EDUCATION.

"The Higher Purpose and Meaning of Physical Education." Such is the heading •of aa extremely interesting paper in the April number of " Zealandia," which we can recommend as being worthy of careful study. The writer (Mr. F. B. Hutchinson) is evidently a man who thoroughly understands his subject, and one who is deeply in •earnest in his desire to lay *»■<»-*•-—*-*- of a ouleiicinc system of national physical education.

Mr. Hutchinson truly remarks that" public sentiment is very insufficiently to the importanco of scientific physical training . apart from the usual games and exercises." He shows thut population is tending to be moro and. more urban, the human race massing down iu the larger towns. He believes the race is tending toward actual ' decay or degeneracy, and is supported in this view by respectable authorities, according to whom proof may be seen in the general delicacy and want of resisting power in the younger generation; in the very general prematura decay of the teeth ; and in the great spread of nerve disease and disorders. This tendency is due to the crowding into towns already referred to ; to the brain strain of modern life; to the modorn moral order, according to which it is right to preserve delicate infants, and allowable for adults, however diseased they may be, to propagate their kind ; and to the inversion of the natural order of the selection of mates. " What we have to aim at," says the writer, "iB to propagate a race of sound physique, and train it so as to develop the various faculties in due proportion and balance, in order that the stock may improve and hold its own worthily amid the other nationalities." It is found that among famous men those most noted for extraordinary vigor have, with few exceptions, descended from a long line of country dwellers. Mr. Hutchinson does not hejieve that tho race-level can be improved in towns, though in tho case of favored ' individuals it might perhaps be maintained. The evils of town life might be minimised to a "great'degree by better sanitation, wiser methods of education, and an improved social brdir. Although the human race cannot be brod artificially like cattle, still the desired results can be attained indirectly, as, for instance, by avoiding the propagation of children in any way out of harmony with the laws of heredity and of health, and by Attending to scientific physical training, fullv appreciating tho vast issues involved in such a training. The writer goes on to show that everyone owes to himself and to the State the duly of striving to be as healthy, euorgetic and strong as possible ; and to tho older youth he sets as the highest possible ideal: "So to develop and educate their own faculties of mind and body that they may rcusomilily expect, if suitably mated, to | produce an improved stock of children, and thus help to raiso the standard of the race." Regarding physical education, tho best attempts at realising a scientific system arc being carried out in America.- Mr. Hutchinflim say*: -" Tho system was begun, 1 believe, at the great University at Harvard. Every 'freshman*at Harvard is measured all over, wcighod, and his strength is tested by dynamometers. Ho is then photographed naked in threo positions—front, back and side. This process is repeated periodically, so us to kcop a regular rogistcr of his form and development. Further, the measurements are tabulated according to an ingenious scheme dovised by tho eminent director, Dr. Sargent, to indicate how nearlyheapproaches an ideal standard. Tho director also looks him all over, points out his strong and his weak points, and lays out a course of gymnasium exorcises. The strong points can tako caro of themselves in the ordinary sports, but for the weak there is special apparatus provided, that they may be acted upon and brought up as near as may be to a proportionate development. Thus there is a direct aim in physical training, that of complete balunco and harmony of form and function. Some such system is what we need here, only it should bo begun at an earlier ago than tho collego years. Every thoughtful father should regularly measure his boys, study with the help of the family doctor their defects and morbid tendencies, then obviato these by appropriate exercises and hygionic appliances. That such a system

' could be carried out in our common schools were devoutly to be wished, but it is not possible. That in our high schools and colleges it j could and oughtto be done I have no doubt. In [ schools where there are masters expressly employed for the physical training of the boys, such registers as I have described ought to be a regular part of the school records. I suppose at first, in most of the higher schools, the work can only be carried on by some enthusiastic master taking it up as a hobby, with the cordial support of the principal." Mr. Hutchinson concludes by offering a. number of practical suggestions for individuals, athletic societies and educational institutions, of which we select several, as follow: — (a) Every town ought to have a gymnasium. Without one, the young men in the banks, shops and offices have no chance of keeping themselves up to any sore of decent standard. The gymnasium ought to be, I believe, in the same building with, or at least close to, the public library, athenaeum, or other institution for mental culture, (i) The work in the public gymnasium, as well as in those of the schools, should be of a les3 routine and haphazard kind than obtains at present. Instructors ought not to encourage the lads to go on strengthening their strong points, but find out the weak ones and try to develop them. Of course, to do this t .a thoughtful, trained instructor would be .required. He should study the individuality of every member of the classes, and his doing this would be much facilitated by keeping registers of measurements. I regard the keeping of such registers as indispensablein every gymnasium that professes to be up to the times. Every club should keep albums with measurements and photographs of every member; the finest men should be put into special albums of honor—a dignity to be highly prized, (c) Specialism should be discouraged and acrobatism discountenanced. For our present purpose —that of scientific physical training —the great oarsman or runner is less to be admired than the good all-round man, who is perhaps seldom seen taking prizes, but is as a whole the most harmoniously developed. (d) Above all should be sternly discountenanced that hateful thing, professionalism, and with it the betting that so degrades athletes, (e) The Volunteer system ought to be maintained at a high standard of excellence. It needs no long disquisition to insist on what all will readily grant, that there cannot long be any avoiding of the alternatives—either an efficient Volunteer army or conscription—if we are to continue a free and independent people, (f) The young men should wear altogether a close-fitting dress, such as the bicycle one, so as to show the form. Trousers, the ugliest of all leg coverings ever worn, should be utterly discarded by all men with any shape at all. Children ought to be brought up barefoot, on the score of health, comfort, perfection of use, and beauty, (</) Every possible encouragement should be held out to get the best and strongest of our youth to settle on the land, and thus a vigorous stock be reared away from tho degenerative influences of town life. (h) Public bodies and men of means should encourage to the utmost the movement for scientific physical education, by showing strong personal interest in the actual work, by subscribing to the club 3 and gymnasia, and by supplying the latter with special apparatus and with casts and photographs of statuary. The above remarks referring to the desirability of having a gymnasium in every town will be found specially interesting by the young men of this district in view of the fact that one is being formed in connection with the_ Naseby Rifle Company. The building, which is also to.be used as a drill-hall, is about finished, and a portion of the apparatus is in position. So far as we are aware, there is not another town oq the goldfields possessing one of these excellent institutions, and theactionof t-.hn?* aiwim«» ;«».<•»-«.»» *>.- idea is Being carried out is certainly to be warmly commended. That some such thing was sadly needed in Naseby has been recognised for several years past, but, until recently, no practical steps have ever been taken in the matter. In addition to the benefits pointed out by Mr. Hutchinson, our young men will now have something with which to occupy their spare tune in the long winter evenings, instead of roaming listlessly about the streets or having recourse to amusements which, though perhaps not absolutely degrading, are still anything but elevating. We would earnestly impress upon all our young men the advisability of their taking full advantage of the opportunity thus afforded them of improving their physical and moral status.