NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE




          Bethesda, Maryland 
 
 
  POPULAR  SCIENCE.
       —•-•-.—
THE LAWS OF LIFE. 
*!> 
THE
LAWS  OF  LIFE,
*WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS.
ELIZABETH BLACKWELL. M. D.
<\.
lion
          NEW-YORK:
GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 10 PARK PLACE
             1852. 
QTA
B63-.2L
   \952
          Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1852, by
                       GEORGE P. PUTNAM,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
                         District of New-York.
   JOHN F. TROW,
Printer aVd Stxrkotyfir,
     49 Ann-street. 
TO  AMERICAN WOMEN.
These Lectures  were delivered  to  a class  of  ladies
during the past Spring;  the wish of the class, and an
earnest desire  to  call attention to  a much  neglected
part of education, have induced me to publish them.
    I present them as outlines  of Truth and  as indica-
tions of the right method of education, rather than as
a full discussion of the subject.
    They are the  first fruits of my medical  studies—
I would offer them as an earnest of future work.
44 University Place,
    June, 1852. 
 
CONTENTS.
LECTURE.                                                      PAGE.
  I. Introductory..........9
 II. General Laws,      .         ......86
 III. The Organic Life,........62
 IV. The Related Life.........90
  V.  Criticism,.........122
 VI.  Reform,..........152 
 
THE  LAWS   OF  LIFE.
                INTRODUCTORY.

Six  thousand  years ago, my friends,  a vision of per-
fect  beauty  gladdened  our earth !  There in the crys-
tal atmosphere  of  a new world, surrounded  hy the
first  freshness  of a  young creation, with hope and joy
around them, and the glory of  Heaven  thrown widely
open, stood the first man, male and female, the image of
God  on earth, the noble parents of the human race!
   Beautiful exceedingly was that first man, made after
the Divine likeness, strong and  wise also, for forest and
plain, and every living creature, was subjected to  their
dominion; they ruled over land  and sea, holding their
commission  from the Deity.  Their wisdom and purity
were derived from Heaven,  for to  the great childlike
heart of  the first man, the spirit world was ever open.
Heaven and Earth  were one, for they enjoyed  direct
communion with the Divine Father.
             1* 
10                 INTRODUCTORY.

   The  traditions  of all  nations  point to a  primeval
grandeur  of  the  human  race,  whose  glory  shines
through the mist  of ages ;  a golden age, when the gods
could visit  mortals—when  wisdom and innocence were
one — when there  was  no discord in our nature, hut
freedom  was order, to know, to will, to do, were  one ;
when human  brotherhood  was  a  present fact—when
there was harmony  between man and creation, between
man  and the Creator.
   A gleam of this bright vision  comes to us through
the records of  every nation;  it  shines through the
mystic writings of  the East, through the poetic  fables
of the West, through the wild sagas of the North ; and
the eye of faith gathering up these  scattered rays, bends
them on the Garden of Eden, where in beautiful  radi-
ance we behold the first man, Adam and Eve, Heaven-
crowned ; and in them we may incarnate our ideal  of
the Human race;  harmoniously blending beauty and
strength, lofty intelligence, powerful action, and purity
of soul.
   Connected  with this universal  thought, of the lofty
origin of Humanity, is the  high standard which is cher-
ished by every people  of the grand power of our nature
—the excellence to which it  may attain.  The evils  of
existence, the  poverty of daily life, have never dimmed
this  thought, this aspiration  after a  loftier expression
than is seen in actual performance ; there is a deep con- 
INTRODUCTORY.
11
sciousness  in the heart of every people, that at some
future time, they shall  reach a  higher condition than
their  present one.   A  spirit of  unseen beauty broods
over them,  and thus we  behold the effort of man in every
age to express his own ideal—to behold his own faculties
raised to their  highest  power—to realize fully the con-
stant  truth of the profound thought expressed in these
simple words,
   " So God created man in His own image, in the image
of God created He  him, male and female created He
them."
   Observe how in all  ages our ancestors have endeav-
ored to express their ideals by beautiful forms, through
which the spirit  might freely shine;  they saw more
clearly than we do, that the condition of our present life
is the union  of body and  soul, that we cannot  live as
disembodied  spirits, but must necessarily  express our-
selves through  a material frame—that our aspirations
are often limited by  the body, and that the condition of
our material organization  reacts  most powerfully upon
the soul.   They saw that  weakness, ugliness, and  dis-
ease,  deaden our power, cripple all our activities,  and
render our lives discordant—therefore they figured their
gods  and goddesses and heroes, under forms of surpass-
ing beauty ;  their bodies were  well proportioned, the
features regular ; every muscle  had  a living  develop-
ment, every sense a vigorous organ ; and all these forms 
12
INTRODUCTORY.
 though perfect, were  infinitely  varied—the beauty  of
 Juno was  not the beauty of Diana—the perfection  of
 Jupiter differed  from that of Apollo—it was  not the
 beauty of material form as an end, that they aimed  to
 reach, but the grand truth that  the loftiest  qualities  of
 the soul find their highest expression in corresponding
 beauty of form.
    See how beautifully the harmonic development of one
 phase of womanhood was  expressed in the ancieiivmyth
 of Athena,  the stately deity of Attica.  Her  mother
 was the wisest, her father the most powerful of the ce-
 lestials, and these attributes of wisdom and  power were
 blended in her character with that  benignant protecting
 care  which  marks the maternal  character in woman.
 She was the protectress of the state and of social insti-
 tutions, and of all that gives  to society its highest pros-
 perity.  She was  the inventor of the plough, the rake,
 the bridle ;  she created the  olive tree, instructing men
 in the cultivation of the land, and the taming of animals.
 The  inventions  ascribed  to  her, were such  as required
 thought and meditation—the science of numbers,  the
 art of navigating, the use of fire, were taught  by her, and
 the elegant works of women.  She maintained law and
justice, and when  judgment was  divided in the  case of
 an accused person, she gave a casting vote on  the side
 of mercy.  She was the protectress of the  defences of
 the state, the walls, fortresses, harbors, and her warlike 
INTRODUCTORY.                  13
character is assumed for the welfare of the people—she
is represented as  sitting by the  side of Jupiter, sup-
porting him  by  her counsel.   The  expression  of  her
countenance  is thoughtful  and earnest,  her face oval,
with luxuriant hair  combed  back from the temples, and
floating  freely down behind;  the figure  is majestic
and  strongly  built,  clothed  in  the Spartan tunic  and
cloak.
   'inus in infinitely varied and beautiful allegories, our
ancient brethren  sought to realize their idea of what
mankind should be, and in every age our prophetic poets
and artists have preached the same faith—the noble pos-
sibilities of human nature—the  high standard to which
it may attain.  " Be ye perfect, even as your Father in
Heaven is perfect," is the earnest command laid upon us,
to use  every means, in our daily life, to attain  to the
perfection of our  nature, of  our  soul and body—and the
highest possible  standard is held before us—man the
image  of  God !   Can  the  wildest dream  of the poet
strive after a higher standard  than this, this glorious
ideal laid down in the Old  Testament, and  enforced in
the New ?  We may give the freest wing to our aspira-
tion, and  dream  of  a. glorious  state  in which all past
attainments will seem poor—such a state we shall attain
t0—revelation supports reason  in  the  conviction.  We
see  that  the highest  aspiration we  can  form,  is the
truest—oh let us cherish this faith, and  believe the Di- 
14
INTRODUCTORY.
vine words which tell us, that man, at first made in the
likeness of God, must attain again  to  that  perfection.
Let  us  shake off the faithlessness which is  our curse,
and  rise above the  narrow view which can see  nothing
but present imperfection and suffering.   Let us realize
that it is our great privilege to work for this grand future,
when man shall  again  be  the image of God—that the
effort of every individual is needed  in  the work—that
the Providence  of  God uses  human means,  and  that
ever man or woman who will not turn his talent to ac
count, delays,  according to the  measure of his power,
the advent of the Divine Future !
   It is then my friends a  most  sacred duty—the grand
duty of  life—to  use all the  light we  can gather  from
every source, and see how we may improve our own con-
dition, and the condition of the race ; and by what steps
—slow perhaps, but ever onward—we may attain at last
the ideal perfection.
    And what  is this  perfection after  which we must
strive ?  let us form to ourselves a clear idea of it.  Our
religious teachers point to the redemption and purifica-
tion of the soul—a grand truth—but  is it the whole 1
Our schools and colleges, our  libraries, lectures, muse-
ums,  and  mechanics' institutions, provide for  the mind
and look to the truths of science for our elevation.  We
glory in universal  suffrage, in  the organization of our
government, and look to political action  for the amelio- 
INTRODUCTORY.
15
ration of evil, and to the spread of principles of justice,
freedom and  order, throughout the world, as  the  great
regenerators of  mankind.   These  are grand  truths—
they are the  soul of man.   But  are we not something
more than soul or mind or universal principles 1 are we
not  also  substantial,  material,  and wonderful living
bodies—bodies of most strange and complex  structure,
where all sorts of manufactures are carried on; bodies
composed of  an infinite multitude  of busy  workmen,
governed by their own laws, and full of imperious wants,
which must be satisfied, that their work may be carried
on well—bodies so  important to our welfare, that  if we
neglect them beyond a certain point, we die—and yet so
willing to  help  us, that  every little worker will strive
his utmost, and each part will help  the other parts, and
they will  seek even to change  the  great laws of their
organization, in order to accomplish  bur will.   If we in-
jure one part, another will seek to supply its place.  If
a large blood-vessel  is  obliterated, the  smaller ones will
enlarge to convey the needed quantity of blood.  If
one part of an organ  is  hindered in its functions, the
remainder will take  on increased activity and try to per-
form itself the full amount of work.  If we take poison-
ous food or air into our bodies, they will warn us of the
mischief by pain, by spasmodic closure  of the orifices,
and set to  work at once, by the stomach, the skin, in
every possible way, to get rid of the dangerous visitor. 
16
INTRODUCTORY.
If we wish to call one part into special exercise, if we need
the active use of our brains, Nature will endeavor to aid
us—she will send more blood, to supply the waste of ma-
terial, and will accommodate the rest of the  economy to
this predominating  exercise !   But who in our  society
seeks to know intimately this lovingly obedient organism,
to understand its wants, and place it in the condition to
aid us powerfully 1  What class is there that cares for the
Body?   We leave  it  to our butchers and bakers  and
grocers, and their great desire is to sell and make money,
no matter whether the blood is poisoned and the stomach
disordered by  their diseased  and adulterated  goods.
They  do not even dream of the delicate and wonderfully
organized communities they may injure when they dis-
tribute unwholesome articles to their customers.
   In practical life, in the education of our children, in
the construction of our cities  and  the  arrangements of
society,  we neglect the body, we treat it as  an inferior
dependent, subject to our caprices  and depraved appe-
tites, and quite ignore  the fact, that it  is a living won-
derful being, full of our humanity, and capable  of  im-
mense service, if we would reverence  it as  our friend
and equal.
   In our  deeper   thoughts,  unconsciously  we  render
it homage—the perfection of body and soul is as neces-
sary  to our ideal,  as  it was to the  ancients.   Who
ever imagined Adam suffering from  dyspepsia, or Eve 
INTRODUCTORY.
17
in a fit  of hysterics?   The  thought shocks us—our
Eden becomes  a hospital.   And yet  in our  daily life,
we never realize and provide for this essential harmony,
but treat our bodies like the poor over-driven hacks in
our omnibuses.
   We often do our bodies great injustice by attributing
to them the low appetites and perverted passions, which
really belong  to  a degraded spiritual  nature.  We  are
shocked  by the  vices  of gluttony,  intemperance,  &c,
for which the body becomes an instrument—we see how
indulgence  in  these vices  degrades the  human being,
and deadens all the higher faculties of his nature, ren-
dering him incapable of the exercise of those  powers of
which the body is not  the  direct instrument—we con-
clude therefore that the body is the  cause of this vice—
that if we  could subdue or destroy it,  these evils would
no longer exist—that the spiritual nature would triumph
in proportion to the annihilation of the material form—
but this  is  a  complete  mistake.  In the  unseen world,
the unholy will be unholy still; every  vice  that stained
the earthly life, will remain, when the  body that was de-
degraded by their practice, has  returned to its original
elements !
   Let us remember that when we  cover our table with
all the delicacies that  money can procure, and expend
time  and  thought on the  subject  of  eating ; when we
build magnificent houses and furnish them with every 
18
INTRODUCTORY.
luxury ; when we consume life in devising elegant gar-
ments, and spend the nights  in  crowded ball-rooms—it
is not the  body which tempts  us to the destruction of
our own health, and to the neglect of higher duties ;  but
appetites and desires which belong  to  the  inner nature,
and which would remain if we had no  bodies.
   Our material nature will minister to the noblest aspira-
tions of the soul, if  our  souls are  noble—they will be-
come instruments of degraded passions if our hearts are
base.
   It is this fact which renders so  false, the art of the
middle ages, which  sought to glorify  the  inner life, by
representing the tortures endured  by martyrs, and the
agonies of penance willingly  undergone by the  aspirants
to a holy state.  But as we  gaze at the ugly wasted
form, the ghastly paleness of the suffering  saint, we are
pained,  we  shudder  at  the  sight—we  reverence  the
triumphant  spirit  which  nothing  can quench; but we
are conscious  that this is not its highest expression—
that suffering and Struggle must pass away, and a noble
harmony of all  our  powers exist,  before mankind will
have attained its ideal.
   We  see  by the  most  striking examples—which I
shall lay before you  in  detail as we proceed, that what
are styled bodily indulgences—are not good for  the
body, are not what it demands—that simple, even coarse
fare, much  active  exercise, and exposure  to  what  we 
INTRODUCTORY.
19
might consider hardships, suit the body much  more
than  luxurious habits  and  dainty fare,  for  it  will
grow strong and handsome, and obedient  to our higher
nature under the former, while it will suffer in innumera-
ble ways, and lose all its proper life, under habits falsely
called bodily indulgences.
    The ancients, in respect to  our  double nature, were
wiser than we.  Not  only did  they distinctly recognize
the necessity of a strong, healthy, and beautiful  body as
the continent and  expressive instrument of all that was
lofty  and admirable in the spirit, and celebrate in song
and painting  the swift-footed  Mercury, the  blue-eyed
Minerva, and the strong arm of  Jove, but they set them-
selves earnestly to work to acquire that foundation of noble
humanity, an  harmoniously developed body.   The edu-
cation of the young was  a subject of earnest thought, to
the wisest  men of  ancient  Greece.  It was  carefully
provided for  by the state, strictly regulated  in all its
details—and throughout  Greece the basis of  education
was one—physical  training—the growth  of a healthy,
strong,  and beautiful  material  organization,  as  of the
first importance.  This same necessity was perceived in
warlike  Sparta, where men of action were demanded,
strong  rulers  and  soldiers—and  in polished Athens,
where cultivated intellect, grace, and refinement formed
the ideal—their first effort was  directed  to tiic education
of  the body, in a system of remarkable regulations, to
which I shall call your attention, on a future occasion. 
20
INTRODUCTORY.
    We gaze with astonishment and curiosity upon the
lances and swords of the ancient Teutonic nations—upon
the rude enormous monuments of architecture which they
raised, the rocks which they rolled to the summit of the
hills in honor of their gods.  But when we turn to the his-
tory of those stout ancestors of ours, we  learn the secret
of their strength.   From the most tender age they har-
dened their bodies and accustomed them  to cold, fatigue,
and hunger—the sports of  childhood were  all directed
to a warlike end—dangers were intermingled with  their
play, for it consisted in taking frightful leaps  across
the chasms of their snow-covered mountains, in climbing
up the steepest rocks,  in fighting naked with offensive
weapons, in wrestling with the utmost fury.  Their  diet
was extremely simple.   We are told that  the Suevi lived
chiefly on milk.  They grew up in wild  freedom—early
marriages were strictly prohibited—i .deed  the  warlike
women of those times disdained a husband who had not
distinguished himself by victories.
   When we  read in the chronicles of past ages, the
many feats recorded of physical power,—of a  body  that
knew neither weakness  nor fatigue, an iron  strength  of
endurance and action—it seems to us like the echo  of
a distant age with which we have nothing to do.  We
cannot realize the strength of the  beautiful Cymburga,
wife of the stalwart Duke Ernest of  Austria, who could
crack  nuts with  her fingers,   and  drive a nail into a 
INTRODUCTORY.
21
 wall with her hand, as far as others with a hammer.
 When we  hear of the lofty  Brinhilda, who  bound her
 offending lover with her girdle, and slung him to a beam
 of the  ceiling, we do not recognize that the myth which
 represents the wild strong life of that distant age, has a
 lesson for us, and  we should ponder the question whether
 in our modern days  we have not lost much stout virtue,
 with  the failure  of our bodily powers.  The breakfast
 feats  of good Queen Bess  and her maids, on rounds of
 beef and mugs of ale, seem incredible  in our poor dyspep-
 tic days—what would not our delicate ladies and gentle-
 men give for that vigorous  life, which  could  spring out
 of bed  at  five o'clock, full of energetic activity, digest
 and enjoy plain substantial  fare, and  pursue every occu-
 pation of the day, with the power of  robust  health ?
   We  could hardly sit at the breakfast-table of the old
 Earl  of Northumberland, of whom we  read,  " My Lord
 and Lady have for breakfast, at 7 o'clock, a quart of beer,
 as much wine, two pieces of  salt  fish,  six  red  herring,
four white ones, and a dish of  sprats !"
   The ease of childbirth in many of those hardy races
would seem to us incredible, did the  statement  not rest
upon  testimony too strong  to be shaken.  We  are told
of the Celtiberian women, that  when surprised  by  the
pains  of labor, no  matter where,  they  retired to a
secluded spot, wrapped the infant  stranger  in a warm
covering, and returned  to their occupation as if  nothing
extraordinary had  happened! 
22
INTRODUCTORY.
   " Arabsah, in his Life of Timur, tells, that among the
wandering Tartars  nothing  is more common than for a
woman on a journey to descend from her horse, retire a
short distance from the path, give birth to her offspring,
suspend it by a sort of shawl from  her  neck,  re-mount
and  proceed onwards.  And all  this without  the least
assistance from any living creature.  The Syrian doctor's
statements have been abundantly confirmed by  subse
quent travellers."
   We have similar accounts given of the  ease of labor
amongst  the  Scandinavian women  and  many  Indian
tribes.
   It is a deplorable fact  that our age has lost in bodily
strength as it has gained in associated mental strength;
while science and the arts of social life have received an
immense impulse  in modern  days,  our bodies are en-
feebled, new forms of disease have appeared amongst us,
our lives have become shorter, and increasing vice follows
in the train of this  physical degeneracy.
   The  reason of  this  will become  plain  to  us if we
reflect for a moment on the change in our social habits.
The  early life of  a nation  is a  life of  the woods  and
fields, scattered over the country, ranging freely in pure
air, hunting, fishing, felling forests, building cabins, or
erecting castles; training warlike retainers and engaged
in wild forays ; the people fulfil  many of the conditions
essential to physical well-being,  and these  rough  and 
INTRODUCTORY.
23
active  employments absorb the  physical  activities and
direct the mental energy in the same channel.  Thus we
find nations, in this early stage of their life, strong and
active, free from disease of body, and without those vices
which  are created by a n.ore artificial  state.   Now, ob-
serve, that this early condition of a people, though it pre-
sents certain conditions of freedom, of air, exercise, food,
&c., which conduce to the health of the  body, is by no
means the ideal state for which we  are  looking, which
requires the full  development of mind and body.  In
this early state the spiritual  life of man is neglected;
accordingly we find the nation with no respect for its
neighbor's rights,  or even for the rights of its own mem-
bers;  with no  lofty religious faith; with art and science
unknown; and all that vast domain of the head,  the heart,
the reason, entirely uncultivated.  Such being  the case,
even the bodily condition cannot have reached its highest
developmert, for the body demands the kingship of the
spirit; it is not intended to  lead, and it is not capable
alone of unfolding its vast powers.   Digestion  is strong,
the muscles are powerful, the nerves are calm, the body
has done its very best, and carries on  all its operations
with perfect order, but  it needs the power of the soul to
give it  an  aim, to make it beautiful, expressive, true to
its  destiny,  which  is to  incarnate  a lofty  spirit.  The
perfect  state of the organic  life, of  digestion, nutrition,
innervation, and all the secretions, is the foundation-stone 
24
INTRODUCTORY.
of our ideal;  we might as well attempt to build a marble
edifice on  rotten arches as strive for perfection with a
disordered stomach or weak  nerves; but this  organic
health is  not the end, even of our bodily life, and  thus
the early state of a nation is only an imperfect develop-
ment even of our external condition.
   The mind grows and demands the exercise which can
only be found in associated activity;  so cities are formed,
the arts and sciences are cultivated—poetry and painting
and architecture elevate our life—the social affections are
developed, the active intellect expresses itself in railroad
and  telegraph and printing-press, a great and powerful
nation arises, and modern civilization spreads itself around
us.   Let us look at the picture  of every-day life in our
own home. It is a wonderful life !   It is the triumph of
intellect!   We live in  palaces that our ancestors  in the
woods  and fields never dreamed  of.  The decoration of
our houses, the way  in  which  they are warmed  and
lighted and furnished  would have seemed to them mira-
culous ; our bodies are clothed in  elegant fabrics, our
food is daintily prepared, and we lie  down on soft con-
venient beds.  We have  formed a lofty theory of edu-
cation for our children, and arranged  the institutions by
which  it is to  be  carried on with great  care.  To train
their intellect we  send them to school, where they listen
for  hours to  the wonderful  things in heaven and earth,
the  nature of  distant countries,  the  history of  past 
INTRODUCTORY.                 25
nations—they must  learn to converse with strangers  in
their own languages—we endeavor to initiate them in all
science and literature and art.  Home is the place where
their affectional nature is to be  cultivated, and the prin-
ciples of a high morality inculcated.  At church' they are
duly instructed,  week  after week, in  the theories ai.d
duties  of religion, and  as they grow older breathing  in
the air of free institutions, they are to learn the grand
lessons of  liberty  and  equality,  and  engage  in the
responsibilities and  duties of free citizens.
    What a vast improvement  would this be over the
early mental and moral condition of a people if  it were
realized.   We might indeed be tempted to exclaim—At
last the  actual condition  of mankind is approaching  its
ideal standard of excellence !  But unhappily the bright
picture is not a reality.  There is a fearful amount of
vice, misery, and disease existing under the fair  outside
of society, from which Ave should shrink with horror if we
saw it in its naked truth.  And this vice grows with our
growth.   The  closer we come together in a dense popu-
lation, the larger we build our fair cities,  the more fear-
ful becomes this pestilence of evil which spreads through
every  rank of society, and reaches, under different forms.
from  the lowest to the highest. We  find hypocrisy
under our  lofty pretences,  falsehood where we should
meet truth, cunning instead  of honor,  frivolity instead of
earnestness, corruption instead of purity, till  the lofty
     2 
26
INTRODUCTORY.
ideal of the past, which should become still loftier in the
present, is almost lost under t'  existing evil.
   The intellect has received a remarkable development
in the  present  age.   It  has taken  the lead in every
department of human interest; our whole  practical life,
'■".tsiness, education, government, proves the predominance
of the active faculties of the intellect over the  other
elements of our human nature.
   It  is not my purpose to show how necessarily false
and evil our state must be, where the moral and religious
nature, and  consequently the  highest mental power,
Reason, are thus subservient to the active logical powers
of the mind; but my object  is rather to dwell upon the
sins of this  age, in relation  to the body;  how, going to
the opposite extreme, the later  stage in  the life  of a
nation,  tending to  dwell exclusively  in  the intellect,
neglects the physical frame, thereby producing immense
evils,  both spiritual and material,  and to lead you to the
important conclusion, that as the  body cannot attain its
highest development without the aid  of  the mind,  so
neither can the soul of man unfold its sublime capacities
unaided by the body.
   It is a most striking feature in  our  present condition,
that we pay so little attention to the direct  welfare of the
material organization, which forms  the essential condition
of our present existence.  Observe, I do not mean to say
that we pay  no attention to  eating, drinking, dressing, 
INTRODUCTORY.
27
and making money, which will procure us every sort of
material gratification ;  i   > forms the  staple of our life ;
this, as I have already  remarked, proceeds from  the
necessities of our  nature, from  spiritual  wants, mani-
fested  through the body, and for which  we make  the
body an instrument of good  or bad, according to  the
quality of our souls, but the neglect which is so  striking
in our  society is  our ignorance of what  this physical
nature in  itself demands, what  are the laws of  its well-
being, how we may make it healthy and strong, what the
perfection of this nature  really  is, whether it possesses
powers which  arc not yet unfolded, what it was meant to
do for us. and what we ought to do for it.  We  find the
body in many respects quite independent of us :  it has a
life of its own as well as a use as our instrument. From
the very great and necessary  use which it is to  us, as a
medium of  expression, it becomes  a  subject  of deep
interest to understand its independent life, that  we may
learn how to place it  in the best conditions for serving
us, that we  may find out  new uses for  our service,  and
understand  more  completely the  relation it ought to
sustain  to us.
    But such  thoughts seem  hardly to belong  to  our
age—they never occur to us.   Former ages having made
the fatal mistake of attributing  sin to the body instead
of  to a corrupt heart,  we  continue to despise it, to
neglect its  separate life—we  forget  the wonderful  fact 
28
INTRODUCTORY.
of the incarnation, the sanctification of the body, the
Divine humanity.
   We  say the body tempts us to sin, but the healthy
body is an aid to virtue.  Let me refer to one striking
fact, which I shall enlarge on in a future lecture.  You
all know of that dark evil in our society which corrupts
our  manhood and destroys our youth, the wide-spread
evil  of licentiousness.   How often  this is  attributed to
bodily  organization,  and the thought entertained, that
only by subjection of the material existence it can  be
overcome.  Now  the  fact to which  I  will  call  your
attention is this, that the physical education of the body,
its perfectly healthy development,  delays the period  of
puberty, and that  a true education, in which all the
bodily powers were  strengthened  as well as the mental
and  moral ones, would  be  the  most effectual means  of
outrooting this evil, which now proceeds from a diseased
mind in a diseased body.
   Our neglect  of the  material organization  is produc-
tive  of innumerable  evils; it produces first a physical
degeneration of the race, which is strikingly exhibited in
the external appearance of any assembly of individuals.
   When we  walk  down  our crowded Broadway, we
cannot but observe  how unbeautiful, ungraceful, unat-
tractive the human  race has grown—what plain, mean
features—what jaded, ignoble, vacant  expressions—what
shuffling, awkward, unstable gait—pretty faces are rare 
INTRODUCTORY.
29
—grandly beautiful faces are not to be seen ;  and could
we  view the figure unconcealed by art. what shrunken
limbs,  crooked spines, weak joints, and  disproportioned
bodies, would  greet our  eyes, we should assuredly take
the spectacle  for a caricature  of humanity ;  we could
not believe that such a fatal distance existed between us
and our Adam and Eve.
    This neglect produces, secondly, a rapidly increasing
list of diseases.   It  has been said,  that if  a wag in
Broadway  should suddenly cry out, Doctor!  half the
men in the street would  turn in answer to the  title.
Certain  it  is, that  the large annual lists of medical
graduates,  testify to  the immense amount  of disease
existing amongst us.  The number of our doctors meas-
ures the number of our  diseases.  How many individu-
als can say, I  am thoroughly well at this moment ?  How
many  can  say, my health has been  perfect for years ?
Yet we  ought all to enjoy such a condition of uninter-
rupted health; it should be our natural heritage;  it is
the foundation of the highest life.
    It  is a  terrible  fact,  that insanity—that fearful
scourge of humanity—has  greatly increased  in modern
times.  Insanity, fearful in  itself, is multiplied in horror,
by its tendency to transmit itself from one generation to
another.   This is a disease of specially mental origin,
 and we find in the neglect of physical development, and
 the excessive mental excitement of  modern times, the
 cause of the great increase of the curse of insanity. 
30                 INTRODUCTORY.

   Disorders of the  stomach have greatly multiplied
amongst us.  Dyspepsia has a most lamentable preva-
lence in America;  and this distressing disease cannot
remain a stationary or local one.  Interfering  with the
process  of digestion,  it renders  the chyle,  and conse-
quently the  blood, imperfect,  gradually  affecting the
various parts of the organism, till the  whole health and
happiness of the individual is destroyed.
   Another  large  class of diseases—a most  afflictive
growth of modern days—is the class of nervous diseases.
There are many of  these affections which take on a defi-
nite  form, producing violent pain in a particular spot, or
some special local  derangement;  but the majority as-
sume the most protean forms, simulating  all manner of
organic  diseases, but  without producing any perceptible
organic  change.  There is  no kind  of malady which the
nervous person will  not imagine herself to have—scarcely
any which the physician may not be induced to suspect,
from the presence of  diagnostic symptoms, till the non-
appearance of certain  results proves that it is only nerv-
ous.   But is the suffering  any the less real, because the
victim of nervous disease lives on, and the body preserves
to some  extent its integrity ?  All the nameless horrors
and  the tortures of morbid sensation,  are terrible reali-
ties  to the sufferer;  and  when, after trying in vain to
obtain relief from doctor after  doctor, and resorting to
every new system, or  to every quack, till the sympathy 
INTRODUCTORY.
31
of friends is exhausted, and hope  is  gone,  she  finds
nothing left  but to endure existence till she dies, it is a
mockery to tell her, she is only nervous.  These extreme
cases are no fancy picture—they are terrible products
of our unwise habits, our neglect of the laws of the body
in early life : and in every sphere of  society, what an
immense  number of women find  their usefulness im-
paired  and  their  happiness  diminished,  from  being
" highly nervous."
    But there is still a darker picture of  disease, to which
I  must particularly direct your attention,  viz., diseases
of the generative system ; and I urge this subject upon
your  attention, not only from the fearfully rapid increase
of these maladies, but because the only  effectual cure of
these diseases  rests with  you, in the education of a
stronger  generation,  in the observance of more rational
habits of  life.
    It is  a  startling  fact that you should all know, that
the necessity for the  special  study of these diseases, for
forming them into a special branch of practice,  is a
modern necessity, produced by the rapid spread of these
diseases amongst young and old,  and  in  every rank of
life.  A famous German professor, whom I met in Lon-
don last year, told me that they were only beginning to
institute professorships for instruction in the diseases of
women, in his country, and he seemed  surprised to find
that they had already existed for some time in London. 
32
INTRODUCTORY.
The want had not been felt before ;  it is the  sad neces-
sity of our own time.
    I will not attempt to paint the moral as Avell as the
physical sufferings  of those who labor under these dis-
eases ; for, to the unhappy victim, the treatment  often
seems worse  than the disease, and the results of medi-
cal treatment are necessarily very unsatisfactory;  they
must  be  so,  whenever disease  proceeds  from the  sys-
tematic neglect of Nature's fundamental laws ; for even
if the physician's  skill  cures the evil for a time, the cause
remains,  and  the evil returns, and grows  continually
worse;  and too often the mischief done to the growing
girl, by the infringement  of physical law, can never be
repaired in after  life, no matter how great  the skill of
the physician.
    There is another fearful consideration connected with
the rapid spread of the diseases of women—it is the de-
generacy  of the race, which is taking place,  and which
must  inevitably be the result of a weakened and dis-
eased state of the  mothers of our land.   Surely  this
thought, if no other,  should arrest  the attention  of a
conscientious being, of a tender parent,—voluntarily to
injure  our children, to degrade humanity ; for the fact
is clear as sunlight, these  diseases are no  mysterious
dispensation, no evil beyond our knowledge  and reach.
I assert, emphatically, that the diseases of women, which
have so rapidly increased, and are still increasing, with 
INTRODUCTORY.
33
such deplorable results, are directly within our own power
radically to cure.
   The very large majority of these cases are produced
either by a ruinous education, which weakens  the body,
and sets at defiance all the natural laws of our being, or
by acts of imprudence which would have been avoided,
had the individual been acquainted with the nature and
wants of her own organization.
   Think of this, oh mothers !  when you see your young
daughters growing up around you, remember thu: J  '
in your  power to render  them healthy and  strong  in
body, and the mothers, in their turn, of a stronger race
than ours, or to subject them to the disease and suffering
which enfeebles the present generation.  Do not continue
in the fatal error of our age—forcing the intellect, and
neglecting the development of the body—do not sacrifice
to the false  beauties  of fashion  the higher beauty  of
health, of happiness, and of usefulness.
   We have dwelt upon the lofty standard of humanity,
which we should endeavor to reach, the ideal placed be-
fore us in the sacred records as a state which we  may
attain, an ideal which has dwelt in the heart of every
age and every nation.  We have seen  that this ideal
consists in the perfection of the compound nature of man,
and that  in the  present age Ave make the fatal mistake
of neglecting entirely  one  of  the  essential elements of
this nature.  I have pointed out some of the evils which
          2* 
 34                INTRODUCTORY.

 result from this neglect, evils to the physical well-being
 —for of the mental or  moral disease  springing directly
 or indirectly from our ignorance of physical laAvs, I have
 not spoken.
    My object in the present course, is to call your atten-.
 tion to the  importance of  this  subject—the  physical
 education of the young—and to urge upon you the means
 by Avhich our present degeneracy may be checked, and a
 steady progress made in the improvement of the condi-
 tion of the race.   To do this, I shall, in the  first place,
 point out the great principles Avhich  govern existence,
 and according to Avhich  the  material life of our bodies is
 carried on.   I shall shoAV the way in which these won-
 derful bodies of  ours groAv, and Avhat they require  for
 perfect growth.   I shall indicate what nature has to  do,
 and what ice have to do in the grand work of growth—
 and by an  examination  of our present habits  of life, I
 shall search out the causes of evil—the way in which we
 defeat the designs of nature, and produce our  present
 condition of suffering.  In  the course of my remarks, I
 shall notice some of the important functions of our econ-
omy,  and state the  conditions of  their normal  action,
dwelling on such points of physiology and hygiene as
bear directly upon our subject.  And lastly, I shall con-
sider what changes we may accomplish  in the  arrange-
ments of practical life, by means of Avhich the truth  we
have gained may  become a living fact, moulding our lives 
INTRODUCTORY.
35
for  good.  And I trust that  our  efforts  may  have the
influence of all earnest endeavor, in hastening that grand
future when man shall attain to  the  harmonious action
of all his poAvers, and bear once more the image  of the
Creator! 
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
I  once  travelled through  one of the  most  beautiful
districts  of South Wales, in the inside of a stage-coach.
I had heard much of the  loveliness of the  country, the
perfection of its cultivation, and the admirable idea which
it would  give to a stranger of the peculiar beauties of an
English landscape.   Accordingly I set off full of eager
curiosity, and with my eyes Avide open.   But unfortu-
nately, I was inside a  stage-coach—the miserable little
windows  confined my view to a  most limited scrap of the
landscape.   If I  put my head out of the Avindow, I was
jerked to one  side, or  blinded  by dust from  the coach
wheels, so I was forced to  sit  still, and  content  myself
with details—now an ivy-covered cottage, then the wall
of a gentleman's  country-seat,  and then a piece of a dis-
tant mountain—in short, I gained no idea of the scenery
at all.  But coming back, I was resolved to take a dif-
ferent  course—so availing  myself of English usage,  I
made a bold effort, and mounted  on top of the coach. 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
37
Then all Avas changed in an instant—the whole landscape
lay, a beautiful living map all around me—the eye could
take in at a glance the grand features of the scene—the
distant lines of blue  mountains, the winding river with
its craggy banks croAvned by an old  castle—the  wide
expanse of forest and rich pasture land—then, the details
which confused me before, assumed  their  true  relations
—the  ivy-covered  cottage joined  itself to  the village,
clustering amongst the trees—the garden wall no longer
hid the beautiful park and gardens—in  short, from my
elevated position, I could take in the Avhole, and conse-
quently understand fully all  the parts.
    Now,  this little travelling experience may serve to
illustrate our present position, and shoAV you Avhy I Avish
to occupy your attention to-day Avith laAvs  and general
principles, rather than with Avhat might seem at first sight
more practical matters.  It is because in this Avay alone
I can give you that clear understanding of our subject
which its immense  importance demands, and give to the
details of practical application  their due position  and
effect.
    In our daily life we deal  Avith facts, Avith the special-
ties of knoAvledge ;  but it is only by knowing the general
laAvs and principles AAThich govern  these  facts that Ave
learn their significance, and ascertain their bearings, and
are thus able to guard their truth from mistake and mis-
direction.  I might  tell  you how  to feed and educate 
38
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
your children, hoAv to meet disease, and  the many  for-
midable evils of our society, but my instruction Avould be
confused and  soon forgotten, if I did not first impress
upon you the leading principles which Avill include  all
our facts, and in accordance Avith Avhich all permanently
useful  action must be carried on.   These principles  will
be our observatory, our coach-top, from  which Ave  will
vieAV the prospect before  we  attempt to enter a cottage,
or visit a country-seat.  Let me invite, then, your earnest
attention to those laAvs  which Avill so greatly aid us in
our practical studies.
   The first one, Avhich is the  foundation of all, is  the
law of exercise.  Movement and existence are identical,
or at least inseparable.   The new-born child Avakens to
life with a cry.  The planet announces its  existence by
a rapid revolution in its orbit.  And every  star, shrined in
the crystal heavens, though  parted  from us by a space
which  the  mind fails  to comprehend,  displays  to us
through that immense distance, by its changing light, the
same lesson Avhich we learn  from the tiniest blade of
grass—that motion, action, exercise, is the universal law
of being—of every existence, however organized, and to
whatever end, destined in creation.
   And  this  movement is exercise in its largest  sense ;
it is preparation  for a use.   Though working in  modes
as varied  as the subject, it is fundamentally the same
in all. 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
39
    Exercise is movement, working its appropriate effects,
according to  the constitution of each being.   It  is not
necessarily  connected with  volition.  Look at the child
resting in profound sleep in  its mother's arms—it lies so
still, so very tranquil in its rest, that the mother in sud-
den fear lays  her cheek to  its  lips,  to  assure  herself
of its gentle breath.  Yet every part of that small frame
is at that moment subject  to the laAV of exercise—each
organ  is  busy  with its own  proper life,  collecting its
materials, forming its products,  appropriating them to
their uses, and groAving  by  its  Avork.   Tranquil as that
little child  seems, it illustrates most fully the  lesson
taught us in every sphere of existence, that exercise  is
the great law of life !
    The history of nations illustrates, in a higher sphere,
the existence of this laAV, Avhich Ave see ruling the whole
creation.   The conscious exercise of power, increasing
activity, Avidening aspiration, mark a living race of men.
They may sleep for a Avhile, but  underneath the veil of
sleep neAY poAvers  are  groAving, neAv thoughts are ger-
minating, and with profound activity, the nation prepares
for a  sudden outburst of visible life, Avhich  is but  the
result of that long and  invigorating repose—a repose in
which there Avas  no languor, no cessation of  the great
law of movement, but only the concentrated  and  hidden
action of the period of preparation.
    As we  search  through  the wide universe, and find 
40
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
every where this principle of activity, Ave must necessarily
find it also the laAV of the human being—for in the indi-
vidual man  is  gathered together every  laAV and every
department of life.  He is the mirror of creation, and
higher than all;  capable of supreme dominion by repre-
sentative  possession of all the natures  put under  his
control, and qualified for this benign office by his univer-
sal sympathies.   In him, therefore, should be found  the
brightest  expression of  every laAV—and, accordingly,
nowhere do we find more beautifully exhibited,  or  in
more complete and varied form, the fundamental use, the
imperative necessity of  exercise.
   It is by exercise only that man grows ;  it is only by
the activity of each function of the body, of each faculty
of his spirit, that he recognizes its life ; for until  exist-
ence is justified by use, it may be in preparation for life,
but it does not yet live.
   Every act of daily life is a perpetual illustration of
this truth—Ave cannot  cease to act, even  if Ave  would—
the organic life of the body goes  on whether  Ave sleep
or wake—the heart continues to beat, the chest expands,
the nerves convey their penetrating influence unceasingly,
the busy thoughts will flit through the brain, Avhether we
Avill or no, and Avhile life  remains there is no possibility
of avoiding this  overmastering  necessity.
   And what miracles are wrought by this laAV, when
controlled  by the will of man !  No  artist, no  orator, 
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
41
no mechanician, springs fully formed into life.  The im-
pulse is there—circumstances may faAror, but it  is  only
by perpetual exercise, by gathering  Avisdom from every
failure, and neAV  strength  from every  success, that the
hero is developed; it is  only by use  that his  poAvers
groAv, his Avill lends  the energy of his life to the special
purpose,  and thus, by  repeated efforts, he reaches the
perfection,  at which the  world gazes Avith  wondering
admiration.
   Go into a poor tailor's Avork-room, look at  the Aveak,
pallid form of the Avorkman, Avith bent  and trembling
limbs, and  unsteady steps—then go to  Niblo's and  look
at the finely-developed  frame of Antoine Ravel;  see the
inimitable  grace and vigor of his movements, his miracu-
lous  dexterity, the sovereignty which  he has obtained
over the  body—and in  this strange contrast betAveen tAvo
human brothers,  endoAved Avith the same original poAvers,
the same capacity of development, Ave learn the  mighty
power of the laAV of exercise in the physical world.   These
men belong to the same race—they hold their existence
under equal laws—the difference between them illustrates
the reAvards and  penalties attached to those laws.
    The infant-man is born meet for the inheritance of
this  life ;  but he is  subjected to  a  long infancy of dis-
cipline for the duties of his  existence—by self culture,
this  inheritance must be  gradually acquired ; his facul-
ties  must  enlarge, and then  be  tasked again for  still 
42
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
further growth.   Indeed, this indefinite  development  is
the proper end of his existence.  Rather what he  shall
become, than what he shall do, is the aim of  all achieve-
ment, for his works must perish to make room for better
Avorks  continually, but he must live for that better Avork.
    The power of exercise is strikingly seen in the groAvth
of certain special faculties—thus the connoisseur in Avine
will discern the age and country of his favorite beverage,
by simply  tasting a feAV drops—the  deaf and blind will
recognize their friends by  the sense of touch,  and even
by smell.   The  pen of the  ready  Avriter, the tongue of
the fluent speaker, the ear of the conductor of an orches-
tra, are wonderful examples of the enhanced  mental and
bodily power, under appropriate training.  This is shown
in the  moral as in the intellectual life; the strength and
government of emotion, as  Avell as the power of thought,
exhibit the influence of exercise, and prove its necessity
in every range of existence.
    This consideration of exercise, as the only means of
growth, as essential to the  development of every faculty
of body and soul, leads me to the second great  principle
to which  I would call your attention, viz., The laAV of
Order  in Exercise.   This principle  should  receive our
most earnest thought, for it is of immense practical im-
portance—it is the fundamental law  of harmonic growth,
for though life may be carried on, and the poAvers unfolded,
under the general law of  movement, yet life will never 
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
43
reach its true end, the faculties  will never  attain their
due power, imperfection, disease, vice, will appear, if the
Divine  Order of Exercise is not observed.  And  the
study of  this principle  is  the more pressing,  because
those faculties in Avhich order  may be neglected, that
range of our being, viz., Avhere the free will of man rules,
are the  highest, the  croAvning parts of our nature.  To a
certain  extent,  the  world  and  our  own  humanity  are
placed beyond our direct  action.  Our organs  will  act,
our brains will think, our earth will continue its revolu-
tions independently  of our will, and in those regions of
existence  the Divine Order in movement  is observed—
but the great object of our life is not simply to live,  but
to live well, to attain perfection—a perfect body, a noble
soul—to  destroy  all discord  and sin, and become an
element of harmony in the  great  universe of Avorlds.
Noav this noble object, this highest end  of our life,  is
subjected to our will—not our life, but the purpose of our
life, is under our oavh  control.  Subject to the universal
law of exercise, it is for us to determine, whether we will
establish  the Divine Order of exercise, in our most im-
portant relations—and as in all things Avhich are subject
to our will, knoAvledge does not come intuitively, but we
must study, observe, learn from experience and reflection,
so in the  knowledge of the true order of growth, which
is essential to our Avell-being, we must seek in  order  to
nnd—wc must recognize and intelligently apply  it.   The 
44              GENERAL PRINCIPLES.

law of Exercise had only to be pointed out, to be at once
received as an  essential principle of life—iioav let us see
if the law of Order in  Exercise  will not also  indicate
itself as an essential principle of true growth.
    We have seen in every realm of Nature the ceaseless
activity of life.  We have watched the full-orbed planet
revolving in  splendor in its mighty orbit.  How came it
there ?   The patient astronomer, gazing steadfastly night
after  night into the distant heavens, attains at last even
the birthplace  of the stars, and reads to us the lesson of
order in their growth.  There, in the immeasurable realm
of space, he points us  to a faintly-glowing mist, thin,
uniform, unchanging, Ave cannot guess its  meaning—he
directs  his  telescope to  another point in  the heavens;
again we see that pale, Avidespread mist, but the circum-
ference seems more transparent, the centre still undefined,
but denser  and of  brighter glow—again he shifts the
glass,  and the mystery is  explained—the centre  has
groAvn dense, bright, round—the mist is  becoming trans-
parent,  absorbed  in that  bright centre,  that new  and
rapidly-growing sun—and brighter it will continue to
grow, the movement  impressed upon it become more
decided, till fully formed and subject to  its laAV, it starts
majestically upon  its appointed course.
   How did our  earth  attain to  its present beautiful
form,  and become  so admirably adapted to the  residence
of man?—layer  after  layer was  formed—the  solid 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.              45
 ground,  the water  was  there—but no  organic  life—
 the  time was  not come.  The  work  continued  slowly,
 steadily, but the  sun shone  down  for many centuries,
 the stars continued  their silent Avatch for thousands of
 years, before the first blade of grass,  the first tree, the
 first insect appeared on the silent earth—but even then
 the end was not reached—ages had still to roll  on—the
 Avild gigantic forms  of plant and animal must  change,
 and earth harmonize her products, and her climate, and
 her soil,  before the crowning  glory, the master of all—
 Man—could appear.   Thus in the imperishable tablet of
 the mountains, on  the solid  layers of our globe, the
geologist  reads  the  lesson of  order  in groAvth,  the
 steady progress to a definite  end, and  the impossibility
of accomplishing that end prematurely.
   In the moral world  we mark  the same laAV.  We
learn  the penalty of  its violation as we stand before that
noble  picture in our Diisseldorf Gallery—the martyrdom
of Huss.   Why does  the noble martyr kneel there chained
and crushed ? why were the voices of Wickliff, of Jerome,
hushed and forgotten—Avhile Luther's  rang through the
world, and every  country still  feels the throb  of his
heroic heart—men as truthful,  as  impatient of  sham,
 more  beautiful in Christian life, had  been lost  to  the
 Avorld—the right moment  had not  come.  The  DiA'ine
order of  development must be obeyed—the age was ripe
 for Luther, therefore he succeeded. 
46
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
    In individual  existences, in  the  life of  nations,
throughout the  wide realm of Nature, every where  Ave
behold a  method  of growth, an  order Avhich cannot be
violated with impunity.   We may  then Avith full  cer-
tainty look for the exemplification of this laAV in the life
of the human  being, the centre of creation.  It is a
truth so clear, so unavoidable, that Ave act upon it neces-
sarily in a general Avay.   No mother goes to  her infant
daughter  for advice  in  household difficulties, the prob-
lems of the State are not given to the child to solve—we
know that our  children  will become housekeepers, and
citizens, and governors, in time.  We have a  dim per-
ception of the  order of  development, and Nature,  by
throwing the mantle of incapacity around the child, has
guarded  her work   from the fatal consequences that
would ensue, were we able to convert the child into the
housekeeper or the  politician.  We cannot  feed men
upon  milk, nor  babes upon strong meat; we  must guide
the infant steps, and wait patiently year after year, for
the bones to harden, the muscles to grow strong, and  the
brain to enlarge.  We know all this, and are forced to
conform to our  experience ; but  still the grand  law of
Order in Exercise, for the life of each individual, is  not
clearly  understood by  us, nor its supreme  importance
felt and acted upon.   Nature compels us to its observa-
tion in those departments of life, not subject to our will.
Let us follow this indication, and harmonize our volun- 
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
47
tary and involuntary life, by the intelligent adoption of
the true order  of growth, the  only  method  of life by
which we can carry out the design of our creation.
    We have pointed  out the grand object of man's life
upon earth—we will now examine those striking features
of the human constitution, Avhicli present the  conditions
of growth, and which will enable us to understand clearly
what is the laAV of Order in Exercise for the human being.
    The first peculiarity which  strikes us, is the  double
nature  of  man—the  soul  and  the body—intimately
united but always distinct—their functions  differing in
form, in material, in special objects, though harmoniously
blending for one great end—they therefore require sepa-
rate  care,  distinct education,  but  an  education  that
allows of no antagonism or injury to  either nature, but
blends  in the  same  harmonious Avay,  as the  natures
blend.
    Again Ave remark that there are three distinct peri-
ods in  this  double nature—the  period  of growth  and
preparation,—the period of maturity and active use,—
and lastly the  period of decline and incapacity.   From
the consideration of these three periods, epochs  so Avell
marked as  to be generally recognized, we  draw a  most
important practical conclusion, viz., that  the  second pe-
riod of life, the age  of strength and use,  can only be
attained, by the orderly and Avise discipline of the period
of preparation,  and that  the slightest infringement ol 
48              GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
 this Divine ordt-. will inevitably draw doAvn  the double
.penalty Avhich  guards  the  natural laAvs, riz., loss of
 all the poAver and excellence to be gained by conformity,
 and the  pain, infirmity, and  evil, inflicted upon disobe-
 dience.
    We have thus far noted the       correspondence of
 our double  nature, in its  existence, nd its  periods—I
 must now call your attention  to an  important difference
 which  exists  betAveen them,  an order  of development,
 which  complicates our  inquiiy, but Avhich nevertheless
 points  out its own requirements so  clearly, that he Avho
 runs may read.   Did the soul and  body keep pace step
 by step through life,  and groAV with uniform  rapidity,
 then the laAV of order  Avould require, that the  same care,
 the same favorable conditions, the same education should
 be given  in corresponding  adaptation to soul and  body,
 day by day,  and  year by year.   But Nature  adopts
 variety, hierarchy, as her rule, instead of uniformity,
 monotony—the higher Ave ascend in  the scale of creation,
 the more compound is every Avhole, the richer the har-
 mony of each existence.  So in the  nature of man there
 is never a dead level  between  soul  and body, each  has
 its hierarchy at different periods of  the  human life,  and
 most beautiful that arrangement is.
    Each human body has its type  of form and size to
 which it must attain ;  it may reach this period at differ-
 ent ages, 15,  20, 25, no matter,—at a  certain age  the 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
49
body ceases to grow, it has  reached its standard, the
period of preparation is finished, it  enters upon a new
epoch.  But the mind  by no means conforms to this
standard—the  cessation  of  the body's growth,  never
marks the  completion of the  growth of the  mind.  At
the age  of 20, the body has  acquired  the command of
every function, it has consolidated its  power, it  is fully
developed—but the mind is in the full vigor of growth—
it is receiving neAV thoughts, new aspirations, the under-
standing is expanding, the judgment has not begun to
ripen—the growth of the  mind is much slower than that
of the body, and its maturity dates  a much later period
of life.
    Here then is a marked difference in the development
of our double nature, and a  clear indication of the Di-
vine Order of Exercise—the practical lesson  to be de-
duced from it, may not  be neglected.   It is an observa-
tion in physiology that two organs do not act Avith equal
energy at the same time—Avhile the  stomach digests, the
brain must rest, and the muscles be in abeyance.
    When Ave would reflect deeply upon any subject we
endeavor to escape from all external distractions—we close
the eyes, and put all other faculties not required, to rest,
and so obtain the greatest force of those which we Avould
employ.   It is because the body entirely, and most of
the mind is asleep, during our dreams that we often have
in  them such surprising energy, acuteness, and range
             3 
50
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
of thought and fancy.  Moreover, in the natural method
of Prcnddence the  faculties of human nature are not all
manifested simultaneously ; some, both of mind and body
appear  early, others  later in  life.   In infancy Ave have
the appetites and  affections Avhich serve for the nurture
and  culture of the individual, but not  till the period of
mature  life do the faculties and sentiments  appear which
establish  the  relations of the man to the race.
   This periodicity obtains also in the aggregate life of a
people.  While a nation is young it has one definite object,
self-preservation—it must dig, and plant,  and sell, and
concentrate its  energies, on  its  growth and  material
consolidation—no  entangling  alliances,  no enthusiasm
for principles, must lead it to the  fatal neglect of the
essential  elements of  its prosperity,  the  foundation of
its  future greatness ; but Avhen its  fields  are planted,
and its  manufactories are built—when its railroads cover
the land, and its ships whiten the sea, when its stature
is complete,  its arm  strong,  then  another  object is
presented for its  attainment, and  its  light may shine
forth, and its protecting power be felt by the  whole
world—its free soul may walk  abroad amongst the na-
tions—its voice will cheer, protect, guide—for  the  mate-
rial prosperity will  support the spirit of the people—the
Divine order has been observed, the time of preparation
fully completed, and the time of fulfilment  has arrived.
   Thus from every sphere of existence we gather anal- 
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
51
ogies,  analogies  Avhich always confirm a  great  truth;
and Ave see in glowing light this essential principle, that
the sovereignty of the body must be established, before
the sovereignty of the soul is possible, for  the  one pre-
pares  for  and is the continent of the other.
   During  youth  the  development  of   the   body
must  be the first  care—its  strength, its  beauty,  the
complete  establishment of  every function,  the  freest
conditions  for its harmonic  growth, must be our  ruling
principle.  There is no possibility of avoiding this  ne-
cessity—this  primary predominance  of   the  material
organization—it  is  Divine Law—every  violation will
bring  its OAvn  punishment—and Avoe to the  race Avhere
this  order is systematically inverted ;  disease, vice, and
rapid degeneracy will inevitably mark its history.
   The  third great  laAV to Avhich I Avould  call your at-
tention,  is the  balance of  exercise, or perhaps more
clearly the compound nature  of exercise ; this springs
from the dual nature of all existence, essence and form,
spirit  and matter.   I bring it before you now because
it is intimately connected with our last  remarks, and has
the following practical bearing upon education, viz., that
in no period of human life, may Ave attempt to  separate
the blended  life of soul  and  body—in every  age  the
wants  of the Avhole nature must be  satisfied.  The sov-
ereignty of the material organization in youth, does  not
exclude such activity of the mind as is  necessary for  the 
52              GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
service  of daily life, and such prospective training  for
its  future  existence as  is  compatible  with the body's
present  health  and  complete  growth.    So  in   the
second  period  of life, when the  soul  reigns supreme,
when mind and heart are fully developed, and the object
of the individual  life is accomplished, the material frame,
though  only of second rank, has still its rights to main-
tain, its wants  that  must  be attended to.   Thus every
period  of life, though  marked by  the  predominance of
one special principle, needs to some extent the co-opera-
tion of  all  other principles—the maintenance of the  law
of compound movement.
    The last  grand law to which I shall direct  your at-
tention, is  the croAvning law of all—the source of their
existence—the centre to which  they tend:—It is  the
Law of  Use in Exercise—the universal, reason, and justi-
fier of existence.
    We  cannot examine  the smallest and most insignifi-
cant object in  nature, without being lost in wonder at
the rich uses which  are  developed from its tiny frame-
work.   The little plant that we trample under foot,  con-
tains  within  itself a whole kingdom of minute  uses, es-
sential  to its  being.  It  is linked by uses to its fellows,
to the soil, to the atmosphere, to the animals, to  man,
to the  universe, so that  creation Avould not  be  com-
plete  without that tiny plant.  Every being has its aim,
its special  purpose, and its universal use ; and its high- 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
53
est welfare, its  health, its  happiness, is found in con-
forming to that use.  Rank in creation is determined by
use, the greatest variety of aims, the widest  range of
objects, and the most central nature of uses, mark the
noblest race  of created beings—those  who  bear the
brightest image of the Creator.
    By right of  this incontestable charter, man takes his
place in the scale of existences.   Nature has generously
endowed the human being  Avith a body so perfect in its
parts, so beautiful in its whole, so rich in varied uses, so
delicate in its minute  structures, so poAverful in its col-
lective life, such a compendium  of  varied laAvs, such a
harmony of complex  strains, that Ave can conceive of no
mechanism so  living,  so  admirable.   And  who  can
fathom  the Capabilities of the human mind, as it grows
by the accumulated achievements  of ages !   There is
nothing hidden that shall not be revealed to the enlarged
understanding of man—no  sphere of existence to which
he is  not  linked by the infinite network  of his  sym-
pathies.
    What is the conclusion,  then, which we must inevita-
bly draAV from these mighty capabilities in man, as  illus-
trated by the lesson taught us in creation?   That the
object of  man's existence is superior to all  others—that
he, of all  creatures, must be the richest in uses—that
every faculty  of his nature must  consecrate itself in use.
Here, then, we  receive a flood of light to guide us in 
54
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
practical life, in education.  We need no longer wander
in the confusion of aimless details.  We have a standard
by which to judge every effort—the standard of use—
not for a day, nor a year, nor a lifetime, but the universal
use for man,  the centre of creation.   Guided  by this
Divine law of use, the free life of man will no longer be
degraded by selfishness, or wasted  on superficial  ephe-
meral  objects.  The voluntary life, obedient to the  great
design, will harmonize  truly with  the  life within, and
with the life  of the universe around him, and  by this
conformity he will  accomplish his  own happiness, and
fulfil the idea  of his  creation.
    I have thus laid  before you the great laAvs of life—
the clear understanding  of which is essential to our pur-
pose,  because, as we  have seen, they are universal in
their  operation, entering into every  sphere of  existence,
and ruling alike the physical as the moral world.   Be-
ing universal  laws,  their violation  must necessarily in-
volve its own  punishment.  We know that this is inevi-
table.   The hand thrust into the fire will be burnt; the
sword entering the heart will kill;  dishonesty will pro-
duce distrust; there is  no escaping the penalty of vio-
lated  law.  This is  clear to all, an acknowledged  fact,
which I need not urge.   The fact is universally accepted,
but the  manner in  which the violation  of the laws we
have been considering, manifests itself, may  not be so
plain, and a knowledge of this may aid us in our future 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
55
studies, when  we  attempt to trace the  connection  of
cause and effect in practical life;  I shall therefore call
your  attention, for a  feAV moments, to the  evils which
Avill inevitably  result from the neglect of the preceding
laws.
   The first evil to  which I shall advert is, imperfect
development.   In organized being, where a certain order
of growth is established,  and special periods  assigned
for special  developments,  each  period  is peculiarly
adapted to its own office.  There are certain conditions,
then,  present, which never occur again, and consequently
the opportunity once lost is  lost for ever.  Thus, in the
human organization, we have pointed out the  period of
youth as peculiarly adapted to the attainment of physical
perfection.  The special material conditions which mark
this epoch, are strikingly shoAvn in the reparation of in-
juries.  A broken bone  in  the  child will unite  easily,
rapidly, and perfectly, so that not the smallest incon-
venience will be felt in after life,  and the surgeon might
examine the  bone in vain to  find the spot where fracture
had occurred.  Not so in the adult, still less so in the aged  ;
the same  injury will then require months instead of days
to heal, and the union will be accomplished clumsily and
imperfectly,  or the reparative poAver of the system may
be entirely exhausted, and the fracture may never unite.
An  endless  variety  of illustrations might  be given to
prove the same  point, viz., that there are peculiar con- 
56
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
ditions  of the physical organization in youth which are
presented at no other period, and consequently the Avork
which  should  be done  then, can never be accomplished
later in life.
    Again:  as this is the special period of  material
growth ; as the body is the key-note to which all sounds
must  vibrate ; if this  fact is neglected, if the care and
education which  the physical  nature demands is  cur-
tailed,  if a  multiplicity of other objects is forced  upon
the attention,  then the work which should be  done at
this time is necessarily only partially and imperfectly
performed.
    There is a vast labdr to be accomplished—the change
of an infant into a man—and only a definite  time to do
it  in.   Nature  Avorks  with wonderful rapidity.    She
works  as she  never works  at any other period of life—
every moment  is precious.   If, then, the conditions Avhich
aid her are  not presented, if the necessary co-operation
of the mind is  not given, the Avork' cannot  be accom-
plished—the parts are weak—the Avhole is incomplete;
the body is  unable to meet the  demands made upon it in
after -life;  it bends down under the  burdens Avhich  it
should support with vigor and grace ; it is weak and irri-
table—striving to attain to its proper strength, but un-
able to do  so, as the conditions for  its  growth are no
longer afforded, and the demands  made  upon it  by  a
later  period of life  are  incessant and heavy.   It strug- 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
57
gles in vain ; it has the neglected work of yesterday to
accomplish, together with  the proper work of to-day.
The ripening comes upon the retarded growth of spring,
and imperfection, disease, is the result.
    Another evil arises directly from the imperfect de-
velopment of this period of life, and increases the original
mischief, by that vicious  circle of suffering that always
springs from violated law ;  it is the anticipated develop-
ment  of powers appropriate to a later period of growth.
    We have  seen  that it is not possible to carry on two
diverse functions,  or strive for  two objects with  equal
energy at the same time, and perform either act with the
same  perfection that would  have been given to  one only.
This  is eminently  true in  growth ;  we  cannot let the
body  alone ; it will be helped or hindered by our actions.
There is a large amount of disposable energy—a reserve
of  vital  force—in  every individual,  from the  child up-
Avards, which is available in moulding the life,  in direct-
ing the operations  of  nature, in hastening or retarding
the epochs of existence.   The welfare of the  body de-
mands this aid in growth ;  but if, instead  of complymg
with the natural design, this provisional energy,  this men-
tal force  be directed to the objects  of a later  period of
life, the  nature will grow disproportionately in that di-
rection, and a triple evil will result; the material organi-
zation neglected will suffer for want of its  proper  oppor-
tunities  of growth; the intellectual powers will  suffer
            3* 
58
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
from the strain of premature exactions ;  and an unsound
mind and an unsound body, acting and reacting on each
other with accumulating evil, will produce diseases of
mind and body, corresponding to the injury which they
suffered.  The standard of excellence Avhich might have
been attained, is never reached.
    Another vice, of growth, is the undue development of
any portion of the organism Avhich springs from the neg-
lect of the third and fourth general laAvs which we have
laid down.  Imperfect and premature development  are
the peculiar  dangers of youth.   The undue  exercise of
certain  faculties of our nature, is the evil  to which  the
later period  of adult  life is chiefly liable.  It is a vice
of the spiritual rather than the material nature.  It pro-
ceeds from the substitution of partial, limited uses, for
the general and higher uses which should rule human
life. The housekeeper tends to become more and more a
housekeeper,  simply; the  merchant to absorb his life in
commerce,  because the necessity of each occupation,  the
beautiful truth and fitness that exist in them, have blinded
them to the true range of those occupations.  They are of
great utility;  they have a universal meaning, when con-
sidered as parts of a great whole ;  but, when they absorb
the human being ; when they shut him up from the wide
range of human interests ;  when they become The whole;
then they are mean, degrading, ruinous to the noblest
objects of  human life—they convert the free soul  into 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
59
a domestic tool, or a calculating machine.  Nor is  this
absorption in one  subject,  or  this development of one
faculty, necessary  to excellence in any  department of
life.   One law never contradicts another law.   Predomi-
nance, hierarchy,  is the rule of life, not exclusion, and
each  faculty is refreshed and  strengthened by the due
exercise of every other.  Let individual taste and talent
direct to  special occupations, but then throw open the
nature to  the influences of the whole universe.
   One more evil I have to notice, viz., the misery which
must  result from the entire violation of our last law—the
law of use.   We have just considered the evil of undue
exercise of any portion of our being—the conversion of a
temporary object into the supreme end.   We  would noAv
speak of the  aimless existence—tljat strange anomaly in
creation, a human being with nothing to do.  Most mis-
erable, worthy  of most profound pity, is such a being.
The most insignificant object in nature becomes a source
of envy;  the birds warble  on every  spray,  in ecstasy
of joy ;  the tiny flower, hidden  from all eyes, sends forth
its  fragrance of full happiness ;  the  mountain stream
dashes along with a sparkle and murmur of pure delight.
The object of  their creation is accomplished, and their
life gushes  forth in harmonic work.    Oh,  plant! oh.
stream!—A\rorthy  of  admiration,  of  worship,  to the
wretched idler !   Here are powers ye  never dreamed of,
faculties divine, eternal;  a head to think, but nothing to 
60
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
concentrate the thoughts ; a heart to love, but no object
to bathe with the hying tide of affection ; a hand to do,
but no work to be done ;  talents unexercised, capacities
undeveloped ;  a human life thrown away, Avasted as water
poured forth in the desert.   Oh, birds and flowers, ye
are gods to such  a mockery of life !   Who can describe
the fearful void of such an existence, the yearning for an
object, the  self-reproach for  wasted powers, the weari-
ness of daily  life, the loathing of pleasure,  of frivolity,
and the fearful  consciousness  of deadening life—of a
spiritual paralysis, Avhich hinders all response  to human
interests—when  enthusiasm ceases  to arouse, and noble
deeds  no longer call  forth the  tear of joy—when  the
world becomes a  blank, humanity a far-off sound, and no
life is left but the heavy, benumbing weight of personal
helplessness and desolation.
    Oh! happier far is the toiling drudge  who coins body
and soul into the few poor shillings that can only keep
his family in  a long  starvation; he has  a hope unceas-
ingly to  light him, a  duty to perform, a spark of love
within that cannot die;  and wretched, weary, unhuman
as  his life may be, it is of royal worth—it  is separated
by  the immeasurable distance of life and death from the
poor, perhaps  pampered wretch, who is cursed by having
no work to do.
    Noble work!  Welcome  struggle, suffering,  torture,
if that be our  path—it is  bliss, it is  angels' food, if so 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
61
we may accomplish  our destiny—if so we may fulfil a
Divine use!
   Thus, my friends, our first object is attained.  I have
in a very general way indicated the great principles, in
accordance with which all Avise action must be carried
on, and I have  noticed slightly and hastily some of the
evils which must necessarily attend their violation.  The
propositions  may have seemed abstract, and their con-
nection with the  subject of  physical  education remote;
I may seem to have treated more of the mind than of the
body ; more  of the universe than of man.   But we shall
find, on the  contrary, as Ave  proceed, that these laws are
intensely practical  in  their application, the details into
Avhich they Aoav are the only really practical things in
existence,  for actions  based upon them are truths, all
else is falsity and sham.  Every fact of our daily lives,
which is not filled  Avith  a spiritual existence, with a
principle that can be carried out into the wide universe,
is a vanishing  phenomenon, it  has no real  existence, it
can give us  no aid in moulding our lives, in  improving
our condition.   The laws which I have endeavored to lay
before you are the laAvs by which Ave must eat, and drink,
 and sleep, and to your most  earnest thought, to your
 continual  remembrance I commend  them.  Their  uni-
 versal  nature is  the guarantee of their truth; for in the
 wonderful Avhole of creation no part is  separated from
 the rest, mind  and  matter, body and soul, substance and 
62
GENERAL  PRINCIPLES.
form, are essentially related.  The creation is filled with
the Creator!
    In  my next  lecture  I  shall proceed to  the  con-
sideration of functions, to the special laws which regulate
our physical life, and their manifestations.
    I shall explain the marked difference which exists in
our physical life between the powers over which we  may
exert an almost creative influence and those to which our
action is  but  indirect. The latter will be the first sub-
ject of our consideration;  and  I  propose in the  next
lecture to show how far the organic life of the individual
may be influenced by us, what  are its rights  and our
duties. We  shall  then be prepared to examine intelli-
gently those powers which are placed immediately under
our  control,  and on  whose development our highest
physical well-being rests. 
                ORGANIC  LIFE.

   In my former lecture I laid before you the general
principles on Avhich all existence is based, viz.:  1st, the
manifestation  of life  only  by movement  or  exercise;
2d, the development of life in a definite order of move-
ment, shown in the human being by the predominance,
at different ages, of the different elements of his double
nature—first the material then the spiritual nature; 3d,
the compound nature of movement;  and 4th, the end of
all movement, viz., the law of use.  I stated that it is in
accordance Avith these principles that our human life
should be regulated, and I then pointed out some of the
evils  that must inevitably result from the  neglect of
these, viz., imperfect, premature, undue development, or
even the  complete annihilation of true life.
   We have seen the supremacy of these laws in all
spheres of  being, but it  is  my purpose  to  litnit our
inquiry,  and  examine only  their  application to the
physical nature of man, the life  of the body ; and 
64
ORGANIC LIFE.
this order of examination is not only accordant Avith the
plan of nature, but it is the one Avhich my duty, as a phy-
sician, Avould especially lead me to adopt.  And though,
according to the laAV of compound  movement,  I shall
have occasion frequently to refer to the  intimately con-
nected spiritual nature, such references  will always be
subordinate to our main inquiry.
    7 wish to make you intimately acquainted with the
life  of the body,  so  that you may realize  fully its
importance, the veneration  which it  should inspire, the
attention which  should be given to it.   I  shall open to
you its wonderfully complicated and delicate mechanism,
show you hoAv it grows, and how it becomes strong" and
perfect, and how we may aid  or injure this  beautiful
growth.  To do this I shall not lead you through  long
anatomical descriptions, nor give you sketches of disease,
nor  even present you with  much  physiological detail;
that would certainly be a much easier plan  for me, and I
could so give you  lectures, ad infinitum, but the benefit
to you Avould be highly questionable.   If you wished to
enter as medical students no subject Avould be irrelevant,
no details  useless,  and to every such earnest Avorker I
would  gladly render  aid, and  give  the right hand of
felloAvship,  but that  is  not  our  present  object.  The
studies in  relation to the body, necessary  to the medi-
cal student,  and to the woman who would  intelli-
gently perform  the noble  duties  of a  mother  and a 
ORGANIC LIFE.
65
rational member of society, are widely different, and it is
productive of much mischief to attempt to mingle the
former Avith  the  latter.  A  certain degree of anatomy
and  physiology you may obtain—you have  probably
obtained from some of the  many popular Avorks on those
subjects.  My object, as I have stated, is an eminently
practical  one.  I  wish to  show you how to make the
human race stronger and more beautiful.   I must there-
fore  digest for you the endless  multiplicity of medical
facts, and present  you  with the result  thus  obtained.
I must give you knoAvledge Avhich you can use, and teach
you  how to  use  it, and I trust that  our studies will
possess that deep  interest and put forth that moulding
force Avhich belong to use.
   The first fact to Avhich I would call  your attention is
the limited range of our poAver over the body.  Our will
is able to accomplish a great many things, but there are
also many for Avhich it is completely impotent.  We can-
not stop the beating of the heart, nor change its  method
of action; Ave cannot  alter its type ; we cannot educate
it; we  may  kill  but we are unable to govern it.  We
cannot teach  the lungs to inhale carbonic acid gas, nor
can  Ave  learn to  do  without  breathing.  Yet we may
remain  inactirc  for years,  the  limbs  that were meant
for motion may be forced to constant repose, and life will
still continue ; the hand may remain idle by our side, or
learn to move with wonderful agility over the notes of a 
66
ORGANIC LIFE.
 musical instrument.  The Anchorite may bind himself by
 a voav of silence, and permit no sound to escape his lips;
 or, he may train his voice to the production of melodious
 strains that will  draw  forth tears of admiring delight.
 But,  should we force the stomach to a state of constant
 repose, or provide  it  with indigestible  materials,  we
 should speedily pay for the attempt with our life. The
 early germ of life is beyond our management; Ave cannot
 change its type nor its manifesta^pns; but our power over
 the intellectual and moral life of childhood is so  great,
 that we may be said almost to create it;  we may leave
 the brain in a state of inaction—of constant slumber,
 while  the rest  of the body  grows  daily  towards its
 maturity.  And yet there is no faculty of body or soul
 completely withdrawn  from the  influence  of our will.
 Stomach, heart, and  lungs may  all  be injured  by us,
 they  may also be greatly aided  in their work by our
 help,  and the great fact of human generation  may be
 powerfully affected for good  or  evil by  the conditions
 with which we surround it.  When we consider this con-
 fused multitude of facts, proving  both the potency and
 the impotency of the intelligent human will to affect the
 growth of the body, it becomes a matter of essential im-
 portance to us  clearly to  understand the  limits and
 nature of our power,  that we may  neither waste  our
 efforts in attempts .to perform what  the Creator has
placed beyond our reach, nor neglect any valuable oppor- 
ORGANIC LIFE.
67
tunity for accomplishing wisely the part which is clearly
allotted to us as free, intelligent, and progressive beings.
    Noay Ave  shall find in the  double nature of man, the
life of the body and soul, the explanation Avhich we need
to direct us.   The true life of man, the life of the soul,
only  proves  itself  by  its  manifestations, by  speech,
expressed  thought,  by  action, by social  and  national
relations, and all those various forms of incarnated soul
which we  call art, science,  religion.  All  this  external
life is simply the relation of  the inner life, the  soul, to
man,  to nature, to God, and the only way in which this
inner life can so express itself, is by employing the body
as a medium.  But if we could take from man the power
of speech and movement, the electric  glance of the eye,
the language  of touch—could  we even  paralyze  the
greater portion of the brain,  and thus deprive  him  of
every possible method of displaying the life of the soul,
the individual would still live on, the stomach Avould con-
tinue  to digest, the liver would still carry on  its  compli-
cated  processes  of vital  chemistry,  the  lungs  would
breathe in the purifying air, the heart would distribute
fresh  blood  to every  part of  the  body, and  the Avarm
living tint  of the skin  Avould indicate the  continued
existence of  organic bodily health.
    Here, then, Ave  have  at  once a broad  distinction
between  the organic  life of  the  body, which  is  self-
supporting and independent of individual  will, and the 
68
ORGANIC LIFE.
related  life  of the body, which is the necessary instru-
ment of the mind, directly under  its control, and capable
of immense development.  The organic life has a fixed
type of its oAvn, Ave cannot educate it, each organ has its
special  peculiar use, to Avhich any action of ours Avould
be an  impertinent interference, but the related life has
our  highest  interests  as  its  object,  our interference
is essential to its growth, it  is  capable of a wonderful
education.  The  reason of  this  striking  difference  is
evident  from the  order of movement which  we have
already  observed.  The lowest  and coarsest forms of
being  always appear before the  higher.  The body  is
first in the order of development, it has  to prepare for
the  mind,  every  function  is  fully  and  permanently
established before the intelligent will makes  its appear-
ance ;  the body must therefore necessarily have its OAvn
independent laws in the child, and it remains through
life  independent  of the  experiments, the  mistakes, and
the  long-continued  efforts  by  which  alone  man can
acquire  knoAvledge—a fixed point,  without  which  we
could make no exertion;  a broad firm foundation-stone,
on Avhich we may build the  beautiful edifice of a  noble
life.
   By the organic or  involuntary life of the body, we
mean the active life of those parts of our material  frame-
work Avhich would be  necessary to keep the body alive if
we had no souls; thus the  action of the heart,  lungs, 
ORGANIC LIFE.
69
stomach, skin, &c., belongs to the organic life, while by
the related or voluntary life we indicate those parts of
our physical  organization which are  the direct  instru-
ments of  our intelligent  will,  the brain,  senses,  and
muscular system.
    Having thus  found  the  first  division which  our
subject clearly presents, you will readily perceive that
my remarks on " The Laws of Life, with special refer-
ence  to the Physical  Education of Girls," will  chiefly
refer  to  the related life of the  body, toAvards Avhich we
have  so  important a part to perform;  but as Ave have
already seen  there is  no such thing as  simple isolated
life in the universe, so our will may powerfully influence
the organic life  of the body,  and  its connection is so
intimate Avith  every part  of  our human nature,  that  I
must  first  call your attention to this division of our sub-
ject before we  shall be prepared to take up the  impor-
tant second branch.
   Let us  consider fhp/i the Organic Life of the body,
and the way  in which we can aid this life.  We have
seen that each organ has its OAvn special work  to do,  and
understands better than avc can the best method of doing
it.  Therefore, in the organic life of the body we are not
called upon either to  furnish on object, or to educate
any part to attain a certain object.  Our part lies solely
in placing  the body  in  a position to  work;  in other
words, our duty to the organic life consists in furnishing 
70                 ORGANIC LIFE.
the folloAving conditions, viz.:  1st, freedom to work; 2d,
materials to work with.  In these two rules lie enfolded
our most important duties  to  the body.  Our first du-
ties—for before education  is  possible the observance of
these laws  are essential to the life of the infant; our last
duties—for when the aim of human life has been accom-
plished, when the related life of the body, having finished
its work, grows weak, and  the period of separation ap-
proaches, with the most diligent care we must observe
these rules by Avhich we can  most effectually cheer the
declining life of the aged ; and through the whole period
of youth and manhood,  if we would prevent  sickness,
if we would strengthen the  whoie nature,  if we would
prolong life, Ave must never cease to perform our first
grand duty to  the body, that corner-stone  of physical
well-being,  freedom to work and materials to work  with.
   Let us   examine more  in  detail  the  application of
these principles,  and see how clear a light they  shed
upon  the relation of our free will  to  every period of
existence.
   Look at the first faint gleam of  life, the life of the
embryo,  the commencement  of  human existence.  We
see a tiny cell, so small  that it may easily be overlooked;
the anatomist may examine it with scalpel or microscope,
and  what  does he  discover?   Nothing but a delicate,
transparent membrane,  containing  one  drop of  clear
water; the chemist may analyze it with the most  scru- 
ORGANIC LIFE.
71
pulous care, and  find nothing  but the trace of  some
simple salts.  And yet there is in that simple germ-cell
something most wonderful—life !—it is a living cell;  it
contains  a power  of progressive growth,  according-  to
laws, towards  a definite  type, that we can only regard
Avith reverent admiration.  Leave it in its natural home,
tended by the  rich life of the  healthy maternal  organi-
zation, and it will grow steadily in the human type ; in
no other  by any possibility.  Little  by little the faint
specks will appear in the  enlarging cell, which mark the
head, the  trunk, the budding extremities ; tiny channels
will groove themselves in every direction, red particles of
inconceivable minuteness will appear in them—they move,
they tend toAvards one central spot, where a little chan-
nel has  enlarged, has  assumed  a  special  form,  has
already begun to palpitate ; finally the  living blood in the
small arteries joins that in the heart, and the circulation
is  established.  From every  delicate incomplete  part,
minute nerve-threads shoot forth,  they  tend inevitably
towards their  centres,  they join  the brain,  the  spinal
marroAV, the ganglia.  The nervous system is formed. The
cell  rapidly  enlarges, its attachments to  the maternal
organism  become more poAverful, for increasing amounts
of fresh nourishment must be conveyed to the growing
being, the work advances to perfection, each organ is dis-
tinctly formed, placed in  the cavities of head, chest, and
abdomen,  that are noAV completely closed;  the  human 
72
ORGANIC LIFE.
type is surely attained, and after a brief period of con-
solidation the young existence, created from that simple
cell, will aAvake to a further development of independent
life. Throughout  this  period  of early  life  we remain
spectators merely  of the Avonderful groAvth  ; it Avould be
impious  folly to attempt to  interfere directly Avith  this
act of  creation; but even here, in this early stage of ex-
istence, we  have  important aid to  render.  We  must,
through the maternal organization, present the essential
conditions, freedom to work and materials to work with.
And the duty is imperative.  Observe our action is indi-
rect.   No mother can determine the sex or appearance
of the  child;  she  cannot amputate a limb or disfigure
the body by any direct violent  action of her will; but the
state of her  health, the disposition of  her mind,  her
habits  of life, will materially affect the growth and influ-
ence the future   constitution  of the child.  The  most
powerful action is not sudden and violent effort; earth-
quakes and revolutions  are destructive, not creative;
every  really  important  change,  every  admirable  and
lasting growth, is the  result  of long-continued action,
working  silently but constantly in the  right direction.
This is true of all kinds of growth.   The young sapling
may be bent to the earth by a violent storm, and it  will
shortly recover its  position, and shoot  up tall and straight,
under the genial influences of earth and  sky; but plant
it on the mountain side, exposed to the  constant action 
ORGANIC LIFE.
73
of the sea breeze, and though no change in its position is
perceptible  in  a single day, yet it is surely growing in
the direction of the Avind, and it will soon show, in its
bent form, how much more poAverfully the constant in-
visible influence has affected its growth, than the sudden
evident action of the storm.
    Such favoring influences are  found in the daily life
of the mother, during the early period of embryonic ex-
istence, in the cheerful sunshine of the spirit that should
so naturally enfold the new  centre of many hopes, in the
observance of those  important rules of hygiene, regular
habits, early hours, periodic exercise,  cold bathing, plain
wholesome food, and loose  comfortable clothing; these
rules  are simple,  easily understood,  not difficult to be
observed, yet are they of  immense  importance—they
are the favoring circumstances of growth, they are our
part in  the work of creation.  Then, surely, they never
can  be  neglected by the  Avise mother  who  has once
clearly recognized their high use.  No frivolous pleasure,
no petty cares,  no serious  sorroAV even, will induce the
true mother to neglect the healthy rule of life, or disturb
the cheerful serenity  of her spirit,  when she is thus
directly the handmaid of the Creator.
    We have Avatched the first development of embryonic
life, and its  gradual  attainment of the human  organiza-
tion.   Now, an immense change occurs in the life of the
little being—it is born, and  remains  henceforth subject
      4 
74
ORGANIC LIFE.
to influences with which  we are familiar, and under our
immediate action.   Previous to this epoch, notwithstand-
ing the vigorous principle of life so evidently displayed,
its existence was a mystery to us ; Ave cannot understand
a method of groAvth, Avhose conditions are  so  different
from  our own.  But the child is born, we recognize the
kindred claim at once established, it is become one of us,
and direct and urgent duties are now opened to us.
    It is  one of us,  but yet  how different! every part of
the body has to  change its proportions, and the quality
of its structure, to  attain the  perfect  type.   The  head
and abdomen are of undue size, the  brain is  soft, there
is not a solid bone in its body, the liver  is  enormously
large, the stomach and intestines irritable, and the skin
of extreme delicacy.  In every fibre of the infant organ-
ization, I could point you to these  differences, which
mark the transition epoch between  two  different states
of existence, and indicate  the  plastic condition  of the
little being, which requires  only favorable conditions  to
be moulded by the gentle hand of nature into the perfect
human form.
    What are those conditions Avhich constitute its freedom
to Avork ?  1st.  Unimpeded movement of every part of
the body—there must be  no  pressure, no  constrained
position.   In  the large  Lying-in Hospital in Paris, La
Maternity the old  practice of swathing the infants  is
still observed ; the  lower limbs, each one enveloped in a 
ORGANIC LIFE.
75
fold of linen, are stretched to their fullest extent, and close-
ly bound with thick cloths, which effectually prevent any
movement in them.  Every mother who has Avatched the
evident delight Avith which the little  limbs move, under
the gentle friction of her hand, and observed the instant
response of every part of the  body to every painful or
pleasurable sensation,  will feel the torture  of such a
method of constraint;  and it has made my heart ache in
seeing these poor little mummies unrolled, to observe the
half-paralyzed condition of the little limbs, which would
gradually recover their activity Avith their freedom, only
to be again tortured, under  the foolish idea of straight-
ening the limbs—the  surest method,  certainly, of defeat
ing the object—for by substituting the violence of external
constraint, for the gradual and strengthening method of
groAvth, by which nature straightens the naturally flexed
limbs, they remain Aveak and  imperfectly developed, and
when the child begins to crawl or walk about, they inevi-
tably bend under the burden  they are not prepared to
support.  Noav though  this practice of swathing will
seem an unnatural and cruel custom, it should be  borne
in mind, that any amount of confinement by clothing or
position, differs only  in degree,  and produces,  to some
extent, the same discomfort to the infant, and the same
injury to growth ; an  intelligent  care  should, therefore,
be exercised in the construction of the clothing, in the
application of bands, and in the manner of nursing, that 
76
ORGANIC LIFE.
the perfect freedom of the body shall be  preserved, and
no part of the soft, tender frame be compelled to bear an
undue burden.
    Another  condition to be observed, is  the  Avarm tem-
perature necessary to the infant.  I might say the warm,
living atmosphere of human affection necessary to it; for
it is  very certain that  we cannot  raise children upon
chemical  principles ;  and  though  it  is  impossible  to
reduce the maternal influence to vital electricity or any
scientific  formula,  or  clearly  understand the  peculiar
action of affection on the irrational infant, it is none the
less certain that human  heat, whether spiritual or mate-
rial, is the most genial atmosphere for infant growth.  It
is the want of this which  is one cause of the  great mor-
tality in foundling hospitals,  where the little nurslings
lie  the greater  part  of the day in cribs alone.  The
utmost care is taken to  supply every external condition
on the most rational and scientific principles—the nurse-
ries, admirably clean, are .warmed with great care—but
there  is no home like the mother's bosom, with its living
warmth and nourishment.  This gentle, penetrating heat
is essential to this period of life, for  the infant possesses,
in extreme measure, the irritability  and delicacy which
always attend  rapid growth, without  the  power  of
reaction which belongs to consolidated strength; it is,
therefore,  peculiarly sensitive  to changes, to violence of
any kind, and  its heat  is withdrawn with remarkable
rapidity. 
ORGANIC LIFE.
11
   Perfect cleanliness  is  another  condition of growth,
and I need not enlarge upon this.  Every observer has
seen hoAV easily the skin is acted upon in infancy, by the
secretions of the body, either  from neglect of thorough
Avashing, or change of clothes—and it should  ahvays be
borne in mind, that the  invisible effects extend  farther
than the visible, and that the evils of uncleanliness are
not limited to the sore on  the skin, or the inflammation
of the eyes, but extend by  a thousand unseen ramifica-
tions through the Avhole economy, hindering and injuring
the Avork of nature.
    Our second rule in aiding the organic life of the body,
is to  furnish materials  for work;  and under  this head
let me call your attention particularly to the  life  of the
Lungs in  the infant,  and the  material  which  we are
bound to furnish them, viz., pure air.   There is no organ
which changes so remarkably  at  birth, as the Lungs.
There had  previously  been  some degree of functional
activity in every other part of the body.   The stomach
and intestines indicate  that digestion had taken place  to
some  extent.  The heart  beat  with extreme rapidity,
free movements of the body had often occurred;  but the
lungs had  remained entirely impassive,  tightly folded
together, they had contributed  nothing to the life of the
child; noAV, in a moment, all is changed—with the first
inspiration,  a neAv sphere of existence  is opened, the
lungs, hitherto useless, become  at once the mainspring 
78
ORGANIC LIFE.
of life.   How eagerly we await that first inspiration !
The mother, forgetful of Aveariness and suffering,  lifts
her pale face from the pilloAV, and listens Avith her whole
soul.   The  physician, profoundly  penetrated  with the
mystery of  birth, bends in suspense over the little being
hovering on the threshold  of a  new  existence—for one
moment they aAvait the issue—life or death !—the feeble
cry is the token of victory—the mother's face lights up
with ineffable joy, as  she sinks back exhausted, and the
sentiment of sympathy, of reverence, thrills through the
physician's  heart.
   That moment, my friends, is prophetic of the important
part which the lungs  play throughout  the  whole period
of our  existence—life and death wait always on our
breath,  not  from  any fear of its sudden  cessation—a
violent  death-blow, but because, with the air we breathe,
poison or nourishment enters into the most secret recesses
of our organization.   Vitiated air—air laden with human
exhalations, Avith impure odors, with miasm—air deprived
of its natural properties, overheated,  becomes poison to
the human body—not to  the lungs only—it reaches every
fibre of the body—the cheek grows pale, the skin loses
its healthy hue,  the flesh becomes soft, the  eye  dim, the
organs grow Aveak, their  functions are  imperfectly  per-
formed, nutrition becomes perverted, and disease  inevi-
tably appears.   Such are the results of impure air on
the economy, more or  less slowly, as  the case  may be- 
ORGANIC LIFE.
79
So slowly, sometimes, that the cause is quite overlooked;
but there is no neglect which more surely undermines the
constitution, than the continued breathing of vitiated air.
    When Ave think, then, of the extreme  susceptibility
of infant life, of the immense importance which the lungs
have all at once acquired, of the imperfect ventilation
of our houses, and  the  many ways in which the air  is
spoiled, we can understand the dangers  which must arise
from the neglect of this point, and the constant care with
which we should strive to supply to the lungs their pure,
unfailing nutriment.  No one can have failed to notice
the tranquil, smiling slumber, which will last  for  hours,
as the infant is carried  in its nurse's arms  in the  fresh
air of park or garden—it will fret and fume and torment
a household hi doors—but protect it Avell and send it out,
and the gentle air and movement prove the most happy
anodyne—a charm after nature's heart.  We should  do
well to meditate  earnestly upon  that peaceful slumber.
    We have another duty to the infant, under our second
head, viz., the supply of food, and it is avcII that nature
has so clearly provided the suitable  food, that we have
only  to  follow her indications  as  closely as possible.
Breathing, eating,  and sleeping are the main features
of infant existence, and Ave  must provide for the free
exercise  of these  faculties,  with  religious care.  The
prominent place which the alimentary canal holds in the
infant  economy, would be  indicated  by reason alone, 
80
ORGANIC LIFE.
when we consider that rapid growth has  to  take place,
and air and food are the means provided for this  groAvth.
But actual observation confirms this view ; the alimentary
canal, measured from its two extremities, is in the infanl
twelve times  the length of the body, Avhereas in the aduli
it is  not more than eight times that length.  It is suited
to the mildest nutriment, it is easily acted upon ; it works
and rests Avith equal rapidity.   The  rules of digestion,
therefore, that  apply to the  adult, are unsuited to the
very different organization of the infant.   A little  nour-
ishment, frequently taken, at  regular  intervals, is the
plan indicated by nature.   The changes which occur in
the alimentary canal, in the power of digestion,  and the
wants of the individual in relation to food, during the
period of youth, form, by the  visible effects which they
produce, distinct divisions of this  period, which  aid us
greatly in  obtaining a clear general view of the wants of
youth, and our duties in relation to it.  For these  mate-
rial changes  have a profounder meaning than the simple
appearance which is obvious  to all—they work  changes
in the whole  life of the young.  The  gradual unfolding
of the soul is, in truth, deeper, more  Avonderful. than the
development of the body ;  it is the object of the  latter—
these  material changes are the  words Avhich  the soul
utters ; and they become constantly  more significant, as
the body advances to  perfection.
    Now,  in pursuing our  inquiry,  viz.,  our   duty  to 
ORGANIC LIFE.
81
the organic life of the body, we need to cast a glance
over the whole period of youth, in order to see how far
the duties we have already pointed out are modified by
the different stages of growth.  Let us consider the dis-
tinct epochs of youthful  existence.
    We observe first in order, this  early period of infant
life, when the delicate being seems just learning to live,
striving to strike its little roots into our soil.   The next
epoch is marked  by the  appearance of the first teeth—a
neAV instrument is given, a wider range of life allowed,
and thus with the  first  teeth appear the first harmonic
movements, the first  attempts  at  Avalking; a period  of
rest, of consolidation, follows—then preparation is made
for neAV efforts, and  at seven years old the  provisional
teeth begin to make Avay for the  permanent and more
important set; but  this  set cannot be so quickly com-
pleted, they have much weightier  duties  than the milk
teeth to perform—they  must last through life, and be
strong for the service of manhood  as well as  childhood ;
the principal part may be changed by the tenth year,
but the completion of the permanent teeth may be delayed
till the seventeenth or nineteenth year.   The last epoch
in the period of material growth is the age of puberty,
which, as it is the change of most  importance, is also the
longest in preparation and in completion—it  is, in fact,
only from the twentieth  to the twenty-fifth year that the
body has finished its  growth, become strong  in all its
parts, and fit for the exercise of every function. 
82
ORGANIC LIFE.
    We have, then, these distinct epochs in the  youthful
life of the body.   Birth, first dentition, second dentition,
puberty ; each epoch being preceded by a time of prepara-
tion, and followed by a time of consolidation.  There arc
successive  waves of growth, before high water-mark is
reached ; and each successive effort is of far greater impor-
tance in the scale of existence than the preceding one.
It is more lasting in its effects, and wider in its  range of
action.  Besides  this  progressive  importance  in   the
groAvth of the  body,  there is another point to  which I
would direct attention, viz., the successive excitements to
Avhich the  body  is thus  subjected.  GroAvth is not one
slow  uniform  progress,  but a progress  Avith frequent
accelerations ;  and  at these special periods of excite-
ment, the body is peculiarly  susceptible to good or evil
influences.   Let me illustrate this point, which is of great
importance.    If  a  finger  is  burned,  the  effects   are
not confined to  the immediate  spot—a knowledge  of
the evil is  at  once telegraphed through the body, and
preparations are made to remedy it; the pain and heat
extend, the whole hand, or  arm, becomes exquisitely
sensitive, and shrinks from the slightest touch ;  acciden-
tal circumstances Avhich, in the ordinary state, would not
be  noticed, are magnified  into causes  of annoyance or
alarm—changes of temperature, a sudden  noise, shock
the system and jar the nerves, in a manner quite unusual
to the individual;  and if the accident is of considerable 
ORGANIC LLFE.
83
severity, this sympathetic excitability will be raised to
an intense  and  dangerous pitch.   So a fall on  the  ice,
or a narrow escape  from being knocked down by an
omnibus, Avill arouse every sense into unusual and unna-
tural activity;  we concentrate  our  energy into an exag-
gerated carefulness of tread on the  slippery pavement,
and employ eye and ear, and the quick  movement of the
head, in nervous anxiety, as we cross the street.
   Now this same increased susceptibility is present at
the various  marked  epochs of growth; it seems to be
the condition  of any unusual  or  special action of the
body ;  an impulse is given, an important work  is to be
done, and  the  vitality of every fibre  is  raised to the
highest point to give its aid.  There  is only this differ-
ence betAveen the excited sensibility  caused by accident
which  Ave  have noticed, and  that which  accompanies
growth—it is that the former accompanies a morbid con-
dition ;  Avhile the latter  is the  attendant of normal, ne-
cessary action, requires no remedial means, and if guard-
ed by a strict observance of the laws of health, will aid
the progressive  groAvth.
   From these two  facts in the history of youth—1st,
the  marked and   increasingly important epochs,  into
which we find the  life divided ;  2d, the heightened  sus
ceptibility of those periods of growth—we derive fresh
confirmation of that law of order  in  movement, which
has placed as the first necessary step in  life,  the devel 
84
ORGANIC LIFE.
opment of the material frame.  We also see clearly the
duty which we have constantly to perform to the organic
life.
   We have  spoken of the freedom  of movement, the
temperature, the  cleanliness  necessary  as  conditions
for  the life of the infant, and of  the essential impor-
tance  of  providing  the best  food for  the  lungs and
the stomach.   We now see  that  throughout the whole
period of youth,  the necessity  for these conditions in-
creases, with the increasing importance of the  changes
which take  place  in the system.   When  the  period of
infant life ceases, and the child is able to  run  about, to
eat a variety of food, and  to be in some degree  inde-
pendent, the maternal care instead of diminishing, should
take a wider range—it should increase with the growing
necessities.  That Avould indeed be a narrow  and un-
worthy view of maternal  duty, Avhich should  limit its
tender solicitude  to  the  direct dependency of infancy—
with every advancing step, the duties of the mother be-
come nobler, and more important  in  the scale  of exist-
ence.   This will be felt Avith greater force, when I speak
of the life of relation, which increases with the growth
of the child.  I urge now the increasing importance of
the mother's care,  because I wish it to be felt as apply-
ing also to the organic life throughout youth.   Our two
great principles of duty to this life  must never,  for a
moment, be  forgotten.  Freedom to work, and materials 
ORGANIC LIFE.
85
to work Avith, must always be provided, with at least  as
anxious a care  for  the  growing girl of fifteen, Avith her
expanding frame and  enlarging  desires, as for the little
sleeper in the  mother's  arms.   It would be quite  as
cruel, to compress the chest, to weigh down the form, to
impede the movements at thirteen  years of  age, as  to
SAvathe the infant  of thirteen  days—quite as  wicked  to
slowly poison  the  body with close, vitiated air and un-
wholesome food, Avhen the mind is rapidly unfolding and
the individual has wide  external relations to sustain, as to
injure  by the same means the unfolded life of  the infant.
Through  the Avhole period of youth the maternal care
must enfold the organic life of the advancing being, and
provide for its  necessities, with  the Avatchfulness of in-
telligent parental love.
    There is another principle which should be distinctly
understood in relation to this stage of life—it is the vast
difference  that exists  between  the  period  of active
groAvth, and that  of complete attainment—between the
physical condition of youth,  and  manhood.   The  excite-
ments, the privations, the subjugation of the  body, that
may be borne Avithout injury in healthy adult life, would
be keenly felt,  and highly hurtful in youthful life.  Con-
sider for one moment the difference  in these two states.
In  the first period,  there  is  a  regular  succession  of
marked and most important physical changes, affecting
sympathetically every  portion of the organization.   In 
86
ORGANIC LIFE.
the second period of life there is no physical change—
the body strong and useful, quietly performs its part, as
a perfect subordinate instrument.  In the first, the mind,
though groAving, by no means keeps pace Avith the body,
but  remains unformed when  the  material organization
has attained its perfection.   But during adidt life, the
mind is supreme, it is strong and  active, and its  action
is the object of life—here then Ave  see a total difference
of method and aim—there is an harmonic connection be-
tween them, as  the first is  but a preparation for the
latter—but in actual condition there is an immense dif-
ference, the same fact may have a totally different signi-
ficance, during the two ages,  and the rules for the  mate-
rial well-being, must  be different.  I wish  to call your
attention to the  bearing Avhich this difference  of  condi-
tion has upon the organic life, because the life of youth
being regulated  by adult  experience, the danger exists,
that the  habits of daily life which may be  innocent to
the adult, may  therefore be  considered as suitable to
youth.  The stomach and digestive apparatus, for exam-
ple, occupy a different relative position to the  economy
in youth,  and manhood.  I have noticed these peculiari-
ties in my remarks on infancy ;  they continue  to  exist,
less  in degree,  but still  strongly  marked, through the
whole period of growth.  Food occupies a place of more
prominent importance; the  total amount  required, is
comparatively greater, but the power of digesting  at one 
ORGANIC LIFE.
87
time is less ;  delicacy  of  structure, and  general sus-
ceptibility, are strongly marked in youth ;  consequently
the quality of food, the amount taken, and the length of
abstinence, must  differ in the two periods of life ; and
the violation of true principles, will  be far  more injuri-
ous to  the young  than to those advanced in life.  Over-eat-
ing is  one of  the most injurious as well as most common
habits of childhood;  the appetite becoming ravenous by
too long abstinence, induces the child to  eat enormously
—the total amount taken in the  twenty-four hours may
not be too great—the mischief lies in giving the stomach
too much  at  once—or food of  an  improper  quality—
heavy  pastry or bread,  half-cooked  vegetables,  tough
meat, hot cakes swimming in butter and molasses, coffee,
spices, pickles, and the heterogeneous mixture of articles
which  so often  constitutes our  present  diet.   Simple
nourishing  food,  Avell prepared,  in   abundant quantity,
but not too much at once, is the  necessary  provision for
the young, rapidly growing  body.  The same  difference
should be  observed in  all  the  habits of youthful and
adult life ; and the tendency Avhich exists in the young
to imitate the old, should never blind us to  the injurious
consequences  Avhich would  result from  such  imitation.
The freshness of the  young intellect, its quick percep-
tions, and perpetual activity, may lead us to imagine the
existence  of  the corresponding  strength,  which  Avould
accompany  those qualities  in manhood.  A  child  may 
88                   ORGANIC LIFE.

learn to keep late  hours and turn night into day; to
live  on coffee  and Avine, and  spicy food; the  boy may
smoke a cigar,  and  the little girl may imitate the  unna-
tural tournure, and adult airs represented in our fashion-
plates—they may  learn AYith  wonderful accuracy the
habits  and follies  of an older age ; but  not with impu-
nity, such untruthfulness to nature destroys her beauti-
ful work;  this bright young life is sparkling but not
deep, and Ave  dry up its source when  Ave subject  it to
artificial habits, and to the rules of a later period.   The
excitability of the  child is  surprising;  the praise  of a
superior, will  stimulate  to  its OAvn destruction, as  with
the Spartan boy, who suffered the concealed animal to
destroy his life, ra/ther than be degraded  in  the eyes of
his companions and teachers, as an inexpert thief.   This
extreme susceptibility  must be guarded by us, as  an
important  means of good to the child ;  as a condition by
which it may  draAV health and life from  every favorable
circumstance.  Let it be surrounded, as of the  first im-
portance,  by those  agents which will conduce to its phy-
sical well-being ; let us understand  the importance of
our position as the intelligent guardians of youth, and
provide for the peculiarities of  its bodily  Avants.   Let
every organ have a full supply of the healthy stimulus
peculiar to it, and  full freedom to perform thoroughly its
function.   And let us avoid most carefully, forcing upon
the  youthful  growing   organization,  the customs, the 
ORGANIC LIFE'.
89
thoughts, the restraints and indulgencies of our own ad-
vanced condition.
    Here  I leave this branch  of  our subject.   I have
pointed out the peculiarities of  the  organic  life, particu-
larly during the period of youth.  I have shown how we
are called upon to aid this  life,  and what are  the limits
of our  poAver in regard to it.   We  have seen that this
attention  on our part, is essential to youthful Avell-being,
as the  organic  life is the foundation of all other life;
and finally I have dAvelt  upon  the  different  habits and
objects that should influence youthful and adult life.  In
the next  lecture I  shall call your attention  to  a most
important subject,  viz., the Related Life of  the  Body,
and our Duties to that Life. 
RELATED  LIFE.
 We  have now to consider the second branch of ma-
 terial life, viz., the related life of the individual.   In our
 last lecture  we spoke  of the organic existence of the
 body, Avhen, like a tree in winter, the proper life  is unde-
 veloped, concealed within, and it stands bare, and isolat-
 ed, useless  to us  ; now we  Avould  regard it as the same
 tree  putting  forth its  leaves, fruit, flowers, beautiful to
 the eye, a shelter  from the sun, purifying  the  air, and
 making sweet music in  the passing breeze ;  such is the
 related life of the  body, the instrument of wonderful and
 beautiful uses.
    The object of this related  life, is to furnish  the  soul
 of man with a fitting instrument for its expression, conse-
 quently its range of action must be wide and varied ; it
 must  serve  as a medium between the ever expanding
 soul and the infinite universe.   The different portions of
our bodily frames,  which are intended for this high use,
are, 1st,  the muscular system; 2d, the organs of sense ;
3d, the  brain.   By means of  these, our  whole  external 
RELATED LIFE.
91
life is carried on.  The soul takes possession of all these
organs, and Avith their help, conquers the material world,
penetrates the secrets of Nature, the hidden mysteries of
earth and sky ;  by their help, all the holy relations of the
family are formed, and man learns to know and love his
felloAv-man ; through them we explore the wonderful king-
doms of science  and art; there is no limit to the treasures
of love and Avisdom, which they open to us, for it is equal-
ly by means  of  these divine  gifts that we raise the first
humble cabin in the wilderness,  or worship Avith a whole
nation in the lofty temples of the  Most  High.   From
the noble use, then, of these  faculties of our nature,  we
should be led to regard them with peculiar interest; but
there is one quality which they hold in common, which
classes  them  together,  notAvithstanding   their   varied
structure and uses, which will add a hundred-fold inter-
est to their study, and  make this  study an imperative
duty ; it is the power of education Avhich these faculties
possess, a poAver of indefinite development under our in-
telligent action,  by means of which Ave may exercise an
almost creative power over the child, and impart  to it a
degree of goodness, beauty, and intelligence, which should
make us tremble at the responsibility placed in our hands.
    It is my purpose, then, in this lecture, to dwell  in
some  detail on  those  organs of the related life  of the
body, Avhich are particularly connected with the  health,
the physical Avell-being of the  individual.   I wish  to 
92
RELATED LIFE.
 show you the position Avhich they occupy in the econo-
 my ;  and Avhat our duty is  in  relation  to  their develop-
 ment.  I shall commence with that important structure
 of our body, whose object seems  synonymous with life,
 and whose direct action marks the opening  and the
 closing of our career ;  Ave will first consider the muscu-
 lar system.
    The great bulk  of the  human body is composed of
 muscle.   If you  look  at the bare skeleton, composed
 chiefly of hollow bones, you  will see how slender an.out-
 line of  the  human form it presents ;  the clothing of
 those bones, the closing of the cavities,  the formation of
 the special human outline, is  the work  of  the muscles ;
 the weight of the individual  depends  chiefly on  them.
 If we could lay aside the protecting layer of skin and
 fat which envelopes  the body, it would make very little
 difference in its size, we should then see   the muscular
 body, red and well defined,  and we should realize more
 fully how very large a proportion of the body is formed
 by muscle.  It is as you all know  the  flesh of animals,
 the lean of meat.   Its structure is regular and beautiful;
 we  can form  no  idea of this  structure from the meat
 which  we  cut  at  table, because  we cut  it across the
grain.  If we cut an orange in two transversely, that
 is through the rounded circumference, we can form little
 idea of its structure ;  but if we peel it,  and split  it lon-
 gitudinally, we then see at a glance the number of parts 
RELATED  LIFE.
93
 which compose it, the semi-transparent membrane which
 incloses each division, the way in which they are united ;
 then if Ave open one of these divisions Ave find inside the
 seed, and the juicy pulp,  and even  the  pulp noAv, will
 present quite  a  different  aspect  from  the  transverse
 section, for we see that it  is  arranged in little bundles
 or fibres lying side by side, and that each bundle is itself
 incased in such  a delicate transparent membrane, that it
 tears and lets out the juice, Avith  every attempt  to  sepa-
 rate it.  Thus by carefully dissecting the orange, Ave get
 a totally different idea of  its structure, than by simply
 cutting it through.   Noav  if in  the same way, we  could
 peel the human being of his  skin  rind, we  should find
 the muscles beloAV as well marked as  the sections of the
 orange ; each muscle  carefully enveloped in  its sheath
 of membrane, and lying across or by the side of  other
 muscles similarly enveloped.   There is an immense  num-
 ber of them spread over the body, several hundreds, and
 they  are  infinitely varied  in  shape  and  size ; some so
 large as  to cover the trunk,  others almost invisible ;
they are thick and short, or long and slender, or spread
out in a sheet, or branching like pine leaves, according
to the object to be attained, and the part  where  it  must
be attained. These muscles are mostly in pairs ; thus the
 layers Avhich cover the  right arm, correspond to  those
 which cover the  left;  so  with  those on the legs, and
 those which cover the  face, neck, and trunk; they are 
94
RELATED LIFE.
symmetrical  throughout  the  body, most  beautifully
so, the shape of many of them is exceedingly graceful,
and the " line of beauty" is  illustrated in no part of the
body so perfectly  as  in the muscles.  Noav this Avhole
assemblage of muscles, so varied as we  have  seen, and
spreading all over the body,  both inside and out, Ave class
together under the term, muscular system.  Its grand
object  is movement.   Let us see how this is obtained.
When  we take hold of a bell-rope and ring the bell, the
essentials to this action are, the rope, with its two attach-
ments, one to your hand, the other to the head  of the
clapper, then the power of making one of these tAVo at-
tachments a fixed point towards which the other shall be
drawn, thus pulling down the  head of the clapper and
striking the bell with the end.   Now to  move a  human
leg, the same points are necessary, the rope or long mus-
cle, with its two attachments,  one  end fastened  to the
trunk as a fixed point, the other attached to the leg.  In
order to move the leg,  the distance  between  the two at-
tachments must be diminished,  the leg attachment must
approach the fixed point at the  trunk; in ringing the
bell, the  distance was shortened by  drawing down the
arm and rope ;  but  our body  would present  rather an
alarming spectacle, if the  muscles  should start out in
every direction, to pull the limbs from  point  to  point;
the shortening of the distance  between the tAvo  attach-
ments  is performed in another way, viz., by the shorten- 
RELATED LIFE.
95
ing of  the muscle  itself, by  that  contractile  power
which is peculiar to it.  If we open the sheath of a mus-
cle, Ave shall find it composed of bundles of delicate fibres
ranged  side by side;  noAv each  little  fibre  has the
power  of shrinking  together, the whole muscle  shrinks
together, SAvells  somewhat in bulk, but  shortens  in
length, and so moves the limb or part to which  it is  at-
tached.   It is  not, hoAvever, one  single muscle which
moves  a limb;  not only are there many other muscles
which combine in various degrees to form  the  different
movements of  a part, but the various fibres of the same
muscle, can  also  move  in various  degrees  to modify
movement; thus  the variety of movements  that can be
produced by the combinations of so  large a  number of
muscles is immense, and  the shades of movement may
be  of  the  most  delicate  nature, and  infinitely varied.
The attachments of the muscles are  of a different char-
acter  from the body of the  muscle, particularly where
great compactness of movement is  requisite, the  ends of
the muscle then condense into strong white cords which
we  name  tendons ;  this structure and  the  method of
movement may easily be examined in the wrist  of each
individual,  if there is not much fat below the skin.  If
Ave feel the inside of such a wrist, we can slide  the skin
backwards  and forwards over the thick white cords, which
lie below and are hard to the touch ; these are the tendons
of the muscles, and if Ave trace one of them up the arm, 
96
RELATED LIFE.
we shall feel it grow larger and softer, till  it swells  out
into  a mass of flesh, near the elbow joint.   If the skin
of the wrist is delicate, Ave can even sec the dark fleshy
part of another layer of muscles lying below these Avhite
cords.  These tendons are attached  to different parts of
the hand and  arm, and we can feel very distinctly their
movements changing, according  to the part Ave wish to
move.  If we lay  the  thumb of the  other hand over
these tendons, and move the Avrist slowly backAvards  and
forwards,  and then keeping  the  hand  steady, move sim-
ply the fingers, we shall distinguish the action of totally
different muscles ; then by steadying the hand and fore-
arm,  moving them upon the arm,  we find the muscles at
the wrist  do not come into play at all,  the action  is pro-
duced by muscles placed on other parts  of  the  arm.
There is an endless variety of objects to be accomplished
by the movements  of  the human body—force,  agility,
expression, the  various thoughts of the mind have to
shape themselves  in  action.   We find in  the arrange-
ments of  the  muscular system, a corresponding variety
of method, to accomplish these  necessities.  Thus to
attain what would seem  the most  difficult triumph of
mind over matter, viz.,  the  expression  in material sub-
stance of the feelings  of the heart, of every  delicate,
noble, or violent sentiment, we find a most  beautiful ar-
rangement of the muscles  of the face ;  Ave have  no strong
tendons, as in the wrist, where great force has  to be ex-
erted in grasping, we find very few attachments to  the 
RELATED LIFE.
97'
bones below, but the face is covered by a layer of living
contractile muscles, with  their fibres arranged in every
possible  direction, circular, direct, oblique, running  into
one another, capable of the utmost mobility, and  instan-
taneous  response to the  slightest  change  of feeling;
our faces Avere never intended as masks to our souls, but
every provision is present, to  render  them the  faithful
image of every changing  sentiment.
    Now, constituting, as the muscles  do, the great bulk
of the body, they must necessarily require an immense
supply of  blood, and  consequently the largest  vessels
branch  off in every direction to supply the necessary
nourishment;  and these vessels do  not  branch off at
right angles, as they do  to  many of the organs  of  the
body, but the fullest and  freest communication of blood
is secured, by  the acute angle Avhich is generally  ob-
served in  the branching  of the muscular blood-vessels.
Besides  the blood which is called off in such large quan-
tities to  the supply of the muscles, there is also an  im-
mense supply of nervous influence, to which I must call par-
ticular attention,for it has  a most important practical bear-
ing.   We do not knoAV Avhat the peculiar fluid or essence
conveyed by the nerves to all parts of the body may be,
for Ave cannot demonstrate it as Ave do  the blood, by sight
or touch; but  it is  essential  to life, penetrates every
part of  the body, and is more  directly under the control
of the mind than any other portion of our frame, 
'98
RELATED LIFE.
    This nervous influence has its origin in the brain, the
spinal marrow, or  the  ganglia (which latter are little
white masses found in different parts  of  the body), and
is conveyed by Avhite cords into every fibre of the body,
producing  feeling,  movement,  in fact  life.  Now every
one knows, that the brain is that mass of gray and white
matter contained Avithin the  skull, and is the special in-
strument of the mind, while the spinal  marroAV is a thick
cord,  of similar substance, running through  the bony
tube of the spine.   There is no separation between the
brain and spinal-marrow ; we feel the head moving upon
the spine, but there is no division betAveen them at the
nape of the neck; they are encased by similar membranes,
bathed by similar fluid,  and formed of similar substance ;
the connection  betAveen the two must necessarily, then,
be  very  intimate.  The whole substance of the spinal
cord is specially devoted to supply the  muscular  system
with nervous influence  ; large white nerve-cords escape
from the spinal  marrow along the whole  extent of the
trunk, and branch off, in finer and finer threads, to every
muscle in the body; the largest nerves in the Avhole body
being three-quarters of  an inch Avide, branch off  in this
way in the lower part  of the trunk, and  extend to the
many powerful muscles  situated at  this part of the body,
and to the lower extremities.   Moreover, that the mus-
cular  system may not be isolated from the rest of the
body, but that its influence for  good or ill  may be felt in 
RELATED LIFE.                 99
every organ, branches of these nerves are sent off to each
one,  although they are specially supplied from another
source ; but thus the unity is preserved, and the muscles,
the organs, and the brain, are intimately linked together.
This  is not  all—a large  mass of the brain, the cerebel-
lum, viz., one-seventh  of  its  substance, is also  specially
devoted to uniting and harmonizing of movements, and
thus to the service of the  muscular system; thus we see
hoAv very large,  important, and widely connected, is the
supply of nervous influence provided for  this portion of
our economy.
   As every object in nature has its use, and the degree
of importance belonging to that use is indicated by the
nature of its structure, Ave see at  a glance  how highly
important to our Avell-being the use of  the muscular sys-
tem must be, Avhich forms the largest portion of our bodies,
which is arranged in the most beautiful and varied way,
which is so  richly nourished by heart and brain, and
which, moreover, is endowed Avith a special power, which
we fin.d in no other part  of the body, viz., the power of
vital contractility. The direct object  of this vast prepa-
ration is movement.  Each muscle, in order to enjoy its
proper life,  in order  to use the blood  and nervous fluid
supplied to it, and groAV, must move, must contract, and
thus employ its powers.  We see, then, the necessity of
exercise—the prominent  place which  it  must  occupy
amongst our faculties during the  growth of the body. 
100                RELATED LIFE.
The bare enunciation of this principle, viz., the necessity
of exercise, arising from the great law of use, is sufficient
to indicate the place Avhich exercise  should occupy in
our  systems of education;  but it will  strengthen a true
view of this subject, if we notice some of the minor uses
of exercise,  and  observe  the evils  which will  arise in
various ways to the body,  from the neglect to employ the
muscular system, from inaction of the body.
    First, then, it is intended by nature that a large sup-
ply  of blood shall go to the muscular system, and I have
shoAvn the peculiar provision that is made for this pur-
pose ;  but if the muscles are in a state of inaction, they
will not use this blood; only a small portion of it Avill
be employed for  the sIoav and languid growth of inactive
muscles ;  there  will  be  no  demand for blood   in that
direction,  and it will consequently be  drawn  to  other
parts in undue quantity; the internal organs will receive
more than they  need;  for these organs,  being always
active, Avill attract the blood which  the  muscles should
have used.  Now,* every organ is intended to receive a
certain quantity of fresh arterial blood, Avhich it uses for
its  own  special purposes, and then  sends off the refuse
venous  blood  by the veins, to be  purified.  In  every
healthy organ  there  are  these three elements well bal-
anced, viz., the arteries bringing blood, the active  parts
of the organ using it, and the veins carrying off the re-
mainder ; but if this healthy balance is destroyed, if the 
RELATED  LIFE.
101
arteries bring  too much, or the organ  fails  to  use the
supply, or the veins are  unable to carry off the useless
portion, then the part becomes overloaded or congested;
and if that  state continue, mischief will follow.  Now, it
is this state of congestion which will arise in the internal
organs, Avhen the muscular system  fails to use that por-
tion of blood which  is intended for it.  The  organs may
all  become  congested, or if any one is Aveaker than the
rest, if there is any tendency to disease  existing,  it is
that part Avhich will especially suffer, and disease will
inevitably be developed.
    2d. Muscular exercise aids the  circulation  of the
blood, and particularly the return of the venous blood.
    You know  that  each beat of the heart gives an im-
pulse  to the arterial  blood, and  sends it  on its  journey
through the body, Avhile the  elastic arteries, contracting
upon the blood Avhen the heart's beat is  over, continue
that impulse, and urge the blood on into the finest chan-
nels Avhich  it has to reach ; but there is no beating heart
to send  back the venous blood, Avhich has to be brought
from every part of the  body ; there are no elastic ves-
sels to press  it on, for the veins are not formed of the
same substance as the arteries.   A variety of other cir-
cumstances are  necessary, to aid the returning blood in
its journey to the  heart, and  amongst these,  a very im-
portant one is the  contraction of the muscular  system,
which, extending as we  have seen all over the body, both 
102
RELATED LIFE.
 inside and out, will powerfully  aid in exciting the ac-
 tivity of the veins, and pressing on the returning blood;
 while inactivity of the muscular system is sure to pro-
 duce stagnation of the  blood, or venous  congestion, and
 aid the  morbid  condition  to which we have alluded
 above.
     3d.  Animal heat and  electricity are  produced by
 muscular  contraction.   I do not allude to  the heat pro-
 duced by nutrition, for  you all  probably know that the
 change of blood into flesh, which is constantly occurring
 in the nutrition of every part of our body, produces heat
 by that chemical change, just as heat is  produced when
 you bring water into contact with lime. But besides this
 heat of nutrition,  there is a special development of heat,
 with currents  of electricity, that can be definitely meas-
 ured during muscular  exercise.   This has  been ascer-
 tained in the powerful contraction of the large muscles
 of a man's arm, which contraction produces an  electric
 current,  which powerfully affects a  magnetic  needle,
 suspended near the arm ;  and though we have not yet
 been able to measure the amount of heat  and electricity
 produced  in the human  body by the contraction of all
 its muscles, we know that it must be  very great, and
this subject becomes constantly more interesting and
important,  from the curious phenomena which science is
every day tracing to human  electricity.
    4th. I have spoken of the important influence of ex- 
RELATED LIFE.
103
ercise on  the  circulation of the blood—I wish noAv to
call  your attention to its marked effect on the nervous
system, and  I  might explain the evils which  arise from
neglected  exercise, by  the term nervous congestion, if
Ave were Avarranted in regarding the nervous influence
as a fluid circulating in the same way as the blood ; but
though there are strong analogies  betAveen the two sys-
tems, I should  not be justified in using the term nervous
congestion, although it Avould explain from analogy the
evil which I wish to point out.   Let  me  therefore refer
you again to the  anatomical arrangement of the nervous
system, that  you may clearly understand this very im-
portant point.  There is a certain amount of nerve force
in every individual which is essential  to  life ;  this force
is generated in the three centres, the  brain, the  spinal
cord,  the ganglia, just as  the blood is generated by the
stomach and its connected apparatus, and the lungs ; the
brain is the nervous centre for  the mind, the spinal
marrow is the centre for the muscles, and the ganglia
form the nervous centre for the organs.  Now each  cen-
tre has thus its appropriate objects to Avhich its nervous
force  must be distributed, but if  the parts which should
be supplied are not called  into exercise, there will be an
excess of nervous force in other parts, the healthy bal-
ance will  be lost, and a diseased nen'ous system will be
the consequence.  We have  seen the very large portion
of the  nen'ous  system  Avhich is appropriated to the 
104
RELATED LIFE.
muscles—the great number of nerves which are distri-
buted  all over the  body,  from  the Avhole  length  of
the  spinal cord—these  nerves  are  nerves  of mo-
tion,  and nerves  of  sensation; if the muscles  remain
inactive the motor nerves of course remain so too ; here
then the first balance is destroyed, the  sensitive  life  at-
tains an undue power over the active motor life, the body
becomes  the prey of morbid sensations, of an unnatural
vivacity of impressions, which mark the  irritability of
this unbalanced exercise of the sensitive nerves.   Again,
the inactivity of the muscular system not calling into
exercise the whole nervous force  of the spinal  marrow,
the mind which is always active will call  the  brain into
undue activity ; this evil will be increased  by the appli-
cation of stimulants  to the mind, which will still further
draw off the nervous influence to this centre and produce
a premature mental development—nor is this all.  The
ganglia, the sympathetic nervous system, under whose
influence  the organs of the body grow and  live, will  share
the undue activity imparted to the other centres by the
inaction of the muscular system.  The generative organs,
which are governed  by the  ganglia, and intimately con-
nected with the mind, will suffer from the lost balance of
the nervous system ;  they should be the last and slowest
growth of the  body—but they will  thus  suffer, equally
with the mind, a premature  development,  and the weak-
ness which is  the inevitable  consequence.  Here  then 
RELATED  LIFE.
105
are three great  evils arising from the  loss of nervous
balance, produced by the inactivity of the muscular sys-
tem—the undue exaltation of the sensitive life  of the
individual, and the premature development of  the mind,
and of the  generative system.
    5th.  The tone of the Avhole body  is lost by inaction.
By the expression, tone of any part, we mean that natu-
ral healthy vigor, Avhich is  shoAvn in the muscles by their
perfect contraction ; in the  organs, by  their steady normal
performance  of their functions ;  it can easily be under-
stood, by contrasting the firm flesh  of a healthy child,
with  the soft, flabby muscles of one weakened by dis-
ease.   Noav this tone is  lost in  every part  of the body,
by continued  inaction of the  muscular system, for there
exists not only nervous  connection between the muscles
and the organs,  but direct  sympathy of structure—there
is scarcely any organ of the body Avhere muscular fibre
is not found.   The heart is a muscle  of immense poAver ;
the stomach and whole length of the intestines  possess a
strong layer of muscular fibre ;  it enters into the  struc-
ture of the mass of blood-vessels.  The uterus  is an
organ of tremendous muscular force,  and muscular fibre
enters into every part of the generative  system.   Now
though there are differences in  the structure of this or-
ganic  muscular fibre, and the  fibre of voluntary  life,
which avc are specially considering, yet it possesses every
where the same essential  character;  it is contractile
         ■  5* 
106                 RELATED LIFE.
muscular fibre, and consequently the organs throughout
the body are connected  by sympathy  of texture, with
the Avide-spread muscular system ;  and if the  tone  of
the muscles is destroyed, if they are weak, relaxed, un-
fit for duty—the tone of all the organs will be destroyed
in  corresponding  degree.   Thus from the  neglect  of
exercise during youth, Ave have this formidable result to
the  body,  a weakness of the A\hole muscular  system.
Now the time would fail  me to trace out all  the bodily
evils, all the  diseases that  inevitably spring  from this
condition of Aveakness. The crooked spines and distorted
pelves, with other  vices of growth, may be directly traced
to it, and its injurious influence on the functions  of adult
life, I shall soon have occasion to dwell upon.
    Let me recapitulate the special evils which will thus
arise to the Avhole material frame  when the muscular
system is not called into  exercise, and  developed as its
structure and important functions demand.   I have
called your attention, 1st. To  the  congestion  of the va-
rious organs, and  consequent impairment of  their func-
tions.   2d.  To the stagnation of the venous circulation,
from the  absence of muscular stimulus.   3d.  To the
deficiency of heat  and electricity, which  are produced by
muscular contraction.  4th. To the irritability and undue
excitement of the nervous system, which must arise when
the motor nerves are not  called into action.  5th.  To the
loss of tone in the whole  body, from the  weakness of the 
RELATED  LIFE.
107
muscular system.   Now, all  these evils, more and more
formidable as they will seem, the more  you reflect upon
them in detail,  are still minor evils, because they do  not
refer to the great  object of the muscular  system, which
is to furnish  a  varied and powerful instrument for  the
expression of the soul.
    We need muscles that are strong and prompt to do our
will, that can run and walk in doors and out of doors, and
convey us from place to place, as duty or pleasure calls us,
not only Avithout fatigue, but with the feeling of  cheerful
energy ; Ave need strong arms that can  cradle a healthy
child, and  toss  it crowing  in the air, and  backs that
will not break  under the burden of household  cares, a
frame that is not exhausted  and weakened by the round
of daily duties.  We want faces that can smile and light
up with every noble sentiment, and not be rigidly set to
vacancy, or wrinkled  by  care, faces  that  will greet  the
stranger Avith a welcome that he can feel; that will show
to the loved ones the  rich affections of the heart; that
can lighten with indignation, or glow Avith honest appro-
bation : Ave need faces that know how to move and express
true feelings, instead of  remaining like an  icy barrier,
through which the warm feelings of the heart  strive in
vain to break.  We need developed muscles that shall
make the human body really a divine image, a perfect
form rendering all  dress  graceful, and  not requiring to
be patched and filled up and weighed down with clumsy 
108
RELATED LIFE.
contrivances for hiding its deformities.   Bodies that can
move in dignity, in grace, in airy  lightness, or conscious
strength,  bodies erect and  firm,  energetic and active—
bodies  that  are  truly  sovereign  in  their presence, the
expressions of a sovereign nature.  Such are the bodies
that we need, prompt to  do and  to  feel, truly our own.
 And such nature intends us to have.   In order to give
us so perfect and beautiful an instrument, the muscular
frame was constructed, so rich in every way,  so obedient
to the mind.   Exercise, then, the  means  by which the
muscular  system may be  developed,  assumes  its true
position, as of primary importance during the period  of
youth.  It is the grand necessity  which every thing else
should aid.  We have  seen  how the  organic involuntary
life needs  our aid but  indirectly,  but this  education of
exercise is immediately under our  control, and demands
imperatively  our direction.   Let us consider what we
have to do in this important matter.
    The  young infant is almost  withdrawn  from our
control.  Nature says  to us, " stand by, and watch my
work !"  This delicate  life will  admit of no trifling, no
neglect, no experiment;  but  watch the  infant how it
kicks, and  cries, and works, not arms and legs alone, but
every part of its body in pain or pleasure.  We  sit and
smile, or silently weep; but  the baby puts every muscle
in motion ; if it is pained or angry, it will scream with
its Avhole life, and contract every little  fibre,  and strain 
RELATED LIFE.
109
and wriggle in infantile rage, to the iiitense alarm of its
mother.   We may leave it to nature for exercise ;  it will
be well  attended to,  and carried through an efficient
course, reaching every muscle of the body, that Ave should
find difficult to imitate  by art.   Watch the  little child
too, that has learned to Avalk  and prattle ;  the perfectly
free child, that has not been forced to  conform to older
habits, whose organic life has grown  under the laws we
referred  to  in a  former lecture.  Do Ave  need a more
perfect illustration of perpetual motion, during its waking
hours ?   Give it free room and a feAV playthings, if they
are only blocks of wood, and it will go through a series
of positions,  stooping,  twisting, doubling,  turning over,
that  are  incalculable and unapproachable.   And you
cannot quiet such a  child; take away the playthings and
every legitimate source of amusement, and your inkstand
will be upset, your books ingeniously torn, the table-cloth
dragged off,  and  the contents of the  work-basket sent
rolling;  and  if it  be  absolutely restrained  from such
questionable devices, it will make it up by fretting and
fidgetting till the older head fairly  aches.   It is  a most
admirable arrangement,  this incessant activity  of  the
child, the inexorable laAV by which it lives, and Avhich
Avill turn  the whole household upside  doAvn, sooner than
sin against its own  nature.   For it lives by movement;
fresh air  and exercise are the mainsprings of its healthy
physical life.   Thus in the earliest years  of life, nature's 
110                RELATED LIFE.

indications are very plain; and in exercise, as  in  the
organic functions, the most perfect freedom, under favor-
able conditions, should be enjoyed  by the child, that its
own instincts  may guide it.   Our interference at this
early age AYOuld be injurious, for our intelligence has not
yet supplied us with means by which we can educate the
little child better than  nature  will, if Ave only  surround
it with the necessary opportunities ;  and  Ave  cannot, for
one moment, doubt the superior physical condition of the
young child Avho  can play for the whole  day in the fresh
ah* of Avoods and  fields, to one educated in the most skil-
fully conducted infant  school that we have ever seen.
At this age, when the instincts of nature are fresh in the
child, we have nothing to do, but zealously to  aid those
instincts—it  is  very  doubtful  whether our duty to the
young child will  ever extend beyond this.
    But the child grows on.  With the  period of  second
dentition, the  mind has assumed a different character.
The  irrational pursuits  of  early  childhood  no  longer
attract—it is  impossible to absorb the attention for hours
with  the position of a  few  sticks and  pebbles, or  the
manufacture  of  dirt  pies.  Exercise must now  have a
meaning, an object;  it must be rational  exercise in order
to attract, and a  book will be  far  more inviting  than  a
game of play, if  there  is no  mind in  the game.  The
instincts of the body are no longer imperative as with
the infant; they are not the  same trustworthy guides. 
RELATED LIFE.
Ill
The child has hoav been for a  long  time under the influ-
ence of social habits moulded to the wants of adult  life,
and nature no longer speaks through it, in the same
clear  voice;  the  intelligent  will is awaking, and  the
demands of the body are henceforth made in an humbler
tone.   But does  exercise really become less important
to the well-being of the child at  this  age 1  Most em-
phatically not!  Every part of the body is in active
growth, and exercise is essential to the perfect nutrition
of active  groAvth.  The bones have not attained their
due solidity,  they will  yield to the  pressure of long con-
tinued or constrained position ; the textures are soft and
incomplete ;  the  muscular system is growing, not grown,
and  demands  imperatively its condition of growth—ex-
ercise.   The nervous system is so extremely susceptible,
that  muscular exercise  is absolutely needed, to balance
its activity,  and  save it from morbid  irritability ; and
the most important physical changes  are  preparing in
the system, the crowning work of the body, Avhose effects
are of vital consequence to the Avell-being of adult life—
the age of puberty, viz.—which demands the most favor-
able material conditions, that it may be accomplished in
that  sIoav and complete manner, which can only be  the
result of perfect muscular development.
    Most evidently then the freest  and  fullest exercise is
required, until the period of puberty is fully established
and its functions consolidated.  It is only then when the 
112
RELATED LIFE.
bodily growth is healthily completed, that the physical
discipline may  relax, that our  object  may change, or
rather receive its completion  in the full development of
the  mind.   Until  that period  of perfected physical
groAvth is reached,  all neglect is dangerous ;  the evils
to which I have alluded, will  inevitably  arise, and imper-
fection or disease through the Avhole of life will  be the
result.
    Our special duties to the muscular system commence,
Avhen the earliest childhood is past; it  is then that our
intelligence is absolutely needed, to make physical exer-
cise  intellectual, and thus suit it to the wants  of the
growing child, and  it is at this  period that Ave may be
said for the first time, truly, to educate  the body.   We
have to provide the object, as well as the method of obtain-
ing it.  This object is the exercise of the mind through
the body; it is the  expression of ideas by means of the
muscles : spiritualized physical exercise is  the demand
of this second stage of youthful life.
    The method by Avhich this  object may be attained
is,  1st, the  subjection of the muscular system  to the
supremacy  of the will, by obtaining a perfect  control
over  all  the  muscles of our  body, and  a knowledge of
the combinations of  Avhich they  are capable ; 2d, the
application of the power so obtained to  the overcoming
passive resistances,  as in  climbing,  running, throwing,
&c. ;  to the overcoming active resistances, as in fencing, 
RELATED  LIFE.
113
wrestling, &c.;  to  the expression of sentiment, as in
pantomime and national dances ;  and  to special adapta-
tions of the muscles, as to the eye in archery, to the ear
in singing, to the touch in swimming.   But it is not my
purpose here to enlarge upon this subject.  In  this lec-
ture on the voluntary or related  life of the body, I can
only give you a  general  idea of the  importance of this
life, and the  principles which should  govern  it, without
entering into the details of education.  I have shown
you the  nature of the  muscular system, the paramount
importance of its devel >pment, and the rank which exer-
cise should hold in youthful education : I must now turn
to the second branch of the related life, Ariz., the senses.
    My remarks on the senses Avill be feAv, for  two  rea-
sons ; 1st, they have not  the same poAverful influence on
the material health, that avc have seen belonging to the
muscular system ;  they are more exclusively related to
the mind, and though of great importance  in  education,
their consideration belongs only indirectly to the branch
of physical  education  Avhich is properly our   subject.
And the 2d reason is, that our means of  educating the
senses are  at present very  limited; it is  a subject not
yet understood ;  Ave do not  comprehend their full scope,
and any attempt to lay down a system of training, would
be exceedingly imperfect. I shall content myself there-
fore Avith giving a fe\v general principles on this subject,
which will serve  as guides in the true direction, and ena- 
114
RELATED  LIFE.
ble us to understand the position which the senses occu-
py in the human  economy, and what  our duty to them
requires.
    1st.  We find the  same  capacity for improvement
Avhich marks  so  strongly the  muscular system,  shoAvn
most Avonderfully in the  senses.  The eye of the  expe-
rienced sailor  will  detect the  distant  shore, with  its
lighthouse and  scattered cottages, when the landsman
perceives nothing but a faint mist—and  the ship which
seems like a dark speck  in  the horizon, will reveal to
him its peculiar structure, and  the country to which it
belongs.   The sagacity of the Indian eye which detects
the trail of the enemy on  the hard rock, or amongst the
bushes of the forest, seems to us incredible.  And how
remarkable  is  the  touch of the blind,  as the  finger
passes rapidly from  line to line, gathering in the  varied
forms of the letters with unerring certainty, and with an
instantaneous recognition, that renders  it the  transpa-
rent medium of thought.   By  the  touch of the hand
they distinguish instantly the stranger from the friend ;
and even the varying  pressure of the atmosphere will
guide them  in  directing  their  steps,  and avoiding the
contact of external objects.
    The illustrations of this  power of education in the
senses, are familiar to  every one's experience, and it is
this power which gives to  them, in relation to our present
inquiry, their special interest, for it shows  us that they 
RELATED LIFE.
115
are placed directly under our control;  that it rests Avith
us  to  give them their due  exercise, and to develop the
true life  of Avhich  they are  capable.   This acute ac-
tion of the senses becomes another powerful instrument,
through Avhich the mind can express itself: it suggests
to  us  the 2d  point  of interest in  relation to this sub-
ject, viz.,  the intimate connection of the senses Avith the
mind.
    The senses are direct avenues to the soul; they are
capable of aAvakening intense emotion, religious enthu-
siasm,  every sublime or tender sentiment.  The traveller,
as he gazes from the mountain top on the Avide extent of
forest  and hill stretched at his feet, with the blue ex-
panse  above and the light clouds SAveeping silently over,
Avith no  sign of human life, no sound  to break the soli-
tude, stands aAve-struck with the overpoAvering immen-
sity and  spirit of majestic  beauty  that rests  upon that
scene; the eye  speaks  to  the soul of eternity, of the
Grand Spirit of the universe, with  a poAver that thrills
the  heart.  And  as  the  traveller  Avinds  through  some
sheltered valley,  and  marks the thriving village, Avith its
busy inhabitants, Avhat a different tide of emotion sets in !
Avhat thoughts of home, Avhat Avarm human interests are
aAvakcned !  Hoav our hearts bound to the spirited strains
of martial music ! hoAV Ave thrill to the shout of the multi-
tude !  and  hoAV many a David has charmed away evil
spirits by the melody of beautiful sounds !  Neither is it 
116
RELATED  LIFE.
a passing emotion of little moment in our life that we re-
ceive from the senses, for they are our perpetual body-
guards, surrounding us unceasingly, and these constantly
repeated impressions become poAverful agents in our life;
they refine or brutify our souls, they ennoble or degrade
them, according to the beautiful or mean objects which
surround us.  A dirty slovenly dress will exert an evil moral
influence upon the child; it will aid in destroying its self-
respect ; it will incline it to habits which correspond with
such a garment.   The beautiful scenes through which a
child Avanders, playing by the sea-shore, or on the moun-
tain side, will always  be  remembered; the treasures of
shell and sea-Aveed, brought from wonderful ocean caverns,
the soft green moss, where the fairies have danced, and
the flowers that have sprung up under their footsteps, will
leave a trace of beauty, of mystery, and  strange  happi-
ness  wherever its later life  may  be cast.  The  senses
mingle powerfully in all the influences of childhood.  It
is  not merely the loving care of parents, the purity and
truthfulness of the family relations that  make home so
precious a recollection ; there are visions of winter even-
ings, with the curtains draAvn, the fire blazing, and gay
voices or wonderful picture books;  there are summer
rambles in the cool evening, when the delicious night-
breeze fanned the  cheek, and Ave gazed into the heavens
to  search out the bright stars.
    It is then most important in educating children to 
RELATED  LIFE.
117
guard  the  senses  from evil  influences, to furnish them
with pure  and beautiful  objects.   Each  separate sense
should preserve its acuteness of faculty:  the eye should
not be injured by resting  on  a vulgar confusion of colors,
on clumsy, ill-proportioned forms ; the ear should not be
falsified by discordant sounds and harsh unloving voices;
the nose should  not be a receptacle  for impure odors;
each  sense should be  preserved  in its purity,  and the
objects supplied to them should be filled with moral sug-
gestion and  true  sentiment; the house,  the dress, the
food may preach to the child through its senses,  and aid
its  groAvth in  quite  another way from  the protection
afforded, or the good blood ay Inch feeds its organs.
    Doubtless the senses are capable of  a development
of which we  have at present little idea.  The inconceiv-
able acuteness Avhich  they occasionally acquire  in indi-
vidual instances, prove to us the crude  state in which
they remain in the majority of mankind.  Except for the
eye and ear, in  painting and music, science has done
nothing for the senses ; but  it is evident,  from these sin-
gular  instances of power, that  so  vast  a capacity  for
growth will not always be left unimproved.
    But this point I  must leave for future years ;  all that
I have to say on the practical training of  the senses will
fall under the subject of exercise.  It is sufficient here to
have pointed out the powerful influence Avhich the senses
exercise on the mind. 
118
RELATED LIFE.
   The third portion of our  material  frame which con-
nects us with external objects  is the  brain, the special
instrument  through Avhich the  intelligence  and the Avill
manifest themselves.  I will  call your attention to two
anatomical facts in relation to the brain :  the first is its
soft  condition throughout the  period of childhood, and the
greater firmness  Avhich it acquires through adult life.
The secotid is the longer period of growth allowed to the
brain; it does  not  cease  to  grow with the  rest of the
body at a definite period, but  may continue to enlarge as
well as consolidate during  adult life.  Now, this softness
and  high vascularity of the brain during  youth indicate
a period of growth, a period of comparative weakness and
excitability, Avhich is not  suited to the highest  functions
of the mind, to reflection and  calculation, to judgment, to
concentrated attention.  Milk for babes, strong meat for
men, is the wise rule established for the training of the
mind.  We must not  force  the youthful intellect  by
burdening it, during the limited period  of  bodily growth,
with tasks which  are suited  to  the  fully formed brain,
nor should  we force it to work for a length of time, which
interferes with the growth of the rest  of the body, and
Avhich  is quite unsuited to its powers.  The lengthened
period of growth allowed to the brain confirms this view.
We  are  not obliged to hurry  the  development of our
children ; there is a  regular order of  growth established,
and  when  the  body has attained its full strength, the 
RELATED LIFE.
119
brain will continue to sustain the increasing force of the
mental capacity.
    Now, Avnile I  lay down the distinct rule, that in youth
the mind should not be trained to the same extent as the
body, it Avill be at the same time clearly understood  that,
according to the law of compound movement, there  is no
period of life when the mind is left idle, and all through
childhood the intellectual faculties are rapidly unfolding.
But this unfolding is not the result of direct exclusive
training, as in later life.  The moral nature is not formed
by strict precept, by direct instruction ; the child will be-
come truthful,  just, affectionate, by seeing those virtues
constantly  practised, by feeling their beauty  and good-
ness, and thus learning to love them; only in this way
Avill it grow in  goodness, and later  in life,  the reason-
ableness of virtue, its  universal necessity, its laws will
be understood.   So in the intellectual life, the direct and
special  training  of the  intellect  should be  extremely
limited.  The mind  should grow in child-like fashion by
means of the body, through the senses, through move-
ment, through the  influences  which  surround it.  You
cannot  teach a child to speak grammatically when it is
surrounded by those who violate all propriety of speech;
the  child learns  best, not what it  is taught,  but what is
caufht  in every-day  life  amongst companions, in its
Avalks through the  streets ; and a ramble through the
woods, with  a wise  friend, will give it more real know- 
120
RELATED  LIFE.
ledge, will teach the eye to observe, the head to think,
and  the  heart  to feel, more than a week spent in poring
over books in direct intellectual exercises.
   This  subject will be more fully  understood when  I
examine our present method of education and habits of
life, and judge them by the principles already laid down.
This subject will occupy us at our  next meeting, and I
need not urge the vital importance of this examination ;
it is the great practical point towards which we have
been tending,  and on which  the highest welfare of  our
race depends.  It is a profoundly interesting question,
whether the principles of truth, which we have been  col-
lecting,  are  carried out in our lives, or whether we  are
setting at defiance every spiritual and material law. 
CRITICISM.
It  is our  duty to-day to examine  our  manner of life,
with particular  reference to its action  on our physical
Avell-bein^.  We have seen the standard  of  excellence
Avhich  Providence intends  us to reach ;  Ave  have con-
sidered the laAvs of life by which this excellence may be
attained ; and it noAV remains for us to ascertain how far
our customs, Avhich are the actions of our intelligent will,
conform to the plan of Providence, and hoAV far Ave live
in direct opposition to the Divine laAvs,  Let us review
these great principles of action, that we may judge the
customs of society in the light of their  requirements.
   The perfection of our  human  nature,  in  its double
capacity of body and soul, ready for strong and healthy
action, can only be attained by the gradual  unfolding
of this  nature, according to the Divine order  of growth.
This order requires that the material development shall
precede the spiritual  growth ; that during youth the mind
shall groAV through the physical organization ; that our
education of the mind shall always be subordinate to our
                6 
122
CRITICISM.
education of the body, until the  body has completed its
growth.
    We have seen that, in order  to provide for the grad-
ual  development of the body, we are bound to furnish
the conditions favorable to its organic growth, by leaving
each function in entire freedom to perform its work, and
by furnishing those materials that are necessary to this
work.  Moreover, as the child, grows, the necessity arises
for uniting mental  with  bodily  training ; Ave must pro-
vide for  the growth of the mind through the body, by
making the exercises of the physical nature, the expres-
sions of ideas and emotions.
    Now  Ave shall find, on reflecting upon  the method in
which Ave educate our children ;  in examining the details
of their  daily life, from early  infancy to the period Avhen
they leave our roof to enter on a new phase of existence,
and undertake  the weighty duties  of the adult age—
that 'he whole scope  of education  is diametrically op-
posed  to the  true principles  of  growth,  and that with
every advancing year of the child's  life, there is  an in-
creasing  violation of Nature's law.
    Let us consider first our system of school education,
which embraces the most  important  period of youthful
life.  The large majority of children enter school  about
the age of 7 years—they leave at the age of 16.  Now
this period embraces,  you will remember, all  those re-
markable changes  of  bodily  organization which  occur, 
CRITICISM.
123
from the establishment of second dentition, to the attain-
ment of puberty—a period of rapid  growth—when the
body is enlarging its range of action  for the powers al-
ready established,  and acquiring new functions of im-
mense importance to the individual and to the race, and
Avhen consequently the body makes  incessant demands
upon  the vital energy, and requires  the most favorable
circumstances to perform  its work well.
    Thus  at this period of  life, the  entire change of the
milk teeth, for a more numerous and powerful set, indi-
cates the increasing poAver of digestion, to meet the more
varied and substantial food  noAV required by  the body.
The groAvth of the mind and  the Avants of social  life,
necessitate greater freedom of action—long walks, great-
er  exposure to change of Aveather, to the roughness and
accidents of the  external  Avorld ; therefore all the  tex-
tures of the body  must  increase in  size and strength.
And  the physical changes which  precede the age of
puberty, are in progress for years, before the actual ap-
pearance of  the neAV functions established at that age.
    Now Avhat do we do, at this  period of special physical
growth ?   We completely ignore the body ; we substi-
tute  mental for  physical  training;  we entirely change
 the order of  nature, and  oppose  the most  formidable
obstacles to the proper groAvth of the body.
    For, to  ensure this  proper  growth, the appropriate
nourishment of every physical function must be supplied 
124
CRITICISM.
in abundance.  Thus a constant supply of fresh air is
essential, and large amounts of exercise in the open air,
with plenty of  simple  nourishing food; the body never
groAvs so well, as in the companionship of the trees and
flowers and streams of a healthy country district.
    The  great  object of the child's  life is  school—pure
intellectual training.  The best  part of every day, gen-
erally from 9 to 3, is spent in the school-room, where the
mind is forced  to long and unnatural  exercise; and in
order to meet the tasks imposed upon  it, it must either
rouse itself to  a constant exertion, that would be difficult
for an adult, or it must rest contented with half under-
standing  its studies,  and learn by rote ;  a habit which
is injurious to  the best qualities  of the mind.  And this
unnatural  exercise  is  carried on under  circumstances
which Avould almost seem expressly calculated to injure
the body as much as possible.  The imperfect ventilation
of our houses, Avhich  renders  it extremely  difficult to
preserve a purity of atmosphere, even in  a private fam-
ily, makes it quite impossible to keep the atmosphere of
our school-rooms  fit for  human lungs to  inhale ; it  is
difficult  in summer-time,  with all the windows  open, to
maintain  an entirely  pure air  where so many human
bodies are  congregated for hours together; but during
the greater part of the year, the windows must be shut
—for several months the rooms must be artificially heat-
ed, generally  with  stoves, and  often  red-hot.  Under 
CRITICISM.
125
these circumstances, the essential constituents of the .air
are exhausted more  rapidly than they can be supplied ;
the  atmosphere  is laden with human exhalations, and
becomes a slow poison to those who breathe it—the lungs
continue to take it in, but it can  no longer perform its
office of fully purifying the blood—the blood  is unable
to supply the normal stimulus to the brain, and the child
is forced to  make more difficult efforts to perform its
studies Avell.   We  all knoAV the  unpleasant effects we
experience in a crowded lecture-room, or in a  close rail-
road car, and how very difficult it is to keep the mind in
a condition of active mental exertion under such circum-
stances ;  yet we  are adults, and  require the  fresh air.
simply for the maintenance of our healthy physical con-
dition—whereas the child has, in addition, the require-
ments of rapid  physical growth to be  met.  A  play-
ground is very seldom connected with  the  school;  once
or twice during the  six or seven hours of school-time,
the child may go doAvn for five minutes  into the yard—
there may be half an hour's intermission in the middle
of the day—but there is no provision  for amusement;
the children are  exhausted  by the morning's efforts, they
louno-e about and eat their luncheon, and are not, for the
most part, inclined to take bodily exercise.
    There is another serious evil, besides  the close  air
of the school-room ;  it is the injurious position in which
a great part of the time is passed, leaning over the desks 
126
CRITICISM.
in study or writing.  This  position is exceedingly mis-
chievous ;  the chest, Avhich should  expand  freely to re-
ceive the  air,  to strengthen its muscles  and  grow, is
cramped and contracted by this stooping attitude, and
the  pressure against the  desk; the  shoulders, Avhich
should be  thrown back at an equal level, are thus drawn
forwards, and the right one thrown upward by the action
of the arm in writing, often retains this position, and we
have the  narrow chest  and crooked shoulders so  com-
monly seen in school-girls.  The seats are hard, generally
without  backs ; the body is  wearied by a  constrained
position, exhausted by mental efforts ;  the muscles of the
back cannot maintain with vigor the  upright position;
they seek  to relieve themselves  of  the weight of the
head and  back by awkward  attitudes—leaning on one
side, resting on the desk, curving the  back.   This effort
continued  day after day weakens  the muscles, often dis-
torts the spine, and produces  other bodily deformities—
for it  must  ever be borne in  mind, that they are the
young, not  adults that we  are  educating—growing
bodies, soft and pliable, that give way to undue pressure,
and  cannot resist evil influences with the power of older
years.
   Now the object  for  which  the  children  are thus
brought together, and subjected to such serious physical
evils, is open to grave  objections, not only from the ex-
clusive  attention which  is  paid to  the mind, but from 
CRITICISM.
127
the method by which the system of teaching addresses
itself to the mind.
    The instruction given at school, is  almost purely in-
tellectual ; the  senses  receive little  regular training;
their poAver is used  in  very moderate degree to aid the
mind—yet they are the first teachers of  the young.
Grammar, history, definition,  composition, call  for  sim-
ple intellectual exertion—the natural  sciences are very
slenderly illustrated by sensible examples, and the poor
engravings in the text books  are often the only illustra-
tion they receive.  The most  abstruse subjects, that tax
the  attention of the  strongest mental poAvers, are  pre-
sented  as  studies for the  young ;  girls of 13 or 15 are
called upon to ponder the problems of mental and moral
philosophy, to demonstrate the propositions of Euclid,
to  understand the  refinements of rhetoric  and logic—
admirable studies, truly, but they are  the food of mature
minds,  not suitable  to children.   "The  Logic of  the
Schools," once signified the acutest  efforts  of poAverful
intellects—in our day it has  a very different meaning !
    There  is no end to the list of "  English branches,"
which the child has to  "go through" during the few
years of school training;  the enumeration  would have
frightened our  most studious ancestors ;  they did not
understand what is meant by " going through  the Eng-
lish  branches ;" they in their simplicity  supposed that
there Avas some  use attached to  every study—that it 
128
CRITICISM.
must  be acquired thoroughly, and  be made either a
means of mental discipline, or an object of investigation
and discovery.   But it Avould puzzle the most ingenious
observer, to discover the good use of most of our chil-
dren's studies.   If the object be mental discipline, there
is no surer way of defeating such an object,  than to  at-
tempt to give the mind a superficial view of a subject  too
difficult for it to grasp—to confuse  it  with a multitude of
disconnected studies—to hurry it from subject to subject,
so  that  the  simple studies more  suited to the  young
mind, are imperfectly acquired,  and  soon forgotten.
Thus  the greater  part  of the time  devoted to the  so-
called cultivation of the  intellect is  really wasted;  and
it is no uncommon thing, to find the young girl who has
gone through all the English branches, quite unable to
write a lady-like note, or read aloud  a single page with
right emphasis, ease and accuracy.
    How can it be otherwise, when  the  young mind  has
to apply itself,  during the  limited  term of school-study,
to such a list of subjects  as  the following: Grammar,
Ancient  and  Modern History,  Natural   Philosophy,
Chemistry, Botany, Astronomy. Mental and  Moral Phi-
losophy,  Physiology, Rhetoric,  Composition,  Elocution,
Logic, Algebra, Geometry, Belles-Lettres !
    The teacher is not to blame for  this wretched  system
of cramming.   He is compelled to present as formidable
an  array of knowledge to  be acquired at his school, as 
CRITICISM.
129
his neighbors do ;  and most patiently and earnestly he
may strive to aid his pupils in the acquisition.  The evil
is in  the  system  itself,  which substitutes names  for
things ; which  fails to recognize  the necessity of adapt-
ing the kind of instruction  to  the  quality of the  mind.
This formidable array of names,  and superficial amount
of instruction, is required by the community, and he is
compelled to meet the demand ; this system is radically
Avrong—no effort of the teacher can make it right.
    But is this  formidable  amount  of English  branches
the only burden laid upon the child ?  We have not yet
spoken of the  accomplishments ! accomplishments to be
acquired with  great  labor, to  a superficial  extent, and
laid aside directly the  serious duties of life commence.
French, Latin, Italian,  perhaps Spanish, German, and
Greek—I believe HebreAv is not introduced in this coun-
try—vocal and instrumental music, piano, harp, guitar,
draAving,  painting, and  various  kinds of fancy work,
swell the increasing list.   Now many of these pursuits
are beautiful and useful  in  themselves, and would refine
and elevate life  if acquired at  the right time,  in  the
right way.  But as studied at present, added on to the
burdens of the young school-girl, their acquisition is not
simply useless  ; they consume much time, and thereby
become highly  injurious, by increasing still  further  the
efforts of the mind, and preventing the slightest atten-
tion being  given  to the necessities of the body.   The
                    6* 
130
CRITICISM.
school-hour closes, the  child returns  home ;  not  racing
merrily along, Avith shout and frolic—the little girl must
not slide on the ice with boys—she must walk properly
through the streets ;  she dines, and then there are les-
sons to be  prepared for the next day ; if she be a docile,
obedient child, some hours will  be spent in this prepara-
tion—if the instincts of, nature are too  strong, she will
neglect the lessons,  wander  about the  house, perhaps
join in a game of play; and the next  day she will suffer
the penalty of a reproof from the teacher, for imperfect
lessons, and the loss of her place in the class.
    Perhaps the child is sent out  to take a Avalk,  on her
return from school;  but what is there attractive or in-
vigorating in  a walk through  our streets ?  Can there
be a more  melancholy  spectacle than  a boarding-school
of girls, taking their afternoon walk ?  there  is no vigor
in their step, no pleasure in their eye ; the fresh  air is
certainly good for their lungs, but the unattractive exer-
cise is of most questionable benefit.
    There is little that is interesting  to young girls in
walking out Avithout an object, they cannot play in the
streets ; their  dress  would be inconvenient;  the mud
and  the carts, and the  passengers,  would  prevent  it.
Children playing in the  streets are nuisances ;  though
we may watch  with pleasure  the  lively movements of a
group of boys, who have taken possession  of a slippery
pavement with their sleighs and  skates, and though we 
CRITICISM.
131
would not for one moment dislodge them from their only
play-ground—still they are out of place—and the unfit-
ness Avould be still more striking, if the players were a
group of girls, for there is an ideal of beauty in woman-
hood Avhich  may not  be  neglected, and our natural per-
ception of fitness is always more outraged by coarse  ar-
rangements for girls than for boys.   Our public squares
do  not afford  the necessary  opportunity  for exercise.
They are very few in  number ;  they are public thorough-
fares.   Thus a  quiet walk through the streets is the
only resource  for  the young girls, and Avho can wonder
that they  find  it  more  amusing to  gaze  in at  shop
windows, or lounge on the door step with young compan-
ions, or sit in a rocking-chair with a novel, than to take
exercise in a dull  street-Avalk.   There is an entire neg-
lect of  all provision for the  exercise of children in our
city,  that  must  not  be overlooked by mothers.  The
ground has become   so valuable,  that  the houses  are
crowded together;  and  with  very few exceptions,  the
yards  are laid  out on the  minutest  pattern ; exercise
could not be taken in them, for they are the embodiment
of  dullness, shut  in  by  brick walls ;  no  room  to run,
hardly space for a swing.  The old Dutch frame houses,
that formerly stood in pleasant  shaded gardens, on  the
little hills  that  diversified  the island, have almost  all
disappeared ; the island  is fast becoming  a  dead  level,
and those  pleasant  gardens Avith the wholesome breath 
132
CRITICISM.
of their trees and grass, have  been dug away, with a
short-sighted view of the  greater profit to be  derived
from a row of brick houses.   It is much to be regretted
that some of those fine  old  gardens had not been re-
tained for the benefit of  children !
    There is then for the school-girl, after the long hours
of unnatural confinement, no opportunity given for the
healthy action of those  bodily  poAvers  which are, as we
have seen, of the  first importance to the young, Avhose
neglect is the source of prolonged suffering  and inca-
pacity.  There  is  no relief to  the overtaxed mind—no
excitement to the  body whose powers have been so  com-
pletely repressed.  The child wakes in the morning, to
dress  and take her breakfast, and hurry off to school
again.  And often the toilette  is hastily performed, the
duties of cleanliness and order  neglected, and the break-
fast quickly SAvalloAved, in defiance of the necessities of
the stomach, in  fear of being too late.
    The food given to children  is  generally unsuited to
their age, both in quality and quantity ;  Ave do not draw
the necessary distinction between the youthful and adult
natures,  and though I would not vindicate the Avisdom of
our own food, there can be no doubt that such articles as
coffee, hot bread,  mingled butter and  molasses, rich or
highly spiced dishes, pickles, wine, pastry, are far more
injurious to the young than to the old.   Their food should
be of the best quality, and wholesome unadulterated ar- 
CRITICISM.
133
tides should  be carefully selected, but it should be a
plain description of food, well, but simply  cooked.
    They should  be  cautioned from eating food too hot;
and from swallowing  it hastily and  half chewed—these
habits injure both teeth and stomach ;  they may be  en-
tirely prevented by a little care, and  the opposite habit
regularly formed, will be a poAverful safeguard from dys-
pepsia in later life.
    Neither should  children  be allowed  to  eat large
quantities ; they require, as I have elsewhere shown, more
food proportionally than  the adult—and this  should be
given to them at regular but more frequent intervals.
    We greatly injure children by neglecting these rules.
In the ordinary school-hours, the child remains for seven
hours Avithout  any proper  meal, for the luncheon taken
to  school,  is  often hastily put  up, or  consists of some
improper  article ; the  pickles and candy that children
frequently carry to school Avith  them,  are hardly more
Avholesome than  the  chalk,  india-rubber,  and  slate-pen-
cils, that they cheAV in such large quantities.
    Thus  under  the  combined influences of confinement
and close  air,  of  unsuitable food, and injudicious mental
excitement, the school-days pass; under such influences
the child  changes from a girl into a woman ; such is the
foundation laid for the  important duties of adult life !
    If Ave Averc to sit doAvn and  carefully plan  a system
of education, which  should injure  the  body,  produce  a 
134
CRITICISM.
premature and  imperfect  development of  its powers,
weaken the mind, and prepare the individual  for future
uselessness, we could hardly by any ingenuity construct
a  system more  admirably  calculated to produce these
terrible  results.   The  stimulus  applied to the  young
minds,  the emulation excited, the  very interest Avhich
they take in  many of their studies, become a powerful
means  for weakening the body—if the minds were not
so much exerted—if  the  children were lazy or disobedi-
ent  and Avould  not learn, the same amount of mischief
could not be done ; but by their very conformity to rules,
by striving to please their teachers and  parents,  and
maintain  an  honorable  position—they fall  completely
into the snare, and sin against nature, in exact propor-
tion to their obedience to society !
    It is in the boarding-school that this ruinous system
of education  attains its  full  force—for it is  only there
that the entire  lives  of the pupils are delivered up, for
the time, to  this one idea  of so-called  mental  develop-
ment.  It is expected by the parents, that their children
shall acquire so many branches  and accomplishments in
a given  time;  they are willing to pay  high  for the
knoAvledge, but they will be much disappointed if the
children  do not display the worth of the money.  To ful-
fil this expectation  the  teacher must utilize  every mo-
ment, for the day is  too short to get through  the formi-
dable list of studies.  The time is laid out with  the utmost 
CRITICISM.
135
regularity—early and late the child bends over her books
or sits  at the piano; the  short time  appropriated to
exercise,  is an interruption to the great business of the
day, and  is  an unpleasant duty to  all  parties—for no
child ever liked  a  boarding-school walk.   The stimulus
of rewards and punishments is freely  applied, to  urge
on in the  necessary direction—this stimulus is increased
by  the display of special  exhibitions or  examinations.
The Avhole interest of the  child  is  concentrated on its
studies, for the distractions of home  do not  exist—the
atmosphere of affection is  not  there, and if the  moral
tone of the school is good, study becomes its  one idea.
    I shall not  speak of  the  frivolity  and  immorality
Avhich frequently exist in  boarding-schools,  though un-
doubtedly this association of children under such  unna-
tural discipline, is  calculated to Aveaken the moral  senti-
ment, and produce  a mental re-action in favor of weakness
and folly.  There  is little  religious influence exerted
upon children at  school.   A formal  prayer morning and
evening,  the  repetition  of  Sunday's  texts, or the  occa-
sional recital of a chapter in the Bible, is not the sort of
instruction that Avill dcvelope the religious  nature of the
child—the atmosphere which it breathes should be reli-
gious ;  it is only by the constantly exerted influence of
religious natures, that children will grow in  that  direc-
tion.   Frivolity and immorality are  not necessarily con-
nected with a well  conducted boarding-school;  but the 
136
CRITICISM.
injury to the physical health is inevitable, it is a direct
consequence of the system  pursued, and too often the
mind also is  permanently Aveakened  by the very course
adopted to strengthen it.
    At  16, the girl's education is  often considered fin-
ished.  At the very age, Avhen, if a right system of phy-
sical and mental discipline had been pursued,  she would
have been prepared Avith a strong  mind, in  a  strong
body, to commence  serious study,  her education is  pro-
nounced finished, and she willingly lays aside her tasks
to enter society more fully than Avas possible during the
period  of  schooling.  Henceforth pleasure is  the chief
object; for the plans that perhaps  Avere formed, on leav-
ing school, for reading  and  study, are never  executed;
the mind is not prepared to exert its poAvers alone.   The
knoAvledge already acquired has  no connection Avith her
present life—her  social  nature needs  companionship;
and the temptations of  society are  too strong  to be  long
resisted.
   And what has been gained during these long years
of school, at such a sacrifice of physical strength ?   The
logic has not taught her to reason well on any subject—
the mental and  moral philosophy  will furnish her no
guide  to  goodness  or  happiness—the  chemistry  will
never aid her  in the preparation of wholesome food, or
taking  stains  out of her furniture—the botany will not
render more interesting the country rambles that  she 
CRITICISM.
137
does not care to take.   She will never use her  natural
philosophy to make the fire burn, or ventilate  her house.
These studies will be completely dropped  and soon for-
gotten—for they Avere learned too soon—the mind could
not retain them—they were acquired too superficially, too
unpractically, to be of any use in strengthening  the un-
derstanding, or aiding in daily life.   The music may be
useful in society, if there is any natural taste for it—if it
is  simply acquired  Avith much drudgery, it  will  be  at
once dropped.  The French will be  of doubtful service
—the young lady is too shy to speak it, if the occasion
should present itself—if natural  taste or  circumstances
induce her  to persevere  in its  study, it  may prove an
elegant accomplishment, but, in general, that too  is drop-
ped.   AVhat then is made  serviceable, out of the long
list of studies—a little reading and writing (for it is
very rare to find an elegant Avriter, still  rarer, one Avho
can read well aloud)—some arithmetic and the  general
outlines of history and  geography—this may be retained
for life, and this is about all!  Little real knowledge is
gained, but an evil habit of mind has been acquired ;  a
habit of careless, superficial thought, an inability to apply
the mind closely to any subject—and this habit  unfor-
tunately cannot be dropped with the superficial acquire-
ments Avhich produced it.  What a result is this, for years
of time spent and much money—surely we may  call it a
criminal Avaste of life ! 
138
CRITICISM.
    I have already in another lecture called your atten
 tion to the absolute necessity of exercise to the young,
 and I have stated  many of the evils which will result
 from the neglect of this necessity.  The mischief done
 to  the  body by the system of school discipline, may for
 some time be hidden, by the many attractions which be-
 long to youth.   The delicacy of complexion  and feature,
 the plumpness of figure and that graceful tournure which
 belong  to  our young  American women, may for  a time
 hinder  us from  perceiving the deceitfulness of those
 charms.   Foreigners from all nations are struck by our
 young beauty (observe  it  is  girlish  beauty, not  ma-
 tured Avomanly  beauty),  and  they are equally  struck
 by its evanescent character.  Let me call your attention
 here, to  the powerful  influence which our method of
 educating  children has  upon  the  development  of  the
 Generative System.
    How many mothers have anxiously watched the  suf-
 fering, the delicate health experienced by their children,
 when entering on the  age of Puberty.  The active,  and
 apparently healthy child is then transformed into  the
 sickly, nervous young  woman.  Functions Avhich  should
be characterized by the perfection Avhich marks all  the
actions of the healthy  body, are now exercised with diffi-
culty and often life-long suffering.
    Now the influence of education, of the conditions of
life upon the Generative  System, is strikingly shown, in 
CRITICISM.
139
the tables of statistics collected by the French in refer-
ence to this subject.  These statistics, based upon large
masses of tacts collected in many countries, and in dif-
ferent districts and classes of the  same  country, have
proved beyond a doubt that the growth of the generative
organs is greatly influenced by the  place  of residence,
whether toAvn or country, and by the  habits of different
classes of society.
    Thus the maturity of these organs was reached at a
later  period amongst the inhabitants of mountain dis-
tricts,  than  amongst the laboring  population of towns ;
and the earliest period was  found in  the wealthy classes
of cities ; rich food, luxurious  habits, Tnental stimulus,
novel  reading, late  hours, and  over-heated  apartments,
are enumerated amongst the causes of this premature
development.
    According to these observations also, different trades
clearly affected this groAvth.  Thus those young girls Avho
pursued confining sedentary employments of a delicate
nature, as milliners, embroiderers, artificial  flower mak-
ers, occupied a middle rank  in  regard to  the period of
generative development, between the  laboring class and
the Avealthy ;  and it was observed in the same city, that
in the  children of the wealthy classes,  this  period Avas
more than a year in advance of the lower classes.
    We  see  how  highly injurious  the  school  system
which  Ave have been considering must necessarily be, to 
140
CRITICISM.
the health of the growing girl, placing her  in  the  most
unfavorable circumstances for physical groAvth—being in
fact diametrically opposed to the natural order of devel-
opment.
    Now to  appreciate fully the  extent  of  the mischief
committed by our most unfortunate systems  of education,
we must bear in mind the most important relations into
which our daughters  early enter.   A  disordered condi-
tion of other functions would be productive of much mis-
ery to the  individual—we  should be cruel, voluntarily
to subject her to the suffering.   But this system stands
alone in its  importance, preparing for  the  duties of ma-
ternity.  Not only our  duty to the individual,  to our
children, but our wider duty to the race, commands  us
to educate strong mothers for the succeeding generation !
We are not faithless to our children merely, but traitors
to Humanity, when we  thus destroy the health of the
young !
    Through this imperfect  development and  weakness
of the generative system, it is  unprepared for the re-
markable changes of  maternity—hence Ave have  all the
long and fearful catalogue of uterine maladies, and the
misery  of this  class of disease  is increased by the
wide  sympathies of  the generative system.  It is  so
closely connected with the rest of the economy, so inti-
mately united to the whole nervous system, that  simple
local disease of these organs cannot exist alone,  for any 
CRITICISM.
141
length  of time—it involves function  after  function in
sympathetic disturbance, the stomach is deranged in its
action, locomotion is to a  great  measure hindered—the
disposition and mind are affected, and there is no part of
the economy that may not suffer in time.
    The  happiness of the  marriage relation, the life of
the family is thus destroyed, for the mother is quite in-
capacitated for the full  performance of her  duties.   I
cannot speak of the direct degeneracy of the race, which
is undoubtedly  produced  by disease of the  generative
organs, for Ave have  no statistics on the  subject;  the
effect, however, of the general state of the mother's health
on the foetus in utero, I have already dAvelt on.  I have
no  time to enlarge  upon this  topic—I can  but lay it
clearly before you,  and leave it to the serious  considera-
tion Avhich it demands.
    I shall only advert to one other physical evil, directly
springing from the confinement and mental excitement of
school  education—viz., the state  of nenrous  irritability
Avhich is induced in  young  girls.   The nerves of  the
young  share the  general  susceptibility of the rapidly
growing organization ;  and  I have already shown, how
important it is to call the  nerves of motion into action,
that they may counterbalance the undue activity of  the
nerves of sensation.  Noav not only do we entirely neg-
lect to call the motor nenres  into  proper action, but  the
whole effect of school and  in-door life is directly calcu- 
142                    CRITICISM.
lated to exalt the  undue  susceptibility of the sensitive
nature.
    We had a terrible example of this lately, in the sad
accident that  occurred in the  Ninth  Ward Common
School—Avhere the natural excitability of the  children
heightened by artificial  training, produced an uncontroll-
able panic, which ended in so  fearful a loss of life.
    Presence of mind is seldom found amongst our young
girls.   The hysterical diathesis  is too commonly the re-
sult of this excited sensibility.
    The life of the young lady, on leaving school, is little
calculated  to restore lost power,  or to excite to a  truer
and healthier action by the presentation of noble objects
of  interest.   What is there  in fact  presented  to her,
worthy of  pursuit ?  School discipline has not prepared
her for serious study ; indeed,  study without an object
is of little worth, and she has no object in view for which
grave preparation is necessary.  The attention to domes-
tic arrangements does not  particularly interest her ; in-
deed, by the  age of 16 or 17  she   has learned all  of
household economy that she will learn at  all, till called
upon to practise it.  There are no schemes of organized
benevolence to attract youthful activity and  kind-heart-
edness, and teach to the young mind  a deeper and darker
lesson of life than it has yet  learned ; it is very seldom
that the young can profitably engage in these enter-
prises.  With the large mass of girls  gossip  and frivo- 
CRITICISM.
143
lous amusements become now the chief business of the
day ; they have had no serious  preparation for life, they
know nothing of its realities, its Avants and  duties—so
the valuable  moments are laughed and chatted away ;
every incident furnishes a theme for idle talk—church—
society—promenades  through the streets—all become
subjects  of gossip ; novels are  devoured to  satisfy the
neAV thoughts  and desires that are springing up—par-
ties, amusements of all  kinds are  eagerly sought for—
the dictates  of prudence, the  requirements  of bodily
health, are alike disregarded; till  at length  the  giddy
career is cut short—by marriage !
    How  little the young lady who thus leaves  her novels
and parties, for the duties of wife and mother, under-
stands of the  responsibilities  of the  state upon which
she novr  enters.   Her life since  leaving  school has  had
no  definite  object; and a growing want of excitement,
with some lively impression of her fancy Avhich she mis-
takes for love, induce her to enter prematurely on the
marriage state.
    The large majority of marriages are made too early.
A young lady is thought to be getting rather old at 20,
but at 25  she is already an old  maid;  and yet, as a
general rule, before the age of 25, she is not prepared to
enter on  the marriage relation ; it is only from 20 to 25
that the body attains  its  full vigor—that  every part
having acquired its due solidity, becomes capable of em- 
144
CRITICISM.
ploying all its functions without injury to the individual,
and with full  benefit to society.  Before that age, the
character is not sufficiently  formed, nor the experience
of society Avide enough, to render the individual capable
of selecting  her true partner.   The  first  attraction  of
the young heart may be lasting, but the probabilities are
against it, and in so momentous an action as the choice of
a husband, the father of children, a girlish fancy  should
never be yielded to, till  the  judgment  of the womanly
mind  confirms  the  attraction.   But  on  the  subject  of
incompatibility  of  character, though productive  of  so
much unhappiness, of so much vice, in the marriage re-
lation, I shall not dwell—for it is the  physical condition
which belongs  especially to  my subject.  These early
marriages exhaust the vital energy of the mother. The
remarkable changes which child-bearing  produces in the
economy, require the whole energy of a  strong constitu-
tion to sustain them adequately—and the care of chil-
dren, the superintendence  of a  household, can only  be
supported by the vigor of  a mature woman.   Our young
girls too early married, are crushed  by the undue bur-
dens.  Their beauty quickly fades, they are afflicted by
bodily Aveaknesses and disease, and they become absorbed
in domestic cares, which  they are unable  to rule with
grace and dignity.
   It has often been remarked that the tone of Ameri-
can society is given  by the young, and  there is much 
CRITICISM.
145
truth in the remark—for the married women who should
be the  great  supporters, the attraction and guide of so-
ciety, are oppressed by household cares even more than
their husbands  are  overAvhelmed by business, and thus
the young and unmarried  are placed in the position of
loaders rather than learners.
    There is another great evil committed by parents  in
regard to the  marriage of their children.   It is the neg-
lect  of  that consideration of the health of the young
people, and of the relation of their temperaments, Avhich
should be an especial study of the parents.   The health
of offspring is so inevitably affected by the  state of the
father and mother—the hereditary transmission of many
and fearful maladies, is a fact so well established—that
it is a criminal neglect of duty, to shrink from the inves-
tigation  of the  subject for any cause whatsoever.  The
physical conditions most favorable to the production of a
strong and beautiful race, are a  most important subject
—the study is a noble one, and Ave should regard it Avith
the  reverence Avhich  its importance  demands—and  it
should be considered just as criminal an act to unite  in-
dividuals Avhose offspring will inevitably be diseased, as
to take  young  children already in life and maim and
weaken them  Avith ingenious cruelty.
    The peculiar temperaments of the parties should also
be a subject of  careful consideration—this is  a matter
of delicate perception,-rather than a subject for reason-
            7 
146
CRITICISM.
ing—much of the happiness of married life depends upon
this relation of temperaments.   It is often thought that
opposite characters make the best unions ; but  the rule
seems  to be rather unity in variety.  It is  not a very
lively  and a very grave person  that will make  the best
partners, nor  two very lively,  or very  grave  tempers;
between the former there will be no sympathy ; between
the latter an exciting or depressing identity.  But in the
true union there will  be  sympathy of general  purpose,
oneness of  aspiration, with an attractive difference in
the conduct of daily life, which shall make pleasant har-
mony,  not discord,  still less monotony.
    The delicate shades of related  temperaments which
make some  unions  so happy, can only be determined  by
the parties  themselves ; but in order to feel this relation,
there must  be some experience of society, some maturity
of sentiment, and not  the simple bewilderment of sensa-
tion, which often forms the  chief characteristic of youth-
ful fancies.
    Now this system of premature marriage is, in a great
measure, a  consequence of the earlier education of the
child;  there is  a perfect correspondence ^f  idea  in our
regulations  for  the commencement and termination of
youthful life.   With us childhood is no preparation  for
youth,  nor youth for maturity.   Throughout, there is a
neglect of the  order of development, the foundation is
not laid by a preparation  of the physical  nature, and 
CRITICISM.
147
this system of  Premature  Endeavor is carried out
through the entire youthful life.  The child  commences
study too soon, and the youth leaves it off too soon ; the
young lady enters  society at too early an age, marries
prematurely, and becomes a mother Avhen she should be
preparing for the married life.
    We see too how in every age the necessity for varied
action, the Law of Compound Movement is neglected;
the school-girl attends exclusively to her studies—the
young lady is absorbed in pleasure—the married woman
has often no thought beyond her family.  The rich har-
monies of life, formed  by  blending  together  in orderly
gradation the action of all  our poAvers,  are entirely lost
by this  system of exclusion ;  thus  we  have  no society
worthy of the name, because the elements which should
compose it are wanting ; they are one idead, not univer-
sal—and society is a monotony.   There is no love of art,
no worship of the beautiful, shedding over society a rich
external life, that shall  purify  as  Avell as delight  the
senses—no beaming forth of intellect, no warmth of the
heart, no cultivation of the natural  graces that should
make society -  beautiful meeting of  all that is noble and
true and genial in  human nature.   In society now, we
see  represented  the poverty and  exclusiveness which
marks the employment of every age.
    The LaAV of Use  is equally laid  aside through the
various  periods Ave are considering.   It must necessarily 
148
CRITICISM.
be so, when the first step in  education  is  made in the
wrong direction,  when, by  commencing Avith the direct
and exclusive cultivation of the mind, ayc invert the or-
der of nature.  By attempting to force upon early youth
the objects of later youth, we neglect the true use of the
period of childhood, and Ave take from the young girl who
has left school, the object of pursuit, the thorough and
profitable study that the mind is then prepared for.   We
force her into a  life of frivolity and  an early marriage,
from sheer lack of noble objects—to escape a useless life.
    What a grand use would those years of life acquire
—from 16 to 25—if they were really spent  in prepara-
tion for the active duties of adult life, for the part Avhich
woman has to play—as wife  and mother, member of so-
ciety, and  human being !   By the age of 16 or 17, un-
der proper training,  she would have acquired a strong,
graceful and perfectly obedient body—her senses Avould
be acute.   Accustomed to the exercise of their poAvers on
beautiful objects appropriate to them,  they would  be
truthful in  their perceptions, and ready to  receive the
fullest  extent of scientific training.   She Avould  speak
fluently several languages, write a good hand, sketch
with ease and correctness ; sing Avith accuracy; for  all
these acquirements, and many others, Avould be necessa-
rily obtained by pursuing  a complete system of physical
development.
    The higher powers of the  mind  would be ready for 
CRITICISM.
149
 orderly  unfolding—the intellect  would  have  acquired
 habits of truthfulness,  being accustomed to comprehend
 fully Avhatever Avas presented to it;  it Avould be eager for
 knowledge, for the keen  appetite for information which
 naturally belongs to youth Avould not have been destroyed
 by unsuitable  food.  It  Avould have laid in a store of
 facts and practical observations, gathered in many ram-
 bles in toAvn and country, and  from the  conversation of
 intelligent instructors.   And moreover, the religious na-
 ture would  have groAvn to beautiful proportions, by that
 constant influence which  should surround  the  young—
 she would have learned to reverence every Avork of crea-
 tion, and to Avorship the Creator as a constant presence;
 truth and love, and  earnest work, would be the  habits
 formed from every  day's experience.
    With this Avide  preparation of the  youthful nature,
 the young  girl on  leaving  school would  find grand ob-
jects  at once presented to her.   The mind would now be
 ready for more direct education—the studies of the ma-
 ture intellect Avould  be brought  before  her, she would
 arrange the facts gathered in earlier life, and give them
 their  use—her  tastes  Avould  now be knoAvn,  and  she
 would select those studies that would prove congenial to
 her, and Avhich  her individual  talents Avould  enable  her
 to  pursue Avith  enthusiasm.    But  mental cultivation
 would by no means be the sole object of attention.  She
 should learn to know life  in  its varied  aspects ; while 
150
CRITICISM.
cherishing the ideal of life  in  all its  brightness, she
should feel strongly and hopefully, that she has work  to
do in the Avorld, to help realize that ideal.   She  should
gradually enter into society, to learn, to feel, to knoAV—and,
in time,  to take her place as its ornament and architect.
    Years of noble use would thus be opened to the young
lady on  her entrance into  adult  life—years of most val-
uable preparation ; she would then enter the married
state wisely, and  with the deep enthusiasm of a mature
nature.   She would know the partner whom she  select-
ed, as he would not be  mistaken in her.   The highest
physical and moral conditions for a happy union would
be presented, and she would  thus become wife and mo-
ther in the truest sense  of those holy words !
    Is  such a result desirable ?   Then, friends, we can
accomplish it!   Our highest aspirations are our  best
guides,  for what we strongly and wisely desire, we grad-
ually approach.
    In studying this subject of  education, we have dis-
tinctly recognized the great principles on which it should
be based.  We  have seen  also the way in which our
present  system of education is opposed to these  princi-
ples ;  it now remains to lay out our plans  in  accordance
with these laws, and reconcile the necessities of our con-
dition with the demands of nature.
    It will be my duty when we next meet, to lay before 
CRITICISM.
151
you some practical suggestions on the subject of true ed-
ucation, and consider in what way we may accomplish
a desirable change in the present system—a gradual but
complete reform. 
REFORM.
It is often said that no historian  can write  the history
of his OAvn age—that the  strong  prejudices of personal
interest and feeling will prevent him from understanding
the true position of its various parties, and judging from
a lofty stand-point  the  real  bearing of the  events that
pass before his eyes. There is much truth in this saying;
it is difficult to free ourselves for a time from personal
feeling—to rise above our own immediate interests, and
view our life as the angels  see it.   The local interests
Avhich surround us  absorb  a great part of our attention ;
our way of thinking, of living, of arranging our external
relations, seems the necessary way—at least  for a highly
civilized community.  We all of us make a Chinese map
of the Avorld, in Avhich our own special interests  spread
out in fair proportions  and bright colors  over  the paper,
Avhile the rest of  humanity lies crowded  into obscure
corners !   And there is a  Avise design in this  tendency
of the human mind,  for  concentration of interest is neces-
sary to insure energetic action ;  and it is essential to the 
REFORM.
153
well-being of the whole world, that every part, every
town and village, shall be full of life, strong in  the con-
scious  importance of its OAvn affairs.
    But Avhen self-judgment is required—when we have
reason to  doubt the  wisdom of some of our customs—
customs in which Ave have been educated,  and which con-
sequently  appear to  us  at the first glance a  part  of
nature, we must lay aside this  exclusive  self-regard,
and take a broader vieAV of the world, compare our ways
with those of other nations  and former ages, and see if
our cherished habits do not  shrink into insignificance, or
assume the aspect of a temporary mistake.
    Such is our position now, with regard to our  systems
of education.  I have shown the great evils which result
from them, particularly to girls—how disease  is  engen-
dered,  and the  happiness  and usefulness  of  after-life
destroyed, by  neglect  of the physical organization, and
premature culture of the mind  ; and  I  have traced this
evil to  its source, viz., the disregard of the Divine Laws
of Life.
   But we have been so long accustomed to the idea of
school  as it  exists at present; we Avere  sent to school
ourselves, just as Ave  uoav send our children ; we know
no other method of eating, dressing, living than our pre-
sent one ;  that the severe judgment Ave  have been com-
pelled  to pass upon our present system of bringing  up
children,  may seem strange, notwithstanding the truth
                7* 
154
REFORM.
on which it is based ; a change in this system may seem
impossible.   But  there are no  impossibilities in  our
day!
    While residing in  England, in order to  reach  the
hospital I was attending, I was  forced daily to cross  a
portion of that time-honored nuisance, Smithfield Cattle
Market, which was  situated in the very centre of Lon-
don.  I once expressed my surprise to one of the intelli-
gent members of the Faculty, that such a cruel, danger-
ous, and unhealthy arrangement should be permitted to
exist in London.   He  replied, " We English  are very
conservative ;  this  market is an immense nuisance—
every body grumbles about it, as they always have done;
but there is powerful moneyed interest  concerned in its
support; it  is a part of London—and just as long as
London exists, so long will Smithfield Market remain as
it is !"   That very year a bill passed the  Houses of Par-
liament for its removal!  Surely all  things are possible
in our day!
    Now many of the peculiarities which  mark our edu-
cational system are  of very  modern date; our grand-
mothers were by no means educated as we were ; all the
habits of life were arranged on another plan ;  the very
food they ate was  in many respects different.  Tea  was
only introduced into  England in  the  reign of Charles
I.—sugar,  spice, coffee, were then luxuries little  used;
the hot  drinks, and stimulating food, which, as we have 
REFORM.
155
seen, affect so powerfully the stomach, the teeth, the ner-
vous system, were not in use two centuries ago.
    A knowledge of the general customs of education in
other nations, will then furnish us with very important
data for determining the evils of our present customs,
and for  indicating the direction  in which some wise
change  may be made, enabling us to distinguish what  is
essential from what is simply accidental in our habits  of
life. I shall therefore call your attention to certain facts
in the history of those nations where the  greatest care
has been paid to education, and where the  successful re-
sult makes the method pursued  worthy of study.
    I have already referred to education amongst the an-
cient Greeks.  I now direct  attention again to this sub-
ject, because we find amongst that people a remarkable
degree of attention paid to  those very points  of educa-
tion Avhich we so  singularly neglect,  and it will be ex-
ceedingly interesting to notice the results  which they
obtained.
    The most remarkable  feature in  Grecian  education
was the bodily  exercises, which formed  the foundation
of all other training.   The Greeks  considered gymnastic
exercises to be  as  necessary  for  the preservation  of
health, as  medicine is for the  cure  of  diseases.   The
Avhole education of a Greek youth was divided  into three
parts—grammar, music (and  some  mention draAving and
painting), and gymnastics.   Gymnastics,  however, were 
156
REFORM.
thought  by the ancients a  matter of such  importance,
that this part of exercise alone occupied as much time
and attention as  all  the others  put  together !   And
while the latter necessarily ceased at a certain period of
life, gymnastics continued to be cultivated by persons of
all  ages, though  those  of advanced age naturally took
lighter  and  less  fatiguing  exercises  than  boys and
youths.   The ancients, and more particularly the Greeks,
 seem to have been thoroughly convinced that the mind
 could not  possibly be  in a healthy state, unless the body
 was likewise in.  perfect health;  and  no  means were
 thought, either by philosophers or physicians, to be more
 conducive to preserve  or restore bodily health, than well-
 regulated exercise.
     Gymnastic exercises amongst the Greeks were as old
 as the Greek nation itself.   At first they were of a rude,
 and mostly of a warlike character.  They were generally
 held in the open  air, and  in plains  near a river, which
 afforded an opportunity of SAvimming and bathing.  As
 the nation advanced in civilization, these  exercises as-
 sumed a wider character ; they were employed not only
 to harden the body for military purposes, but to  give to
its  movements  grace  and  beauty,  also to restore  the
health Avhen lost,  and  to make the  body the  basis of a
sound mind ; and large classes of  men pursued these
exercises as  a  profession, contending for the prizes at
the public games. 
                       REFORM.                   157
       •
    At an early period in their history, the Greek  towns
began to build their regular gymnasia as places of exer-
cise for the young, Avith baths, and conveniences for phi-
losophers, and all persons A\ho sought intellectual amuse-
ments.   There Avas  probably no  Greek town of any im-
portance which did not possess its gymnasium.  Athens
possessed three great gymnasia, to Avhich several smaller
ones were  afterAvards added.  These buildings Avere  all
constructed  on  the  same  general plan;  there were
porches Avith seats for conversation ; a large hall adorned
with sculpture, and  the statues of great men; hot and
cold baths, covered squares for winter exercise, and open
ones for milder weather, and Avalks for those Avho Avere
not exercising.  Much attention Avas paid to the outward
and inward splendor of the gymnasia, the highest art of
the age was employed to decorate them, and  the statue
of  Hermes their  tutelary deity was  every Avhere con-
spicuous.
    The gymnasia Avere under  the control of  the  State;
their  regulations were exceedingly strict,  and  some of
the violations punished with  death.   The chief officer,
the  gymnasiarch, exercised magisterial poAver over  all
persons connected Avith the institution.  He removed  all
teachers, philosophers, and sophists, when their influence
Avas injurious to the young.  He  superintended  the sol-
emn games at certain great festivals, and his office Avas
held in such  esteem, that it was sought for  as a high
honor. 
158
'  REFORM.
   Another  class of officers was appointed fb inspire
the youths Avith a love of morality, and to protect their
virtue from all injurious influences.  These officers were
required not  only to be present at  all their games, but
to watch  and correct them whenever they might meet
them,  not only  within, but  without the  gymnasium.
There were  special teachers  of  exercise, who were  re-
quired to understand  all the exercises practised  in the
gymnasium ; they were also expected to know their phy-
siological effects on the constitutions of the youths, and
to assign to each individual the exercises most suitable to
him.   Other officers regulated the diet of the pupils, and
acted as surgeons.  There were sometimes special teach-
ers of games at ball, for the ball  was in  universal favor
amongst the Greeks, and was here, as at Rome,  played
in a variety of ways. It is both amusing and instructive,
in these recorded games, to observe how human  nature,
2000 years ago, resembled the nature of to-day ;  the his-
tory of its efforts should  be no useless tradition to us.
In one favorite game, one boy holding the end of  a rope,
tried to pull the boy who held  its other  end across  a
line, marked between them on the ground.   The top was
as commonly in use amongst boys then, as in our day.
We have too the game of five stones, which were  thrown
from the upper part of the hand and caught in the palm.
Another game, in which a rope was drawn through the
upper part of a tree or post.   Two boys, one on each 
REFORM.
159
side the post, turning  their backs  to each  other, took
hold of the ends of the rope, and tried to pull each other
up.  These few games will serve to  show the nature of
gymnastic sports ;  we can but  refer to the more impor-
tant games, as jumping, leaping, running, throwing the
discus, Avrestling, dancing, &c.
    The education of boys up to the age of  16 was di-
vided into the three parts mentioned above, so that gym-
nastics  formed  only one department, but during  the
period from their sixteenth  to their eighteenth year, the
instruction in grammar and music seems  to have ceased,
and gymnastics were exclusively pursued.
    Such Avas the basis of education throughout Greece ;
but the laws of the Lacedemonians watched over it with
still stricter care.   Amongst them public education was
common  to rich and  poor.  From  the  first  moment of
life, the child Avas  an object  of attention to  the State.
Even before  birth, the  mother's apartments  were  sur-
rounded  Avith pictures of youthful  beauty,  that these
bright images might, through Tier  organization, stamp
her child Avith beauty.  The  infant's cradle was  sur-
rounded by Avarlike instruments, that they might become
from  the earliest moments  a   part  of  his  life.   The
clothing allowed perfect freedom of  movement to all its
limbs ; it was suffered to cry freely, but  no harsh word
was allowed to excite  its tears  or produce a  feeling of
terror.  Until the age of seven, it grew up under the pa- 
160
REFORM.
           rental influence, permitted to play freely, to regard  the
           kind of food given to it with indifference, accustomed by
\          degrees  to  darkness and solitude, and ignorant of  the
           feeling of fear.   At the age of seven the State superin-
           tended the further education of the  child.   One of  the
           chief men of the republic Avas placed at the head of  the
           children ;  he separated them into classes, and  to ea'ch
           class  a  young  chief noted  for wisdom  and  courage
           was appointed.   They submitted to his orders and chas-
           tisements ;  their hair Avas cut off—they learned to walk
           bare-footed, to Avear a single garment  summer and win-
           ter, to sleep on  rushes,  Avhich they  gathered  on  the
           banks of  the Eurotas.   They  Avere never left alone;
           their exercises Avere performed under the eye of the aged,
            and  the  chief officer of public education ;  their young
            chief was constantly at their head Avhen they engaged in
            combats, SAvam across the Eurotas, hunted, raced, or attend-
            ed the exercises of the gymnasium.   They supped on
           plain food, Avhich they  cooked  themselves, the stronger
           carrying the Avood, the Aveaker the vegetables  and other
           food.  After supper  some Avere directed to sing, others
           must ansAver questions,  thus vindicating their intelligence
           and disposition—as, " Who is the honestest man in  the
           city ?"  " What do you think of such  an action ?"   The
           ansAver must be exact and to the point—those who failed
           were  punished.   Little literary  education  was  given
           them, but they were taught to express  themselves clear- 
REFORM.
161
ly, to join in the exercises of  dancing and music, and to
sing the praises of their gods, and  the exploits of those
Avho had died for their country.   They were visited daily
by magistrates Avho inspected their education and habits,
and  saw if they were groAving too  fat.  This last condi-
tion being considered  an indication  of laziness, unfor-
tunate individuals  who  displayed too much embonpoint,
Avere cited before   the public tribunals and  threatened
Avith exile !   The  greater part of the day Avas  spent in
the gymnasium.
    At the age  of 18, the pupils were not  released from
the discipline of the schools, as in many cities of Greece.
Lycurgus wisely considered this  a  critical age,  and new
exercises  and  labors Avere imposed,  to hinder the devel-
opment of the passions.   The chiefs required an increase
of modesty, submission, temperance,  and zeal.   The  sin-
gular  spectacle Avas presented of  a  brilliant youth, full
of pride, courage, and beauty, behaving Avith the decency
and reserve of the young girls who served in the religious
festivals.
    This Avas not the result of external restraint, affect-
ing simply the manners ; their enthusiasm Avas enlisted
in  this reserve, by the  emulation of rival classes,  Avho
excited each other to the love and practice of \drtue ac-
cording to their standard, by  the glory of victory.
     These bodies  of young  Spartans  were spread  over
the country, and exposed to hardships ; they were taught 
162                    REFORM.
to study its aspect, and learn the best method of defend-
ing it.  They attacked wild boars and savage  beasts—
and were  instructed in the manoeuvres  of the military
art.
    The whole Spartan education had a tendency to pre-
vent  premature  marriage;  this end  was  considered
essential  to the welfare of the State.  And no union was
permitted, before  the body had attained  a perfect devel-
opment, and the judgment could guide in the selection
of a partner.  To suitable dispositions, the couple must
join personal advantages of face and figure,  and robust
health.
    To secure  these important conditions, the Spartan
legislators were compelled to provide for the education
 of women ;  they had the wisdom to  perceive that the
 mothers  of  a  strong race must be strong;  and with
this  idea alone—not from  any thought of individual
right, which did  not belong to the age—they arranged
the most striking peculiarity of their system, the edu-
cation of young girls.
    In the Ionian State the women were separated  from
the men with oriental care.  Confined in their own apart-
ments, they spun and pursued various feminine arts;
the young were strictly guarded, excluded from festivals,
and no woman, married or unmarried, was permitted to
enter the  gymnasium, or appear at the public games, on
pain of death.   But in Sparta the education of girls was 
REFORM.
163
conducted  in  public, and with a wide  freedom that was
strictly regulated  by law.   The sedentary employments
of Athenian girls  Avere neglected.   They were taught to
dance, to sing, to  Avrestle, to run  rapidly on the sands,
to throAv the javelin with force.   Their exercises  were
carried  on in the presence of the kings, magistrates, and
citizens ; they assisted in the public  festivals, and were
encouraged to distribute praise or blame to the youths,
Avho  often  exercised in their presence.  Spending the
greater  part of the day in active and often  laborious
movements, a  dress that should allow perfect freedom to
the body, was  absolutely necessary.  They wore no veils
or covering on their head; their dress ordinarily con-
sisted of  a single garment,  light, without  sleeves,  at-
tached by clasps over the shoulder, and raised above the
knee by the belt.
   The Spartan legislator had a double motive in these
regulations ; he sought not only  to render the young
women  vigorous in health, but  by  thus  freely educating
them in public, bringing them frequently into the society
of the young men in active occupations, he removed from
them that mystery produced by concealment, which tends
to foster the passions which he endeavored  to repress ;
and  establishing between the  sexes a unity of virtue, he
laid  a foundation of mutual esteem, which should prove
the surest basis of a warmer sentiment.
   The Spartan Avomen were long  remarkable for the 
164
REFORM.
purity and dignity of their  manners.  They were tall,
strong, of vigorous health ; nearly all were beautiful—
of a lofty, imposing style of beauty.  Their dress after
marriage  consisted of a short tunic, and a  robe Avhich
descended to the heel.   They Avere veiled when they Avent
abroad, and no longer visited the gymnasia.   Their time
Avas devoted  to the early education of their children ; the
whole management of the slaves and household concerns
rested on them ; they discussed the  affairs of state with
their husbands, and their counsel was  greatly respected.
In Sparta it  was disgraceful  to remain unmarried ; the
marriage union Avas observed with remarkable fidelity—
and even AA7hen the earlier purity of Spartan manners
had disappeared—the Spartan women stood  high above
the rest of the  Grecian nations in  their attachment to
their duties.  Their  lofty character and the  position
which they long maintained is shown in the proud answer
of the wife  of the King Leonidas  to a foreigner, who
once exclaimed, "  You are the only women Avho can main-
tain an ascendency over men !" She replied, " Undoubt-
edly, for we are the only women who bring men into the
world."
    I have dwelt somewhat in  detail on the  systems of
education in  Greece, because Greece stood first amongst
the nations of antiquity in physical  and mental develop-
ment—the highest in every kind of excellence, according
to  the standard which  then existed in the world.  In 
REFORM.                   165
examining the means by which this condition was reached,
we  remark  particularly  the following  points—1st, the
physical discipline of the  young was considered the basis
of all education.  2.  This  physical training Avas  not
limited to a portion of the day, or to any single part of
the organization, but beginning with early childhood, it Avas
continued constantly to the period of confirmed manhood,
and comprised dress, food, bathing, the air breathed, the
habits of life, as well as exercise in its various branches.
3. The  instruction  given in mental cultivation,  never
interfered Avith the fullest attention to  the use of these
physical agents ;  thus the beautiful groves, and the lofty
halls  adorned with  objects of sublime art, where the in-
struction Avas  carried  on, could  in  no Avay injure  the
organic health of the body, Avhile  they refined the senses
by the ennobling influences of Nature and Art.  4.  The
moral and religious welfare of the young, Avas carefully
attended to.   They were  heathen nations ;  their religion
Mas not ours—but  Avhat  seemed to  them the highest
virtue, Avas  carefully instilled into the minds of their
children, not so much by  direct teaching, as by the influ-
ences Avhich surrounded them, the careful oversight of all
their  actions, the hymns they learned to sing, the orna-
ments of their edifices, the conversations they listened to,
the religious ceremonials  in Avhich they  assisted, and the
Avhole spirit  of  society.   5. This system of education
based upon  physical  development, was  applied with 
166
REFORM.
remarkable advantage to their young girls ; the superi-
ority of the women  thus educated  was displayed with
singular success, in every respect; they Avere more faith-
ful Avives, stronger mothers, Aviser domestic rulers, more
patriotic citizens,  and nobler human beings,  than the
women  who were  educated in sedentary  and secluded
pursuits.   6.  This long and complete  physical training,
favored  in a  remarkable  degree  a brilliant  mental
growth—for  they  stand  unrivalled in antiquity, as phi-
losophers,  poets,  artists,  men  of science, and  men  of
action—nay,  Avith  all the added wisdom of nearly 2000
years we  still bow reverently before the creations  of
their genius !
    We find  amongst  the Romans, the same  attention
paid to  the strengthening and full development of the
body in early life, the mental culture being deferred to a
maturer age.   With them however the education had a
more exclusively warlike  tendency; the system of pub-
lic gymnasia did not exist, and their method of training
was  narrower in its aim,  and less perfect in its details.
   As Europe became fully peopled, the  history of the
northern and southern nations presents a striking contrast
in relation to the life of the women of those nations.  We
find  amongst the former a state of comparative freedom,
physical strength  and activity, and much  rude A'irtue—
whilst in the  south we behold the seclusion of the harem,
the guardianship of high walls, and bolts, and veils, se- 
REFORM.
167
dentary pursuits and effeminate education, and a society
utterly  corrupt, with no standard of virtue  but giving
free rein  to  all the lower  passions of  human nature.
We cannot separate the body and soul—the health of
one must,  as a general  rule, be based  upon  the  other;
fresh air and exercise are singularly conducive to virtue,
and we see this to be quite as  true for women as men.
In the free life of the Scandinavians—the country life—
where the  women lived much in the open  air, not drudg-
ing in the  fields—as in modern Germany—but superin-
tending the rude agricultural labors of the bondsmen—
they were courageous,  truthful, chaste,  and  religious,
and often  consulted as oracles by their countrymen.
    Contrast with them the pictures of  harem life, given
by modern observers in the east, and we  find  the women
a by-word for falsehood, meanness and licentiousness—
the one virtue  of the  Mohammedans,  regard for their
word—is utterly unknown to the Mohammedan women.
    Throughout the nations  of modern Europe we find
an entire neglect of physical training in the  education
of women, and  the  varied evils which  result  from this
neglect; but there  is no nation in the world, where  so
earnest an attempt  is  made  to cultivate the  mind, with
so complete a neglect of all the physical necessities  of
the child,  as in  the  United States—and nowhere is the
health  of  the women so feeble—and this  weakness is on
the increase. 
168
REFORM.
   In England  the  intellectual education of the  young
lady embraces as wide a range, and  is  carried out Avith
much more thoroughness of detail, and yet the health of
English Avomen, is much stronger than that of American
women.   Now though  the  education in England is  as
fundamentally  wrong  as  Avith  us;  though  the  true
order of development is neglected, and the training is in
a great measure objectless—of no use in aiding the real
business of life ; still it will be useful to call your atten-
tion to those differences which favor  the physical  health
of the English, that we may realize  more fully the ex-
treme folly, the madness of our OAvn  customs.  The sys-
tem of private  instruction  is much  more common than
with us ;  at first the instruction of a governess is suffi-
cient, then the aid of masters at home is added ; thus all
injurious crowding of large  masses of children is avoid-
ed, and the great stimulus  to mental exertion, the emu-
lation of  a  large school, is  not  applied.   Walks  in  the
open air are regularly taken, often twice  a day;  the
pleasant  fields in the vicinity of  smaller toAvns, and  the
extensive parks in the  larger ones, furnish the opportu-
nity for attractive country walks,  and the pleasant recol-
lection often remains through life, of  the natural wonders
which those Avalks disclosed.  The food  is much simpler
that  is  given to children.   A large  boAvl of bread and
milk  often constitutes  the  breakfast  and supper  of the
child for  years, from which it advances to  the dignity 
REFORM.
169
of bread and butter and weak tea ; good meat and vege-
tables  constitute  the  rest  of the food, and  form the
wholesome nourishment of rosy, healthy childhood.  Ano-
ther favoring circumstance to the health of the  young,
is  the  longer period of time allotted  to  education, and
which consequently removes  the  imagined necessity for
that overloading of studies from which our children suf-
fer.  Marriages are formed  later in life, thereby giving
the double advantage of prolonged youth and a stronger
constitution to meet the requirements of maternity.  The
method of Avarming the houses  by open  fire-places, is
another healthful custom, when contrasted with our plan
of stove-heated dwellings ; this is, in some measure, the
advantage of a milder climate, but a  similar effect may
be obtained in our severer Aveather, by the thorough ven-
tilation of our  houses, and the production of a more
moderate heat by our furnaces.
    Amongst the so-called higher classes the possession of
extensive and beautiful country-seats favors the employ-
ment of special exercises, as riding and archery, and aids
greatly in producing that superior physical development,
for which the English  aristocracy are  noted.
    Thus by  a combination of circumstances, each one of
which  may seem a small thing in itself, but which,  unit-
ed, produce  a  poAverful effect on the daily life of the
young, the physical health of the English women, reaches
a higher point than is  common with us—and I attribute 
170
REFORM.
the superiority to these differences of habit, for we find
in the large boarding- schools of England, and amongst
those classes,  where these simple  healthy habits are not
observed, the  same physical  degeneracy,  the  host  of
named and unnamed diseases, that is  increasing in so
alarming a degree amongst us.
    Thus we find that  the history of all ages and nations
confirms, by  the lesson  of their practical experience,
those  great  principles which we laid down, at the  com-
mencement of our lectures ; and that daily life, to be Avise
and good, must be  the Avorking out in detail, of these
universal laws.   All the  powers of our nature must be
developed by  exercise—but this  development must be
effected in the true  order of growth ; the  double move-
ment of body and soul must ahvays be maintained, but
with varying  predominance according to  the age; and
every moment, every action,  must have  an object,  a
special, and a universal use.
    Such are the lessons we learn, alike from the teach-
ing  of reason, and the observation of life;  and by our
neglect  of these  principles we learn  the  cause of our
present failure in the attainment of health—health in its
widest sense.
   Let us consider then in what Avay we can so far mod-
ify the education of the young, that it may be in accord-
ance Avith those Divine laAvs which we now violate.   A
momentous question!  We have done much to answer it 
REFORM.
171
hoAvever, in attaining a  clear understanding of the  evil,
Avhich Avill serve to show us in what direction our efforts
must be turned.  In  considering this question still far-
ther, let me say a few words in relation  to  this  impor-
tant point—Physical  Exercise—which, as we have seen,
must play so prominent a part in true education.
    Exercise to perform its true Avork in the education of
youth must  be scientific—its practice must be based on
principles, it must accomplish definite ends, by intelligent
means ; there is as much difference between the action
of thinking and unthinking muscles, as between the
idle jingling of tunes on the piano, by a person of quick
musical ear, and  the  grand effects produced by  an  ac-
complished  musician, who, expressing  every faculty of
his soul through his instrument, can carry his audience
Avith  him through  the wide range of passionate senti-
ment.
    The savage nations gain health and strength by their
untutored activity, but they remain brutal and degraded
—they gain no mental  refinement by their  exercises—
and they are ahvays surpassed by  civilized man when he
turns his attention to these subjects—as  the Mormons,
while journeying through  the Avilderness,  always  tri-
umphed over their Indian  antagonists  in every encoun-
ter  of force  or skill—in running, leaping,  wrestling, &c.
    Now scientific exercise trains the mind and the char-
acter ; it may be moral and intellectual in its action— 
172
REFORM.
the  faculties  of  order,  precision,  calculation,  self-com-
mand, decision, energy, &c, Avill be called  into  intelli-
gent action through the exercise of the muscles ;  and by
the  combination of the  senses  with  special adaptations
of the muscles,  a wide  range of culture is opened to
youth, Avhich will embrace almost every instruction suit-
able to that age.
    We are indebted to the SAvedish poet and  philosopher,
Ling, for the noblest development of the subject of exer-
cise which we have yet had ;  a  student of the old Greek
gymnastics, a descendant of the Avarlike  Norsemen, sur-
rounded by the traditions of  their strength, their match-
less feats of physical poAver, and the virtues that underlay
their ferocity, he longed to introduce into  our effeminate
manners a little of the Avholesale physical energy, which
seemed to have vanished with the old vikings.   Thus he
developed his admirable system of Gymnastics  in its
various branches ; he saw it adopted by his native coun-
try—taken under the protection of the government—in-
troduced into  the  army, into  medicine, into  education—
and he left it  as a precious legacy to future ages, and to
more detailed  development and adaptation  by his suc-
cessors.   To  the  zeal  of his intelligent  disciple, Prof.
Georgii, we owe the introduction of this system amongst
the Anglo-Saxon race.   He has been for nearly three
years, patiently establishing the medical department of
gymnastics in  London, Avith the  full purpose of institut- 
REFORM.
173
ing a central gymnasium, such as exists  in  Stockholm,
for the  promulgation of all the branches  of gymnastic
art as soon a# the support of public sentiment will justify
him in the undertaking.
   The system of Ling is an attempt to restore educa-
tion to its true basis, and to attain the  due balance be-
tween the physical and spiritual natures.   It is not an
effort to revive the heathen  education of Greece, nor the
fierce customs of the Northmen—but to adapt the prin-
ciple of truth and vigor, which existed in those people to
the customs  of  our advanced civilization—to join  the
physical energy of the Norsemen, with  the mental ener-
gy of the  nineteenth century, and with the  purity and
holiness of the Christian.
   In accordance Avith his views, as a first step in direct
physical education, the will  must obtain perfect control
over all the muscles.  You will  remember the immense
number of muscles in the human body,  with the infinite
variety  of combinations of which they are capable.   The
ordinary exercise of  walking and  domestic occupations,
does not bring the majority of these muscles  into active
play; we  need,  then,  special movements, which  shall
produce this  wide activity, and thus strengthen every
muscle  and  place  it under the  control  of our will;  the
direction of these movments, needs much  physiological
study, that there may be no violation of the laws of our
economy, that true  movements  may be produced in  a 
174
REFORM.
true way ; Avithout this knoAvledge, gymnastic movements
may become  injurious, even  dangerous—for not only
may the muscles be injured by an attempt to perform
movements for Avhich they are not adapted, but their ac-
tion may be falsified  by an incorrect and slovenly man-
ner of performing the movements.
    The muscles having been trained  to  obedience and
force, Avill be employed in  overcoming resistances, ac-
tive or passive, as in wrestling, throwing, lifting weights,
climbing, swimming, &c, in establishing harmony be-
tween  themselves and external  objects,  as  in  fencing,
riding, &c., Avhere unity of action betAveen the individual
and the animal, or  the weapon, must be  observed—or
they will be employed to  express sentiments, and adapt
themselves to the senses,  as  in  declamation, pantomime,
dances, singing.
    Ling divides his  system  into four branches :  1. The
pedagogic, by which  the  body is  subjected  to the will,
and unity of action established between different parts
of the body.   2.  The military, in which  the  individual
subjects another will to his, either by his  own  power  or
by the aid of instruments,  establishing unity of action
between the  body and weapon, in relation to the body
and weapon of his adversary.   3d. The medical, in Avhich
the unity of action between  different parts of the body,
which was lost by disease, is restored.  4th. The aesthetic,
in which ideas and  sentiments  are  expressed by move- 
REFORM.
175
ments  and attitudes—a  unity established between soul
and body.
   Ling lays down the age of seven  years as the right
period  for commencing gymnastic instructions ; two  or
three hundred pupils exercise together ;  they are divided
into classes of twelve or fourteen, according to age, tem-
perament, aptitude and strength.   Each class is directed
by a pupil monitor, Avho  superintends the execution  of
the movements which are distributed by the master, who
directs the Avhole.
   These movements  are  various—adapted  to special
ends,  and  always based on  physiological  knowledge.
The  employment of apparatus is  of secondary impor-
tance.   The  human body being  the  most perfect  of all
instruments is not subjected to material force.   The ap-
paratus is very simple, and only used to serve as fixed
points  for various gymnastic movements.
   While the movements  are executed with the utmost
precision, the perfect performance of every movement
being  enforced with  rigorous exactitude, gayety is  en-
couraged  amongst the  pupils.   Ling  remarks in  his
General Treatise, " Joy and peace  are produced by the
harmony Avhich exists between  all the faculties  of the
soul, and all the poAvers of the body ;  therefore, as this
is the object of gymnastics, this sentiment should have
a large share in the exercises, good order regulating its
manifestations."'  The health being thus strengthened by 
176
REFORM.
the physical education, which  keeps pace with the moral
and intellectual discipline ; about the thirteenth or four-
teenth year, a wider sphere is opened  to  the pupils by
the addition of the military and aesthetic branches.
    Such, though in very general terms, is the idea which
Ling, after forty years of patient  endeavor,  established
in a practical form in his native country, and which is
attracting  much  attention in  Europe,  and  gradually
spreading  from one  nation to  another.   It  is an  idea
which is essential to us, as more than any other nation
we have sinned against the body.   We need a rational
system of gymnastic training—not to supersede country
rambles and the  healthful society of natural objects—a
child brought up entirely in the city can never be a healthy
one ;  but to  form the basis of a sound  education, to in-
sure the perfect development  of the body, and to furnish
that rational and  attractive exercise which the youth of
our city need.
    We must bear distinctly in  mind  that the  object of
education is not to pour a certain amount  of technical
knowledge which  Ave call grammar, mathematics, philoso-
phy,  &c, into the  intellects  of  our children, but to
strengthen all their faculties, to give them  command  of
their own bodies and souls, that they may, as life  opens
before  them, be  able to employ their powers for useful
ends.   Until a girl is sixteen," it is much more important
that she should possess  a healthy body, an  honest, lov- 
REFORM.                    177
ing heart, good sense and a clear intellect, than that she
should be able to  answer questions on every science, oi
play tolerably on the piano, speak French and embroider,
if these latter acquisitions necessitate physical and men
tal weakness in after life.   It is of great importance tc
her,  to possess a strong straight back, good digestion, a
cheerful temperament, a body that can  move Avith vigor
and  grace, organs  that perform their functions healthily;
she  should be truthful, kind, earnest, and active ;  her
intellect should have acquired habits of  observation, or-
der, thorough comprehension, and  energetic application.
If she has gained these qualities, this strength of faculty
by the age of sixteen, it  matters  little that she  is not
versed in  the technicalities of learning,  or that  she  is
unable  to display her  accomplishments ; she will soon
 acquire the learning of the  schools, and  the ornaments
 of elegant life, Avith a completeness and a grace that can
never be  attained by too  early training.   Her  powers
Avill all be strong, and  she will  knoAV how to use  them ;
this  is the  great point, and this is not gained  by our
ordinary methods of  education.
     What  then must be done in order to save the rising
generation from the physical weakness and disease,  with
their attendant evils, which prevails so widely in the pre-
sent race, and which are rapidly increasing in extent. ?
     I answer, 1st.  The domestic habits of our households
 must be changed for  children; their food, dress, sleep-
                 s' 
178                   REFORM.
ing apartments, and hours for rising  and  retiring, must
be  regulated with  scrupulous regard for their  physical
welfare,  and according to the principles  so often laid
down in the course  of our remarks.
    2d.   The-system of school discipline must be essen-
tially modified.  The period of life from seven to sixteen
being regarded as the special season of physical growth,
the bodily development must be  considered  as the basis
of all true education ;  Ave  must cease to force the learn-
ing of a later period upon the youthful mind  at that age.
A  system of  scientific gymnastic  training should be
adopted—every kind of  active  sport encouraged—the
accomplishments of riding, dancing,  singing, SAvimming,
archery, (fee,  should be taught; the moral and  religious
nature should be educated by the intercourse and influ-
ences of every day.  The habits of the intellect  should
be carefully trained in conversation and in those studies
which are suitable to the age; these  studies should be
such as require the aid of the senses—writing,  drawing,
the study of charts and maps, the living languages and
a variety of other subjects, might be employed to advan-
tage.   There  should be frequent expeditions  into the
country or to the sea-side, where in  direct  intercourse
with nature, the  child  in  conversation with its teacher,
Avould learn with the utmost  avidity and happiness—for
such expeditions  our city enjoys rare advantages ; an
hour's journey by steamboat or omnibus would bring the 
                       REFORM.                   170,

children into the midst of the magnificent cc-'rntry which
borders the Hudson ; or spread them along the shores of
the Atlantic.
   The idea of physical development should never be
forgotten  in any  study ;  no pursuit should place the
child  under unfavorable conditions of position, atmos-
phere,  &c, and  direct physical exercise  should con-
stantly  terminate  the short periods  of mental  applica-
tion.  Lofty, well  ventilated halls, and a large piece of
ground partly shaded by trees,  should be essential ele-
ments of every establishment for education.
   Such changes could easily be brought about in our
school system ; it  only needs that public  opinion should
be roused to the necessity of an ample provision for the
physical education of the  young—that mothers should
realize the immense mischief that is done to their daugh-
ters by neglecting the body and overtasking the  mind,
and that they should resolve as  a duty of primary impor-
tance to give them a strong physical organization.   Pub-
lic sentiment thus requiring the true  method of educa-
tion, would  soon find its wants satisfied by the necessary
institutions, and intelligent teachers  would gladly wel-
come the change, for they clearly perceive  the evils of
the present system—though they are quite unable, alone,
to remedy them.
    I cannot enlarge at present, on the condition  of the
vounf lady. avIio has left school—her Avants  and duties— 
1 go                    REFORM.
 nor on the many evils of adult life, for my plan is  limit-
 ed, and the time allotted to my lectures is ended.
    I will only in closing most earnestly entreat you  as
 wise mothers, as responsible human beings, to be faithful
 to the trust  committed to you—the education of the
 young.   Remember the one great truth, Avhich I have
 constantly endeavored to enforce—that there is a Divine
 Order of Growth appointed for the human being, which
 we dare  not neglect without violating our duty as parents,
 as Christians—a Divine Order which,  if we  observe
 faithfully through every period of life, will  bring health
 and beauty, and  happiness  amongst  us.   We  shall see
 our children grow up around us in strength and grace,
 and  fulfil in  after life the promise of their childhood.
 The  beauty of Adam and Eve will no longer be a tradi-
 tion  of the past—for the Divine Image shall  again be
 stamped upon our race.
   Oh, mothers ! you have a glorious duty to perform to
 the young beings intrusted to your care—the duty of train-
 ing them to perfection,  to the ideal of our human nature
 —let it  be a sacred duty—accomplished with religious
 care, and Avith the loftiest sense of your responsibility.
   May  the time Avhich we have spent together aid you
 in this  duty,  and induce you  to  adopt  those  practical
 measures Avhich will secure to our children a true educa-
tion of body and mind !
THE END. 
 
 
Blackwell, t-lizabeth, Laws of life, with special reference to
the physical education of girls. QTA B632L 1852
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\    acetone.  The head, tail and pages were dry cleaned
    and washed and  then buffered (deacidified) with
    magnesium bicarbonate solution.  Tears were mended and
   ■i folds guarded with Japanese paper  and rice starch
! .  I paste.   The volume was resewn on linen tapes with
1    linen thread.   Paper ends with a linen hinge were
    attached.  The  volume was case bound in full cloth.   A
'   ; leather label was stamped in gold  foil.


i    Northeast Document Conservation Center
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