LB 1595 o > -%.*'-•"/ V"?S^*\/ ^o^rf^.'^o'^ \ .„. V •^^.,^* -i^lfA'. \..i^^ /^fe'-. *^ .** .'A^fA-. \.] \3 ^'V.T^ ^^0^ ^o .-i^ > A^ r. ^o v^ :£ ^0' • ''^-.*^ -'Mm- ^./ *''*^'- •^^ ' a'' o V cr ^ ° " ° f e~> iv .'■'•^ ■ 1.', ) '■ UEPORT MANUAL LABOR LITERARY INSTITUTIONS. 1833. TO THE BENEVOLENT. This Report is designed mainly for gratuitous distribution. The Executive Committee (with the aid of those benevolent individuals to whom it is sent, or such as they may interest) are desirous of giving it as extensive circulation as possible. The object of the Society is entirely philanthropic and public ; its operations thus far, have been sustained by the contributions of a few ; the Com- mittee are persuaded that many, on reading this Report of their Agent, will feel it a privilege to co-operate with the Society in enabling them to distribute through- out the country a document of such a practical value. Copies will be furnished, (or, what may in many cases be more convenient, distributed by mail according to order,) on application to J. Leavitt, Bookseller, .348 Broadway, or to S. W. Benedict & Co. 162 Nassau-street, N. Y. agents of the Society. Price 25 cents single ; $2 50 per dozen, $16 00 per hundred. New-York, March 20, 1833. FIKST ANNUAL REPORT ■ r OF THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING MANUAL LABOR IN LITERARY INSTITUTIONS, \ INCLtPlNO THE REPORT OF THEIR GENERAL AGENT, THEODORE D. WELD. JANUARY 28, 1S33. NEW-YORK S. W. BENEDICT &. CO. 162 NASSAU STREET, MDCCCXXXIir. '^^S^Postage— 3 sheets periodical, not over lOO niiled 12 cents ; any greater. distance 20 cents.] L'^ i'^^^ rEntered according to act of congress, in the year 1833, byGEORGK Douglass, treasuL anfin SS o'f the " Society for Promoting Manual Labor m Lite- rarrinstiSi" in the Clerk's Office of the Southern Distnct of New^York.] CONTENTS. "^ Introductory Statement by the Executive Committee, Officers of the Society, ' '.T. •^ vui MR. WELD S RKPORT TO THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. Statement of Genera! Operations, q God's Revelation upon the Subject of Education,....'...",'..".. in The only rational Basis for a System of Education,... T.. iV Mutual Influences of Body and Mind '.''_'_"_" j| Body and Mind should be educated together, ."......'......'...'.' 13 Present System of Education makes Man a Monster,.'..."..."."....'.' 73 This Defect in the present System not a new Discov'erv 14 Opinions of Milton, Locke, Jahn, and others, '.7.. 14 Neglect of Physical Education in the present System,"!'"! 15 Testimony of Physicians and Literary Men, 15 Havoc of Health and Life occasioned by the present System 17 Testimony, ' ,„ Insufficient Exercise main Cause of these Evils, !!!!""!! 24 Testimony of Physicians, 04 Importance of Exercise for Health, ..........!!.. 25 Testimony of Physicians, .'.....'.'.....". ""'25 Present System of Education effijminates the Mind,.......!."....!.'."...!.'..".'. 27 Testimony, nn Mental Activity promoted by Bodily Motion, 3I Bodily Activity of eminent Men, !.!....!!...!!!!...!!!. 31 Testimony, 00 Present System of Education perilous to Morals, !!!!.!!!!!.!!!!!..'....... ".34 Testimony, ; 04 Sufficient Exercise a preventive of Moral Evils, !.!!!!!!!!!!! 36 Testimony, ' 07 Present System indisposes to Effiart and destroys Habits of Activity "and Industry, on Present System Anti-rejpublican in its practical Effects, .!!!!.!!!!..!!!...!!. 40 Present System expensive, "^q Present System makes Labor disreputable, '....."...'...'....'.'.'! 41 Exercise should be alternated with Study, !.....! 42 Exercise should be taken daily, aq Testimony, ^o General Rule for Exercise Three Hours daily, 43 Testimony, a a Three Hours Exercise daily will not retard progress in Study, !!!!!!!!!46 Testimony, aq Exercise should be taken at different periods of the Day, !!!!!!!!!!!51 General Rules for the Regulation of Exercise, ....'....".'..!51 Exercise should be moderate, 5I Military Exercise, 52 Gymnastic Exercise, 52 Objections to Gymnastics, ; 53 Manual Labor System of Exercise, 56 It is natural, 5g It interests the Mind, 56 Its moral Effect is favorable, !.!!57 It furnishes important practical Acquisitions, 58 It promotes habits of Industry, 58 It promotes Independence of Character, 58 It promotes Originality, 59 It renders prominent all the manlier Features of Character, 59 It affords Facilities in acquiring a Knowledge of Human Nature, 60 It greatly diminishes the Expense oi Education, 60 It increases the Wealth of the Country, 63 It tends to do away absurd Distinctions in Society...... _ bi It would give Permanence to our Republican Institutions, 64 Comparative Claims of Agricultural and Mechanical Labor, 64 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. Clownishness, „„ Slovenliness, „„ Dullness of Intellect ^' Testimony of Dr. Bell, °° Objections to making Labor a Requisition, '^ High-Souled Men above Labor! • 'J% Exercise will never be taken regularly unless made a Requisition, 7o Testimony, A Supposition, • ••; "■•■•••■" ." „q Arrangement of Hours of study in Colleges unfavorable to Bodily Exercise,... 7» Testimony of Professor Hitchcock...... •• '^ Alledged interference of Manual Labor Schools with others, o" Alledged impracticability of the Manual Labor System, -Si Estimation in which the System is held by Teachers and Students of Manual^^ Labor Schools, - „p. Testimony from Personal Observation and Experience, oo Estimation in which the System is held by the Community, »» Testimony of Literary Men, °^ OBSTACLES TO SUCCESS. Misconception of the Design of the System, 9| Precipitancy •• q^ Imperfect Knowledge of the Details of the System, »* Misjudgment in the Kind of Labor, ^| Unfavorable Location, -^ Inefficiency, ••• — :""' '-^ir "^ qs Teachers forgetting that Actions speak louder than Words, »» Making Labor optional, _ Promiscuous Admission of Students, »" Inadequate Means, ••■■• y^",""]^'\'"\ 07 Measures preparatory to the Establishment of Manual Labor Schools, 97 Injudicious multiplication of Manual Labor Schools «» Endowment of existing Manual Labor Schools the first duty, 99 Manual Labor system retarded by local rivalry, ^^^J Conclusion, APPENDIX. Study of Physiology a desideratum in Literary Institutions, 101 Extract of a letter from Dr. BeU..... Dr. Caldwell, :J"* Dr. Cooke, 1^^ Dr. Brown, |^o Dr. Finley, !"^ Dr. Mussey, j"^ Dr. Ives, J"^ Extract of a letter from Professor Green, JfJ u u Rev. John Frost, ^^* Rev. John Todd, • 115 » .t Hon. Thomas S. Grimke, Ai7 B. Badger Esq 11^ Professor Steele, i^° .c « Rev. Austin Dickinson }_j-° » " A Clergyman in Maine, 1^9 u » ACollege Professor, !■<«" JL INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. The Society for Promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions was formed in July, 1831, under the conviction that a reform in our seminaries of learning was greatly needed, both for the preservation of health and for giving energy to the character by habits of vigorous and useful exercise. The Ex- ^ ecutive Committee, at an early day, appointed Mr. Theodore D. Weld to be General Agent of the Society, for the term of one \ year; and were highly gratified by his acceptance of the office. Mr. Weld had been for several years a member of the Oneida Institute, one of the oldest and most successful Manual Labor schools in the country, and was therefore not only strongly im- pressed in favor of the system, but also entirely familiar with its details and its practical results. In laying out a plan of operations for the Agent, the Com- mittee derived great aid from the ready invention, extensive ob- servation, and sound practical wisdom of their esteemed associate, the Rev. EUas Cornelius, whose removal from this world soon after the commencement of our operations, was felt to be a great loss to the cause of Manual Labor, as it was to all other depart- ments of Christian enterprise and benevolence. In this partic- ular branch of effort^ he is entitled to the honor of having been a pioneer. His labors in connexion with the American Edu- cation Society, necessarily brought to his notice the fearful waste of health and hfe produced in this country by the process of liberal education, without systematic exercise. His benevolent spirit grieved over the sufferings of the individuals, and the loss to the common stock of intellect ; and his inventive and fear- less mind led him at an early period to assume the responsi- bility of presenting to the public the Manual Labor System, as an adequate preventive of these direful evils. The instructions to Mr. Weld led him through an extensive tour of observation in the Northern and Western states. His jour- ney met vv^ith two serious interruptions, by accidents befalling the public stage, both fairly attributable to the evil influence of ardent spirits. The first was the overturning of the carriage on a high bank near New-Haven, Conn., by which the Agent was so bruised as to be detained nearly a week. The other, still more serious, was the carrying away of the stage in Alum Creek, near Co- lumbus, Ohio. The creek being swollen by the great flood, in crossing at midnight the swiftness of the current forced the whole down the stream, till the stage wagon came to pieces, and Mr. W. was thrown directly among the horses. After being repeatedly struck down by their struggles, he became entangled in the har- ness, and hurried with them along the current. At length, released from this peril, he reached the shore and grasped a root in the bank ; but it broke, and again the stream bore him on to the middle of the channel. At length he espied a tree which had fallen so that its top lay in the water, and by the most desperate eflforts, all encumbered as he was with his travel- ing garments, he succeeded in reaching a branch ; but his be- numbed hands refused their grasp, and slipped, and then he was swept among some bushes in an eddy, where his feet rested on the ground. Here, in the dead of night, in the forest, ignorant whether there was a house or a human being within many miles, bruised and chilled in the wintry stream, he seems calmly to have made up his mind to die, sustained by the hopes of the religion he professed. But Providence had determined other- wise, and reserved him for farther usefulness. His cries were heard by a kind-hearted woman on the opposite side of tlie Vll stream, who waked her husband, and he, with two others, came to his rescue, and after a few days detention, he proceeded on his journey. From the accounts which are already before the pubhc, it seems plain that nothing but a constitution invigorated by manual labor, and a soul sustained by the grace of God, could have survived the hardships of that night. After this, Mr. Weld visited most of the large towns and leading literary institutions in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama, prosecuting his inquiries, and calling public attention to the Manual Labor System. Wherever the Agent went, he was kindly received, and we are satisfactorily assured that his labors were successful in great- ly increasing the public interest in favor of Manual Labor in Literary Institutions. Mr. Weld having been already known as a successful advo- - k cate of the Temperance cause, he was invited in several places to deliver a course of lectures on this subject, before exhibiting the claims of the Manual Labor System in public. Finding that in this way more interest was excited in his main errand, and much larger audiences were drawn together to hear what was to be said on Manual Labor, he continued the same course, and the Committee believe that great good has been done to each cause by thus blending them together. By his personal inquiries and an extensive correspondence, Mr. Weld has succeeded in collecting a mass of facts and testi- monies on the subject of Manual Labor, some of the most im- portant of which are embodied in the following document. This was submitted to the Committee on the 28th of January last, and by them approved, and is now published and recommended to general attention, as a document of incalculable value to human- ity, education, and religion. The Committee unanimously voted their thanks to Mr. Weld for his arduous labors and his able report. In this sentiment of gratitude and obligation, we doubt not an intelligent public will fully concur. And if this system shall be generally adopted in our country, not only will the pres- ent age be benefitted by it, but generations yet unborn will duly appreciate its advantages. S. V. S. WILDER, Chairman, Ex. Com. JOSHUA LEAVITT, Cor. Sec. OFFICERS Of the Society for Promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions. PRESIDENT, ZECHARIAH LEWIS, Esq. VICE PRESIDENTS, Hon. THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN, Rev. JAMES MILNOR, D. D. SETH P. STAPLES, Esq. Rev. JEREMIAH DAY, D. D. LL. D. Rev. JAMES M. MATHEWS, D D. Hon. WILLIAM JAY. TREASURER, deorge I)ou§la§§, Esq. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, Rev. Josliua licavitt. MANAGERS, S V. S. Wilder, Esq. ' Rev. Samuel H. Cox, D. D. Rev George W. Gale, Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet, W. C. WooDBRiDGE, Esq. Mr. Cornelius Baker, Rev. Elias Cornelius,* Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, D. D. Mr. Lewis Tappan, Dr. Alfred C. 1 osx. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, Messrs. Wilder, Tappan, Cox, Douglass and Leavitt. REPORT. To THE Executive Committee of " The Society for Promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions :" Gentlemen : It is now a year since I accepted your appointment, and entered upon the discharge of my duties as General Agent of "The Society for promoting Manual Labor in Literary Institutions." In compliance with your instructions, institutions of learning have been visited ; literary men in various parts of the country have been conferred with in person, and very extensively by correspondence ; a great variety of details and practical results, together with a mass of testimony from the personal observation and experience of many eminent literary and medical men, has been collected. These, with much other testimony from the most respectable sources, I design to embody in this communication, arranged under various heads, and interspersed with such remarks, suggestions, and inferences, as may seem appropriate to each topic as it passes under review. In the instructions received upon the acceptance of my appoint, ment, the Committee say, "We wish you to keep a minute and accu- rate journal of your tour, embracing all the facts which you collect, with such remarks and inferences as you may think proper." During the first two months of my agency this request was complied with. I took copious notes, gathered many important facts, specific details, and much testimony, and connected with them such remarks of my own as occasion suggested. This document was lost with my bag- gage at the time of my accident in Ohio, last February. I should have recommenced the Journal, but, for some weeks after that event, the manual effort required in writing was so painful as to forbid much use of the pen. So much time had elapsed before acquiring adequate muscular control, that I deemed it expedient to keep the Committee advised of my movements by frequent letters, rather than to commence a regular journal at so late a period of my agency. I state this fact in explanation of the course which I have pursued, and as my apology. / 10 For the particular detail of my operations during the year, the Com- mittee are respectfully referred to the official communications which have from time to time been transmitted to the Corresponding Secre- tary. In prosecuting the business of m.y agency, I have traveled during the year four thousand five hundred and seventy-five miles ; in pubhc conveyances, 2,630; on horseback, 1800; on foot, 145. I have made two hundred and thirty-six public addresses. Of these, one hundred and ten were upon the subject of manual labor education, ninetv-seven upon temperance, and the remainder upon general edu- cation and other topics of pubUc interest.* I have written two hundred and eighty-two letters upon the business of the Society, and received more than that number, many of which being applications for personal services, have remained unanswered, from utter inability to command the requisite time. I have been laid aside from my agency two weeks during the year by the providence of God ; a part of the time on account of an injury received by the overturning of the stage soon after leaving New-York, and the remainder by the occur- rence in Ohio already noticed. Most of the year has been spent in traveling through the western and south-western states. The object of my agency has been eveiy where regarded with pecuhar favor, and my heart bids me add, that I have experienced largely that hos- pitality and kindness which have always distinguished the new world of the West. Having disposed of preliminaries, I now proceed to a consideration of the general subject of manual labor education. God has revealed his will to man upon the subject of education, and has furnished every human being with a copy of the revelation. It is written in the language of nature, and can be understood without a commentary. This revelation consists in the universal conscious- ness of those influences which body and mind exert upon each other — influences innumerable, incessant, and all controlUng ; the body con- * I deemed it both a duty and a privilege to comply with invitations to speak in public upon all subjects connected vs^ith the general good, whenever it could be done without interference with the business of my agency. In some places I have spoken eight and ten times in succession upon the subject of temperance, often twice, and occasionally three times a day. Thus the subject of manual labor education has been discussed before much larger audiences than could have been gathered if my lectures had not been preceded by others, and in that way a general attendance secured from the commoncerasnt. By pursuing this course, much more has been effected in the cause of manual labor than could have been done if my time had been devoted exclusively to that object. 11 tinually modifying the state of the mind, and the mind ever varying the condition of the body. These two make up the compound which we call man ; not the body alone, not the mind alone, but both con- joined in one by mutual laws. These mutual laws form the only rational basis for a system of ■^ucatwn. A system based upon any thing else is wrong in its first principles ; its combinations are incon- gruities, its tendencies are perversions, and its results, i-uin. True, the body has no value intrinsically, but its connection with the mind gives it infinite worth. Every man who has marked the reciprocal action of body and mind surely need not be told that mental and physical training should go together. Even the shghtest change in the condition of the body often produces an effect upon the mind so sudden and universal, as to seem miracu- lous. The body is the mind's palace ; but darken its windows, and it is a prison. It is the mind's instrument ; sharpened, it cuts keenly; blunted, it can only bruise and disfigure. It is the mind's reflector ; if bright, it flashes day ; if dull, it diffixses twilight. It is the mind's servant ; if robust, it moves with swift pace upon its errands ; if a cripple, it hobbles on crutches. We attach infinite value to the mind, and justly ; but in I his world it is good for nothing without the body. Can a man think without the brain ? Can he feel without nerves ? Can he move without muscles ? If not, let him look well to the con- dition of his brain, nerves, and muscles. The ancients were right in the supposition that an unsound body is incompatible ,with a sound mind. Climate, by its influence upon the body, produces endless diversi- ties of mind. Compare the timid, indolent, vivacious, and irritable inhabitant of the line with the phlegmatic and stupid Greenlander. Every man knows how the state of his mind is modified by different periods of the day, changes in the weather and the seasons.* He who attempts mental effort during a fit of indigestion will cease to wonder that Plato located the soul in the stomach. A few drops of water upon the face, or a feather burnt under the nostril of one in a swoon, awakens the mind from its deep sleep of unconsciousness. A shght impression made upon a nerve often breaks the chain of thought, and the mind tosses in tumult. Let a peculiar vibration quiver upon the nerve of hearing, and a tide of wild emotion rushes over the soul. " By turns they feel the glowing mind Disturbed, delighted, raised, refined." * It is a well known fact, that almost all the suicides which take place in London and Paris are committed during the rainy season. } 12 Strike up the Marseillais in the streets of Paris, and you lash the populace into fury. Sing the Ranz des Vaches to the Swiss sol- diery, and they gush into tears. The man who can think with a gnat in his eye, or reason while the nerve of a tooth is twinging, or when his stomach is nauseated, or when his lungs are oppressed and labor, ing ; he who can give wing to his imagination when shivering with cold, or fainting with heat, or worn down with toil, can claim exemp- tion from the common lot of humanity. I In different periods of life, the mind waxes and wanes with the body ; in youth, cheerful, full of daring, quick to see, and keen to feel ; in old age, desponding, timid, perception dim, and emotion languid. When the blood circulates with unusual energy, the coward rises into a hero ; when it creeps feebly, the hero sinks into a coward. " His coward lips did from their color fly." The effects produced by different states of the mind upon the body are equally sudden and powerful. Plato used to say, that " all the dis- eases of the body proceed from the soul," The expression of the countenance is 7nind visible. Bad news weakens the action of the heart, oppresses the lungs, destroys appetite, stops digestion, and partially suspends all the functions of the system. An emotion of shame flushes the face ; fear blanches it ; joy illuminates it, and an instant thrill electrifies a million nerves. Surprise spurs the pulse into a gallop. Delirium infuses giant energy. Volition commands, and hundreds of muscles spring to execute. Powerful emotion often kills the body at a stroke. Chile, Diagoras, and Sophocles, died of joy at the Elean games. The news of a defeat killed Philip V. One of the popes died of an emotion of the ludicrous, on seeing his pet monkey robed in pontificals, and occupying the chair of state. Muley Moluck was carried upon the field of battle in the last stages of an incurable disease. Upon seeing his army give way, he leaped from the litter, rallied his panic stricken troops, rolled back the tide of battle, shouted victory, and died. The door-keeper of Congress expired upon hearing of the surrender of CornwalUs. Eminent pubUc speakers have often died, either in the midst of an impassioned burst of eloquence, or when the deep emotion that produced it had suddenly subsided. The late Mr. Pinckney of Baltimore, Mr. Emmet of New- York, and the Hon. Ezekiel Webster of New-Hampshire, are recent instances. Lagrave, the young Parisian, died a few months since, 13 when he heard that the musical prize for which he had competed was adjudged to another. The recent case of Hills in New-York is fresh in the memory of all. He was apprehended for theft, taken before the police, and though in perfect health, mental agony forced the blood from his nostrils. He was carried out, and died, j The experience of every day demonstrates that the body and mind are endowed with such mutual susceptibilities, that each is alive to the slightest influence of the other. What is the common sense inference from this fact? Manifestly this : that the body and the mind should he educated together. The states of the body are infir~| nitely various. All these different states differently aflect the mind. They are causes, and their effects have all the variety which mark the causes that produce them. If then different conditions of the body differently affect the mind, some electrifying, and others para- lyzing its energies, what duty can be plainer than to preserve the body in that condition which will most favorably affect the mind. If the Maker of both was infinitely wise, then the highest permanent perfec- tion of the mind can be found only in connection with the most health- ^ ful state of the body. Has infinite wisdom established laws by which the best condition of the mind is permanently connected with any other than the best condition of the body? When all the bodily functions are perfectly performed, the mind must be in a better state than when^^ these functions are imperfectly performed. And now I ask, is not that system of education fundamentally defective, which makes no provision for putting the body in its best condition, and for keeping it in that condition? — a system which expends its energies upon the mind alone, and surrenders the body either to the irregular prompt- ings of perverted instinct, or to the hap-hazard impulses of chance or necessity? — a system which aims solely at the development of - mind, and yet overlooks those very principles which are indispensable to produce that development, and transgress those very laws which constitute the only groundwork of rational education? - Such a system sunders what God has joined together, and impeaches the wisdom which pronounced that union good. It destroys the sym- metry of human proportion, and makes man a monster. It reverses the order of the constitution ; commits outrage upon its principles ; breaks up its reciprocities ; makes war alike upon physical heaUh and intellectual energy, dividing man against himself; arming body and mind in mutual hostility, and prolonging the conflict until each falls a prey to the other, and both surrender to ruin. 14 We repeat the assertion : the best condition of the mental powers cannot be found permanently connected with any other than the best condition of the bodily powers, and this both as a matter of philosophy and fact. If this be true, the system of education which is generally pursued in the United States is unphilosophical in its elementary principles ; ill adapted to the condition of man ; practically mocks his necessities, and is intrinsically absurd. The high excellencies of the present system in other respects are fully appreciated. Modern edu- cation has indeed achieved wonders. It has substituted things for names, experiment for hypothesis, first principles for arbitrary rules. It has simplified processes ; stripped knowledge of its abstraction, and thrown it into visibility ; made practical results rather than mystery the standard by which to measure the value of attainment, and facts /ratjjer than conjecture its circulating medium- All this is cheerfully admitted. But what has been done mean- |. while for the body If What provision has been made for the daily wants of its muscles and nerves? What aids have been furnished to the organs of digestion, secretion, and circulation ? What means have been provided for preserving the body in its best condition, and thus not only giving healthful energy to its functions, but securing to the mind that permanent vigor which results from such a condition of the bodily organs ? What recognition has been made of those irre- pealable laws which connect the mind with a physical organization, and which graduate its states by the condition of that organization ? y'' In fine, how has modern education been giving practical testimony to the fact that man is a compound — a creature of flesh as well as intel- lect ? Has it been by dividing him in twain, cultivating one half with unremitting care, and leaving the other to stagnate in the torpor of inaction, or to glean a momentary energy from the contingencies of chance 1 Has it been by giving birth to an order of things in which a sound mind with a sound body is already a rare union, and is fast becoming an anomaly ? If these are its witnesses, the world is full of them ; and the utterance of their testimony is as the voice of many waters. The prevailing neglect of the body in the present system of education, is a defect for which no excellence can atone. This is not a recent discovery. Two centuries ago, Milton wrote a pamphlet upon this subject addressed to Samuel Hartlib, Esq., of London, in which he eloquently urged the connection of physical with mental education in literary institutions. Locke inveighs against it in no measured terms. Since that time, Jahn, Ackerman, Salzman, and Franck, in 15 Gerpiany, Tissot^ Rousseau, and Londe, in France, have all written largely upon the subject. To these may be added the celebrated Fel- ^^L^^^g' the veteran Swiss educator, and the apostle of modern edu- cation.* In our own country the imperfections of the present system have been lamented by our most eminent men. Forty years ago. Dr. \ y^ Rush of Philadelphia, published his views at length, recommending the connection of agricultural and mechanical labor with literary insti- tutions, and saying, "the student should work with his own hands in the intervals of study." More recently, much has been written upon the subject. President Lindsley of the Nashville University, Profes- sor Mitchell of the Medical College of Ohio, Professor Harris of the Medical Institution of Philadelphia, President Fisk of the Wesleyan University, Professor Hitchcock of Amherst College, the late Mr. Cornelius, and many others, have publicly and with solemn earnest- ness, borne their testimony against this feature of the prevailing sys- tem, and have exhorted the community to cast about in earnest for the appropriate remedy. Permit me, gentlemen, to call your attention to the following extracts, all going to show that the evils resulting from this defect in the present system are felt to be well nigh intolerable : " When we consider how many minds have long been engaged on the the- ory and practice of education — minds, too, which were deeply interested in the results of their labors, it is surely not a little remarkable, that for ages they should have overlooked the very first and most essential condition of suc- cess ; I mean the necessity of cultivating the body. Thus, if we except the first quarter of the present century, nothing worth naming has been done for the body, since the days of antiquity. Our surprise on this subject would be :/ less, if the striking advantages of training the body had not been demonstrated to us of old, and recorded for our instruction ; our surprise would be less too, if we had ever succeeded in education without this training, and if for centu- ries past we had not been constantly fading in our efforts to perfect human beings without it." American Journal of Education. " It seems to me to be a settled point, that some change must be effected in our colleges in respect to the time allotted to exercise, I cannot believe that the guardians of these institutions wiU rest satisfied with the present system much longer. Almost any system that can be proposed, has fewer difficulties and objections than that which prevails in our New-England colleges generally ; and therefore my conscience would not rest easy until I had borne my testi- mony against it." Professor Hitchcock on Physical Culture. * See " Sketches of Hofwyl," in the " Annals of Education," written by the able editor of that invaluable periodical during a year's residence among the scenes which he so interestingly describes. 16 "Colleges and universities have long been consecrated to literary ease, indulgence, and refinement. In them, mind only is attempted to be cultivated, to the entire neglect of the bodily faculties. This is a radical defect, so obvi- ous and striking, too, as to admit of no«.pology or defence." President Lindsley^s Inaugural Address. "The truth is, that the founders and governors of most seminaries of learn- ing have made no positive provision w^hatever for taking exercise. Their laws and regulations are silent in regard to it. If the student is disposed to exercise three hours a day, and can contrive to gain time by stealth, or m some other way, he can enjoy the privilege ; but he derives little or no encourage- ment either from the authority or the example of his superiors, and hence he is easily discouraged from making any systematic attempts. There must be a change in this respect. Instructors and overseers of hterary and profes- sional schools must give to exercise 5, prominent place in their arrangements ; they must make room for it in the regular employments of each day, and throw the weight of their whole influence into the scale in favor it, or it is to be feared that systematic exercise can never be associated permanently with the studies of those who are placed under their care." Cornelius' Address before the Mechanical Association in Andover. "Let me conclude by intreating your attention to a revision of the existing plans of education, in what relates to the preservation of health. Too much of the time of the better educated part of young persons is in my humble opinion devoted to literary pursuits and sedentary occupations, and too little to the acquisition of the corporeal powers indispensable to make the former practically useful. If the present system does not undergo some change, I much apprehend we shall see a degenerate and sinking race, such as came to exist among the higher classes in France before the revolution, and such as now deforms a large part of the noblest families in Spain." Dr. Warner of Boston on " Physical Culture." "We are satisfied by intimate experience, and we may add by personal suf- fering, that sad injustice is done to human nature in the common systems of education, by a neglect of suitable and regular physical exercise." Journal of Health. "Education is the proper development of the powers of both body and mind, and not as it is now practically defined, the culture of the mind to the neglect and permanent injury of the body." „ „, ., ^ looo Health Almanac jor I066. "When we remember * * * the destruction of health that is so fre- quent an accompaniment of study, it behoves us, as patriots and philanthropists, to arrest the existing evil, and to establish a better order of things." Professor Mitchell's ''Hints to Students." "I think that our whole system of education for the mind is too much built upon excitement and over activity. Half of our most promising youths have their physical, and often their intellectual powers broken down, or enfeebled, before they arrive at manhood." Judge Story of the U. S. Supreme Court. "I have long been so deeply impressed with regard to the necessity of some change in our system of education, especially of mmisterial education, that I 17 have been thankful for every attempt to throvi^ into it something in the shape of physical culture." Rev. Dr. Tyng, Philadelphia. "Most of our present systems are directed to the intellectual faculties, with- out any reference to the fact that the mind is incased in a body, through which is communicated every impression it receives." Dr. James C. Bliss, New-York. " The almost entire neglect of physical education in this country threatens dangerous and lasting consequences." •' Influence of Mental Cultivation on Health." By Dr. A. Brigham, Hartford. "I have long entertained a persuasion, which grows stronger and stronger every day, that there has been an essential error in the system of education in this country in regard to the subject in question' [physical education.] I had hoped that the visit of Spurzeim to this country, who was accustomed to speak with great feeling and eloquence on this point, and often deplored the mistalce committed in this country of doing too little for the bodily vigor of our youth, would have had a salutary influence. I trust that what he said win not be wholly lost, and that your society will effect the desired good." Professor Ware, Cambridge University, Mass. " Our schools for the most part pay not the smallest attention to the formation of the body. But that it is not a part of their plan, is an unpardonable fault." Professor Salzman, Germany. " For many centuries, education has been exclusively directed to the deve- lopment of the mental faculties, while the bodily powers have been entirely neglected." Professor VoelJcer, Germany. This is but a fraction of the testimony which might be presented upon this subject from our most distinguished literary and scientific men. That the evils resulting from the present system may be fully- estimated, let us descend to particulars. I. The present system of education makes fearful havoc OF HEALTH AND LIFE. If this position is deemed untenable, the following testimony will sufficiently fortify it : " The waste of health, and strength, and life, which is daily going on among the youth of talent and high promise in every part of our land, is enough to make any intelligent observer weep." Rev. Dr. Miller, Princeton Thcol. Sem. "Youth at most public seminaries are liable to become so eflfeminate, as- to be rendered, without some subsequent change of habit, utterly unfit for any manly enterprise or employment. How frequently, too, do they fall victims to this iU timed system of tenderness and seclusion!" President Lindsletfs Inaugural Address. "My experience as a student, and also as an instructor, has long since con- vinced me that at least nine out of ten, among diligent, industrious students, 3 18 have, in a greater or less degree, suffered the loss of health, by mtense appli- cation to study, and a want of proper exercise. When I look over the cata- logues of those institutions with which, as a student and an instructor, I have been acquainted, and collect together all those whose talents and application once promised extensive usefuhiess to the church and the world, my spirit mourns, my heart bleeds in contemplating the painful certainty that so large a proportion have either already fallen victims to a mistaken regimen, or only live to drag out a miserable existence, and admonish the world to profit by their mournful example. In short, I cannot but consider a literary institution, which makes no provision for the regular exercise of its students, no better than a manufactory of invalids, and the slaughter -house of cultivated talent." President Cossitt, Cumberland College, Ky. " The neglect of exercise has been the ruin of thousands of literary men, and has deprived our country of some of its richest ornaments." Professor Sewall, Medical College, Washington, D. C. "I have never made an estimate of the proportion of close students, who go through an entire course of study, without injury of their health in a greater or less degree. They are very few, I am sure ; and I am not certain that I could name a single exception." Rev. Dr. Green, Philadelphia. "My opinion is, that not a solitary individual of the above description [close students, who go through a thorough course] can be foimd, whose health is not impaired in some degree." President Chaplin, Waterville College. "For those who have not felt the sad evidence of this in years of debility, it is sufficient to point to the numbers of literary men, who are annually obliged to abandon their pursuits, either partially or entirely, becsuse the body is incapable of sustaining the mind in its efforts. They need only observe the multitudes of others, who with ample intellectual preparations maintain with difficulty an artificial and painful existence, and whose physical debility prevents them from exploring depths of science, and soaring to heights of speculation, which they feel to be witliin their grasp, but pant in vain to reach." American Journal of Education. "Though it is but few years since my name was first enrolled on a college catalogue, yet, in those few years, of one class of which I was a member, one half sleep in the dust; and of another, several, and some of them of the first standing, are no more on earth." President Fisk, Wesleyan University. "It is believed that at least one fourth of those who pass through a course of education for the learned professions, sink into a premature grave, or drag out a miserable and comparatively useless life, under a broken constitution." Rev. Mr, Frost's Oration before the Alumni of Middlebury College. "I have a distinct and very painful impression, that but a small part of those who are endued with the most active powers of mind, and who make the highest acquisitions, entirely escape injury. And in consequence of this injury to the constitution, by neglecting proper exercise during the regular course of education, I apprehend that a great number of the most inteUigent and pious ministers of the gospel fall far short of accomplisliing the degree of good which they would have accomplished, had they taken care to guard 19 against feeble health and a broken~constitution, not to speak of the numerous instances in which men of the highest qualifications bring upon themselves premature disease and death, and in the same way." Rev. Dr. Woods, Andover Theol. Sem. "How to possess "a sound mind in a sound body," is a grand desideratum with every student. A thousand facts might be adduced to show that this is a blessing seldom enjoyed hy the studious man. He is generally an invalid." Trustees of Waterville College. "It is an alarming fact, that our seminaries, colleges, universities, &c., are annually disgorging themselves of hundreds of subjects, which are only fit to pass immediately into hospitals and asylums." Sylvester Crraham, Lecturer on Health and Longevity. " So far as my personal observation has extended, I should consider it per- fectly safe to say, that three fourths of our diligent students impair their health by insufficient exercise, and probably it would be nearer the truth to call the proportion nine tenths." Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudett, Hartford, Con. "The instances with us have been very few, in which close students have not, in a greater or less degree, impaired their health, who have gone through an entire course of study, neglecting at the same time regular and daily exercise." Rev. Dr. Kendrich, Professor, Hamilton Theol. Sem. N. Y. "I have never known a close student, who did not sooner or later destroy himself, if he neglected exercise." Professor Keith, Episcopal Theol. Seminary, Alexandria. " I should think that a majority of really hard students, as well as a large proportion of moderately hard students, have entered life with constitutions more or less impaired by want of exercise. I have seen and felt the evil too much not to lament it deeply." Professor Ware, Cambridge University. "How many of our young men fall victims to intense application, before they complete their studies ! Others make wrecks of their constitutions, and, afler remaining upon the sick list a few years, and performing half service, faU into premature graves. Few of them bring from their retirements that unbrokenness in their corporeal system which will long sustain them in those vigorous efforts which the present exigencies of the church and world so much demand." President Chapin, Columbian College, Washington. D. C. "Upwards of three hundred young men have been received at this mstitu- tion during the above mentioned period [fourteen years.] Eight of these died before they finished their education. Seventeen others left the institution with their health so much impaired that they were obhged to abandon their course, and twenty-seven more materially injured their health by the neglect of regular exercise ; while a greater number have sustained a less injury." Rev. Dr. Kendrich, Professor, Hamilton Theol. Sem., N. Y. " A large proportion of diligent, close students with whom I have met, have impaired their health and usefulnes by a deficiency or irregularity of exercise. Indeed, for several years past, I have been m the habit of looking with a sort 20 of surprise upon any thorough and close student whose countenance exhibited the rosy clearness and freshness of health, and who had no detail of ailments to give. Among the valedictory orators at our colleges whom I have hap- pened to know, I think I do not exaggerate when I say that one half of them have had their health so much impaired, as to be compelled for years almost to suspend all efficient study. Alas ! not a few of them have sunk into an early gi'ave." Professor Hitchcock, Amherst College. "How often did it occur, that soon after a young man, thus educated, entered upon his ministry, his nerves failed, his hands began to tremble, he could not read at night ; and then the preparation for the pulpit was all the study which he could accomplish in the week ; and then he must rest, and go abroad — and rest, in many instances, until he entered into the rest which remaineth for the people of God." Rt. Rev. Bishop Mcllvaine, Ohio. "Mr. Anderson observed, that in his intercourse with the members of our colleges and theological seminaries, for the purpose of obtaining men for the foreign service of the church, he had been distressed by the frequency with which those were unfitted for that service by impaired health, who otherwise were well qualified. He thought the evil great, and demanding more atten- tion than it had received. Many a good scholar is thus rendered compara- tively useless, by the time his education is completed. You need but con- verse with such, to be satisfied that they are not fitted for foreign enterprises, nor for encountering the rough storms of the world. They must be tenderly nursed at home ; and when they travel, must have the benefit of good roads, close carriages, and comfortable inns." Speech of Rev. Mr. Anderson, Secretary of A, B, C. F. M. "The prevailing systems of academic education are destructive of health, and fatal to the brightest prospects of usefulness. Among our young divines, and those who are now in preparation for the ministry, how few are there who do not labor under the unutterable tortures of dyspepsia, or the wasting ravages of pulmonary consumption, or of both!" Professor MitcheWs " Hints to Students." "It is for want of a regular and systematic course of exercise, that so many of our most promising youths lose their health by the time they are prepared to enter on the grand theatre of active and useful life, and either prematurely die or linger out a comparatively useless and miserable existence.^' President Partridge, Jefferson College, Mississippi. " There is scarcely a social circle among us which does not mourn over the untimely decline of some youthful member ; there is scarcely a society or parish that has not had to lament the blasting of their hopes by the wasting hand of consumption laid heavily and surely on the young minister of promise, piety, and talent." American Journal of Education. " Complaints in the head and heart, diseases of the eyes, and especially pulmonary, nervous, and dyspeptic diseases, are very common to students. These often retard their progress in their studies, prevent their usefulness, and not unfrequently hurry them to an untimely grave. In proof of this we need only look among our professional and literary men, and mark the ravages of jdisease and death. In ray short and limited acquaintance with men of studi- 21 ous habits, I have seen many a flower of fairest promise, in the gardens of literature, blighted in its prime, and scattered scentless and fruitless upon the ground." Rev. Dr. Fish's Inaugural Address at Wilbraham. "The studious man has in general been left to sedentary habits, till his physical frame, ruined, becomes the seat of numerous and distressing mala- dies, to which the laboring portion of the community are almost strangers." Annals of Education and Instruction. " The proportion of those who impair their health during a season of study, I believe to be fearfully great." President Chapin, Columbian College, Washington, D. C, *'That students in general suffer a sensible and visible decline in their health when intensely occupied, is matter of visible and painful notoriety ; and the entire overthrow of health and life is often the result of studious habits, precisely at the period when opportunity is presented for the individual to make his acquisitions available to himself and others. Melancholy exam- ples of premature death among men of brilliant talents and exalted virtue, at the very threshold of their usefulness, have become famUiar to all, as directly consequent upon close application and study. This question, then, is obviously of thrilling interest to every philanthi-opist." Dr. David M. Reese, New-YorJc. " How many of Plato's cripples have belonged to the army of the cross, encumbering its march, and bearing like so many dead weights upon its efforts ! * * * * How often has Zion been called to v^^eep bitter tears over their disappointed hopes! * * * This is an evil over which literature and religion have long mourned, and which has thinned the Christian army to an alarming degree." Dr. Reynolds of Boston, on Physical Culture. "How many young men of the highest promise, by intense application to study, and for the want of proper exercise, have left college with broken con- / stitutions ; and with all their intellectual treasures, have passed a miser- u able life, a burden to themselves, and useless to society ! How many have fallen victims to this mistaken regimen, either before or not long after the completion of their collegiate course ! How few, by timely change of habit, arrest or repair the effects of that debility contracted at college?" Report of the Trustees of Cumberland College. "I should say, that of those who deserve the character of close students, full one half, if not more, injure themselves by an injudicious neglect of exer- cise ; and that of this number, full one fourth, if not a third, lay a foundation for feebleness and disease, which go with them through life, and greatly diminish > both their usefulness and enjoyment. Indeed, of candidates for the ministry / who have been habitual students, I doubt whether one in six, or even one in V eight, brings to the public service of the sanctuary an unimpaired constitu- tion. This loudly calls for some effectual remedy. To see a candidate for the ministry pursuing a course directly calculated to reduce his strength, derange his nervous system, prostrate his animal spirits, and render him a poor hypochondriac, incapable of animated or forcible speaking, is indeed a melancholy spectacle, but one which we are very often compelled to witness." Rev. Dr. Miller, Princeton Theol. Sem. 22 "There are but few instances of close students going through an entire course of study, who do not impair their health." Professor Ripley, Newton Theol. Sent. "By many intelligent persons it is hardly known as a fact, that so large a proportion of students are invalids, or die prematurely by disease, or that the cause of this fact is to be found in excessive study." President Junkin, Lafayette College, Penn. « The mischief done by this perverse mode of education is inconceivable. It has been the grand source of bodily inactivity, voluptuous weakness, effemi- nacy, a multitude of diseases, and in short an immeasurable portion of our sufferings. What then shaU we say of a mode of education which forcibly impels us to disobey the laws of nature, by rejecting from its plan the improve- ment of our bodies with the habits of corporeal exertion, and leaving these important subjects to .blind chance." Professor Salzman, Germany. "The destroying angel is flying through the ranks of the rising ministry, and every year and every month the tidings come that another and another has fallen. The loss which in this manner has so often withered the joys of parents and instructors, and covered the church -with a cloud, is frequently, perhaps I may say usually aggravated by the fact, that young men of the strongest minds and of the biightest promise are the victims.* The Ameri- can Education Society has a tale of lamentation and woe to tell on this sub- ject. Not far from thirty young men under its patronage have smik into their graves before their preparatory course could be finished, and as many more have been permanently disabled, and laid aside from their labors, by the failure of health." Address of Rev. Dr. Cornelius. "It is a notorious fact, familiar to every attentive observer, that those stu- dents, with a very few exceptions, who are close apphcants, and excel as scholars, either lose their health entirely, during their elementary or profes- sional studies, or have it so much impaired as to be unfit for the duties of their profession, and to be liable continually to sink under the slightest shock or indisposition. These evils are most severely felt in the clerical profession." Professor Monteith, late of Hamilton College. "Half the literary men of our country have suffered, and are now suffering, from inattention to those intervals of corporeal exercise and mental recrea- tion, \vithout which, no human being devoted to intellectual pursuits, has any right to expect the privileges and immunities of health." American Journal of Education. "The annals of intemperance can scarcely farnish a more appalling picture of wasting disease, premature death, and broken constitutions, than the his- tory of education in this country exhibits. * * * "Had I time, sir, I could give names and dates, and other circumstances occurring within my own short experience, of hopes withered, usefulness destroyed, constitutions ruined, and hfe cut short, that would awaken aU the sympathies of this audience. It is a matter of fact, that few men of our pro- * Who can fill the places of Suinmerfield, Lamed, Griffin, Carlos Wilcox, Christ, mas, Sutherland, Douglass, Amos Pettingell, and James B. Taylor ? 23 fession are men of sound health, capable of 'enduring hardness as ffood sol- "diers of Jesus Christ.' " ^ Speech of Rev. Mr. Gale, Principal of the Oneida Institute. "The Christian church at the present day is losing a great amount of power by the feeble health of her ministers. To meet a clergyman, indeed, espe- cially of the younger class, is come to be almost synonymous with meeting an invalid. Alas ! multitudes, by neglecting in early life to alternate labor with study, and to form habits of abstemiousness in living, prepare their sys- tems for yielding to the sHghtest shock; and when once plunged into the mire, they are most commonly wading through it aU their days. Instances of this character have been so alarmingly multiplied in latter years ; bright hopes have been so often prostrated; vigorous and pious youth of sprightliness, genius, and promise, have so often been changed into complaining, imbecile' gloomy dyspeptics ; that a solicitous inquiry has gone forth among the guard- ians of Uterature and religion, as to the cause and remedy. And from almost every quarter a response is somided louder and louder m then: ears: it is the Tieglect of early physical education." Professor Hitchcock .on Physical Culture. "In looking over our catalogue for the last fourteen years of my connection with this college, I find that at least one fourth of those who were close stu- dents in their collegiate course have suffered in health, and are now either numbered with the dead, or in feeble health. The records of this coUege fur- nish sad testimony as to the consequences of neglected exercise. Many, and those too of our most promising alumni, have here laid the foundation of pro- tracted illness and death." Professor Newman, Bowdoin College. "All regard drunkenness as a perpetual suicide. It is only when self- destruction has been accomplished by the student and the professional man, by violating the laws of nature through indolence and inattention to health, and excess of study, that it has Utlierto been honored by a Christian com- munity as a commendable pursuit of knowledge. Shall this self-immolation of professional men be always encouraged and sanctified by public applause?" Rev. Dr. Beecher^s Inaugural Address at Lane Seminary. Are these competent witnesses? Is their testimony worthy of credit? Are these explicit statements mere blind guess work, or are they the records of undeniable fact ? Are they ghostly spectres con- jured up to scare children, or giant realities that may well alarm men? The character of the witnesses, their opportunities for obser- vation, the explicit and emphatic language in which they clothe their testimony, and the deep toned earnestness with which it is uttered, will be deemed sufficient vouchers by all whose convictions are pro- duced by evidence. In view of facts as they are, I ask, " Shall the sword devour for* ever?" Shall this havoc be entailed upon the next generation, and! accelerated onward, until the world turns pale before a destroyer which every where walketh in darkness, and wasteth at noonday? Shall we, by refusing to arrest the ruin while we can, not only give it 24 free passage down to our children's children, but blasphemously bid God-speed to the tragedy which is to drown them in their own blood? Perhaps while it is admitted that these evils exist, it is denied that they result from neglect of exercise. That other causes connected with the quantity and quality of food, high stimulants, unnatural pos- tures, a deficiency or excess of sleep, operate to bring about the result, is manifest ; and it is equally clear that a want of sufficient exercise in the open air is the 7nain cauee. The following testimony is explicit : "Every fact presented by the pathology of the diseases of literary men con- firms the opinion that the neglect of physical culture lies at the foundation." Dr. Reynolds of Boston on Physical Culture. "Inactivity is the great bane of literary men. To the student exercise may be considered the most certain safeguard against all those diseases which result from intellectual exhaustion. It is plain that in the present state of thmgs, men's minds are too much engaged, and their bodies too little ; and here lies the root of the bodily mischief so much complained of I am fuUy persuaded that deficient exercise and mental, anxiety are far the most com- mon and most powerflil sources of dyspepsy." Graham on Indigestion. "It is the dehauchery of inaction that has spread itself so extensively, and engendered so alarming an increase of dyspepsy and other chronic maladies." Professor Salzman. " The principal cause of dyspepsy and kindred diseases among students, may be defined to be the want exercise in the open air. Exercise, active and frequent exercise, is not only necessary, but that it be conducted in the open air, is indispensable. There is no substitute for this privation in any instance of the diseases originating from studious habits, and it should be frequent and regular in its repetition." Dr. David M. Reese, New-York. "The most operative and influential cause of dyspeptic derangements is. want of adequate muscular exertion. Other inferior sources there are of such gastric disorders, but the most prolific of all is deficient employment of the physical energies of the system." Dr. Harrison, Louisville, Ky. "A veiy cursory investigation of exercise will show that inactivity is not only a very powerful direct disease, but that by co-operating with the other causes of disease to which students are exposed, it has a more general and pernicious influence than any other, perhaps than all the rest." Dr. Finley, Cincinnati, Ohio. "Many medical men lay great stress upon attention to diet; but we are fully persuaded that regimen is of still greater moment, and experience proves that exercise is the most essential branch of the athletic regimen." American Editor of Dr. Kitchener. 25 If then the neglect of bodily exercise is the main cause of these evils, remove the cause, and the effect will cease. Shall yfe refuse to procure exemption from the inflictions of such a curse, when it can be purchased at so cheap a rate as this ? Most men admit the impor- tance of exercise forhealti', but few, comparatively, have an adequate conviction of its necessity. There are many commonly received truths, which require frequent statement and much explicit detail, in order that their importance may be appreciated. As this is one of them, the extracts which follow require neither preface nor apology. "Nothing in the world is a more certain and efficacious preservative of health than a sufficiency of bodily motion. It excels every medicine that can be recommended for the preservation of health and the prevention of dis- ease, and in this view may be justly called a panacea, as it not only removes the causes of disorders, but is an effectual means of strengthening the body, and keeping it in a proper tone." Hoffman, Physician to the King of Prussia. " Labor or exercise is indispensably necessary to preserve the body any time in due phght," Cheyne. "Exercise in the open air is essential to the well being of every person." Paris on Diet. " Nothing can supply the place of exercise in the open air. Without it, the body very soon inevitably grows languid ; the circulation is impeded ; the / general nervous energy impaired ; the digestive functions enervated and dis- "^ ordered; and the body becomes an easy prey to some chronic disorder." Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life. "The public at large are far from having attained to any correct or ade- quate knowledge of the uncommon power of exercise in preserving health, augmenting corporeal strength, improving the mental faculties, assisting in curing disease, and contributing to the prolongation of life." Dr. Kitcheners Invalid's Oracle. "Active exercise is essentially necessary to counteract the fatal tendencies, of close study." Professor MitchelVs "Hints to Students." "The effects of exercise, when not carried to the extent of producing undue fatigue, are, to promote the circulation of the fluids throughout the body ; to. render the digestion of food more easy and perfect; to ensure the nutrition of every part of the system, and to enable perspiration and the other eaaretions to take place with regularity." Journal of Health. "Men of letters, from neglecting to take exercise, are often the rnost unhealthy of human beings. Even temperance is no effectual remedy against 4 26 the mischiefs of a sedentary life, which can only be counteracted by a prq>er quantity of exercise and air." Directions for Prolonging Life. " The power of daily, active exercise, in the open air, in curing indigestion, is v|!ry great, indeed such as would appear to the majority of persons almost incredibJe ; and therefore it cannot be too much insisted on as an indispensa- ble requisite to ensure perfect freedom from this complaint." Dr. Barrett, American Editor of Kitchener. "The studious and contemplative ought io make exercise a part of their religion." Cheyne. " Nothing but daily exercise in the open air can brace and strengthen the powers of the stomach, and prevent an endless train of diseases which result from a relaxed state of that organ." Dr. EwelVs Medical Companion. "A due proportion of exercise we find to be necessary to the perfect action of every function, both of body and mind. By the want of it, their vigor is impaired; the body becomes incapable of maintaining itself in health. The greater number of diseases which fall under our inspection originate from inactivity of the body." New Edinburgh Encyclopedia, article " Medicine." "That sprightly vigor of health which we enjoy in an active course of life, is owing wholly to new blood made every day from fresh food prepared and distributed by the joint action of all parts of the body. Cadogan. "Health depends upon perpetual secretion and absorption, and exercise only can produce this." Dr. Kitchener. " Exercise keeps off obstructions, which are the principal causes of disease, and ultimately of death." Institutes of Health. " Deficient exercise, or continued rest, weakens the circulation, relaxes the muscles, diminishes the vital heat, checks the perspiration, injures diges- tion, and sickens the whole frame." Journal of Health. "None of the important processes connected with the important function of digestion could be adequately performed, unless the body were stimulated for that purpose by labor and exertion." Invalid's Oracle. " The position is universally established, that exercise should be ranked among the most powerful agents which we can employ for the preservation of health. It strengthens the solid parts, and promotes the circulation of the fluids beyond any thing else within the compass of nature." Friend to Health. " Exercise is the most powerful remedy for strengthening the whole sya- tem, and we depend more on it than on any other means singly taken." Woodforde on Dyspepey, 27 « Regular exercise, of suitable degree and continuance, would exert a pow- erful influence on the student, in preventing those diseases which ordinarily assail the constitution, and shorten the life of our literary men." Professor Sewall, Medical Institution, Washington, D. C. " As I am a compound of soul and body, I consider myself as obliged to a double scheme of duties, and think I have not fulfilled the business of the day, when I do not employ the one in labor and exercise, as well as the other in study and contemplation." Addison. " Experience teaches the absolute necessity of exercise, and generally of much exercise, which is not likely to be obtained without system." President Griffin, Williams College. " My whole observation and experience, ever since I became capable of observing at all, have been most convincing in relation to the importance of systematic exercise for students. For the last twenty years, my attention has been closely drawn to it, and my opportunities of observing and deciding in reference to it, have bsen numerous and very impressive. It is true, some students stand in need of a greater amount of bodily exercise than others; but all need it, and need it indispensably. Not one student, I should say, in ^ve hwidred, can, with safety to his health, pursue a systematic course of study, without the habitual use of a considerable amount of exercise in the open air. He may, for a time, feel pretty well without it, and imagine that it is not necessary for him ; but it is all a delusion. Nature will, in the end, assert her claims ; and he will be obliged to pay up, principal and interest, for all his old arrears of exercise ; and it will be well, if he should ever be able to quiet the claim. Many young men whom I earnestly and tenderly exhorted on this subject, at the commencement of their theological course, and who have in a great measure disregarded my exhortation, liave come to me after- wards in all the bitterness of repentance, mourning over the prostration of their health, and lamenting that they did not profit by my counsel. In short, my conviction of the importance and indispensable necessity of systematic exercise to all students, is every day becoming more deep and strong. We say to every student, without fear of mistake, " You must take exercise daily, or quit study, or be sick." Rev. Dr. Miller, Princeton Theol. Sent. The ruinous effects of the present system upon the body are only as the dust of the balance, when compared with the inroads made upon intellect, moral feeUng, the habits, and the character. I remark, II. The present system of education effeminates the MIND. * * * " the languid eye ; the cheek. Deserted of its bloom; the flaccid, shrunk. And withered muscle ; and the vapid soul," belong together. Poetry is sometimes fiction ; here it is not only fact, but philosophy. That state of the body produced by insufficient exercise, dims intellectual perception, clogs the suggestive principle, 28 chains down the imagination, and loads the mind with torpor. On the other hand, that state of the body which is the result of sufficient, regular exercise, quickens the principle of association, strengthens the memory, animates the fancy, concentrates all the powers of the mind, and gives impulse to their operations. An appeal to the experi- ence of every individual would seem quite sufficient to set this point at rest. But in matters of moment, explicit testimony is rarely out of place : "The advantages of exercise are not confined to the body. It refreshes the intellectual powers, and gives to them a spirit and sprightliness which can be derived from no other source." Disorders of Literary Men. "Deficiency of exercise mainly contributes to that languor of mind and body, timidity, &c., which distinguish the sedentary citizen from the labo- rious peasant." Dr. James Johnson, London, "A disordered stomach extinguishes the flame of genius." Kotzebue. "The difference, indeed, between the movements of the mind with and with- out exercise, is as great as between the movements of a clock clogged and groaning with friction and dirt, and one newly oiled and cleaned, with every pivot, wheel, and pin, in place." Dyspepsy Forestalled and Resisted. "A wen formed and healthy condition of the material organs is as essential to correct and powerful mental action, as a sound state of the eye and ear for seeing and hearing." Dr. Brigham's ^^Influence of Menial Cultivation on Health." « A feeble body enfeebles tie mind." Rousseau. "The cultivation of the mind suffers, unless physical improvement accom- panies it step by step. If we exercise the body, it will become strong and active. In this state it will invigorate the mind ; it wiU render it manly, energetic, indefatigable, firm, and courageous." Professor Salzman, Germany. « The soundness of the understanding depends much on the bodily powers." Disorders of Literary Men. "The mind partakes of the languor of the body." New Edinburgh Encyclopedia, Article " Medicine." " Who does not know that the mind participates in the condition of the body ; that it is cheerful when the body is strong and health)'-, and depressed When the body is languid?" Professor Voelker, Germany. "Long bodily inaction will deprive the mental faculties of their purity and energy. ***** Regular exercise will invigorate the understand- ing, and encourage pure and elevated sentiment." Dr. Harris' Oration before the Philadelphia Medical Society. 29 " We do not need a physician to tell us that dullness and inefficiency of saind are the sure results of the neglect of exercise, or that brUliancy and force of thought are the natural fruits of activity." American Journal of Education. « It is wonderful how much the mind is enlivened hy the motion and exer- cise of the body." Pliny, Epistles, 1. 6. "Take care of the health of the body ; for without it, the mind can accom- plish nothing." Cicero. " Would you cultivate the understanding of your pupil ? Cultivate the pow- ers it is to govern. Exercise his body continually ; render it healthy and robust, in order to make him intelligent; let him toil ; let him act ; let Mm be ever in motion." Rousseau, " A well formed and exercised body is precisely what insures the proper performance of the mental functions." Salzman. *' Whatever enfeebles the body, debilitates the mind." John Howard. "The condition of the body has a great effect upon that of the mind ; and it is certain that an author's productions will vary very much at diiferent times, if he neglects to attend to the rules now laid down. Do not neglect to take as much exercise as possible during this period, [when engaged in com- position.J Authors act very unwisel}'', to neglect this branch of regimen, because if the circulation of the blood, and other bodily functions, are preserved in a healthy state by exercise, (and they cannot be so preserved without it) the mind must be proportionately invigorated, and the composition produced will be more uniformly excellent than it otherwise would be." Kitchener, "The effects of exercise upon the faculties of the mind are also of much importance. It keeps the understanding clear, the imagination untroubled, and the spirits in a state fit for the proper and most vigorous exertion of our intellectual powers. The necessary consequences are, that the attention becomes more ready, the perceptions more acute, and all the mental faculties not only brighter and more elevated, but preserved longer in old age. The mind also becomes inore courageous ; corporeal sufferings are borne with patience ; a command of temper, and a presence of mind, are also acquired, and preserved undisturbed amidst pain and danger." Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life. "Were the exercise of the body attended to in a corresponding degree with that of the mind, men of great learning would be more healthy and vigorous, of more general talents, of ampler practical knowledge, more happy in their domestic lives, more enterprising, and more attached to their duties as men. In fine, it may with propriety be said, that the highest refinement of the mind, without improvement of the body, can never present any thing more than half a human being. ********** At every stage of life, the influence of physical education is experienced in an increased amount of health and cheerfuhiess, a better developed and more synajaaetrical form of body, and an increase of capacity for mental exertion. 30 " That genius is comparatively lost to the world, which is unsustained by a sound body. It perishes in its own fire." Journal of Health. "Exercise, while it increases circulation, insensible perspiration, and mus- cular development and vigor, proportionally increases respiration, and thus the blood is more fully and completely purified and renovated in the Imigs, and becomes po^ssssed of more of that vital spirit which stimulates and exhila- rates wherever it flows, and diffuses mental and moral, as well as animal and organic vigor, and cheerfulness, aud elasticity, and buoyancy, throughout the whole man. Hence a due proportion of exercise is indispensably necessary, in order to the greatest intellectual strength and activity, and to that mental bold- ness, and freedom, and acumen, and prehension, and heroic daring, which marked the movements of the great minds of the earlier ages of the world. Indeed, it was to the condition of their bodies, resulting from their peculiar regimen, more than to any thing else, that the giant intellects of antiquity owed their peculiar superiority over modern minds." Sylvester Graham, Lecturer on Health and Longevity. "A well regulated systerja of exercise would augment and strengthen all the powers of the intellect; woald render it active, clear, and discriminating, and greatly increase the capacity of acquiring knowledge, and at the same time impart a spirit of enterprise, energy, and decision of character, indispensable to lofty designs, or great achievements. " Professor Sewall, Medical College, Wahington, D. C. " Whatever has a tendency to improve and maintain the general health of the system, cannot fail to act beneficially upon the mind. After an interval of relaxation spent in exercise, the student returns to his task not only with renewed pleasure, but with increased vigor and clearness of intellect for its accomplishment. The organs of the mind, and those of the bodily functions generally, are too intimately connected in the human organization, not to be influenced reciprocally by the condition of each. When the stomach, the heart, the lungs, or the skin, perforin imperfectly their respective functions, the functions of the brain invariably suffer more or less disturbance, and the faculties of the mind are diminished in acuteness and in energy. Is the weak, languid, often suffering valetudinarian, or the individual in perfect health, sup- posing them to be equal in regard to the natural powers and the cultivation of their minds, best adapted for the prosecution of literary and scientific labors? Common experience shows what we should conclude a priori, that it is the latter. Who has not felt the influence of even a trifling and temporary illness, or a slight disturbance of the stomach from some error in diet, in a diminished inclination as well as aptitude for intellectual exertion] The biography of the learned proves incontestibly that health and activity of body promote in no slight degree the health and activity of the mind. It has been said, we are aware, that the independence of mind on matter is evinced by the intellectual labors which have been performed, in certain cases, under extreme bodily suf- fering, debility, or disease. We apprehend, however, that such examples are extremely rare. We find, on the other hand, that very many of the names most distinguished in the republic of science and of letters have belonged to men noted for their bodily health and vigor. They also who have been cele- brated for the powers of their intellect, and the extent and diversity of their mental acquirements, have very generally been distinguished equally for their exploits under circumstances demanding the utmost strength of body and energy of frame. We need hardly refer to those illustrious individuals, who, At different periods of the world, and in different countries, by the vigor, strength, 31 and acuteness of their intellects, were enabled to advance far before the age in which they were born, and by their personal exertions in the field of battle, or in equally laborious enterprises, produced a complete change in the charac- ter and condition of nations, or enlarged immeasurably the boundaries of human knowledge. These examples show at least that no fear need be enter- tained of injury to the mind resulting from any attempts to improve and hus- band the health and strength of the constitution." Dr. D. Francis Condie, Philadelphia. " A judicious combination of physical and mental labor in our literary insti- tutions would tend to strengthen and improve the intellect of the students, as well as to preserve their bodily health." Chancellor Walworth, Albany, N. Y. "No man can have either high intellectual action, or definite control over his mental faculties, without regular physical exercise. The want of it pro- duces also a feebleness of wiU which is as fatal to moral attainment as it is to intellectual progress." President Wayland, Brown University. " Within a few years past, particularly, I have been so situated that I could not but see the beneficial effects of a sufficient amount of exercise, and the effects also of a deficiency. At the beginning of almost every collegiate term, invigorated by active efforts during vacation, the students resume their stu- dies with great success, and little complaint is heard about headaches, vertigo, debility, and other ailments resulting from neglect of proper exercise. But not many weeks pass away, before the sick list begins to fill up ; the physi- cian's pills and emetics come into requisition ; and ere long his certificate is presented, that the health of the student is such as to render it expedient that he should be absent for some time from college. Others, similarly affected, drag along to the close of the term, but are reported by their instructors in classics and mathematics as 25 per cent, lower on the merit roll than before. I have certainly known one third of a class, during some terms unfavorable for exercise, brought into this wretched state ; nor could you convince one of them that a greater amount of exercise, with more temperance in diet, would prevent such a result." Professor Hitchcock, Amherst College. That mental activity is promoted by bodily motion, is a matter of universal consciousness. Who has not felt the current of thought becoming motionless, and its fountain beginning to stagnate, after thinking closely for hours, and preserving the same posture of bodyj,' And who upon caUing his muscles into active play, has not felt new fountains break out within him, and fresh thought pour over the soul its living waters 1 The active habits of Demosthenes, Pericles, Sophocles, Xenophon, Caesar, and many other eminent ancients, will at once occur to the general reader. Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato, delivered their lectures while walking. Cicero dictated many of his works in the same way. Among the moderns, John Locke, John Wesley, Thomas Scott, Bona- parte, Rousseau, and Gibbon, happily illustrate the principle. One of 33 '^^M the biographers of Burns tells us, that his happiest efforts were made when he was in rapid motion. At such times he seemed instinct with the soul of poetry. • The late Mr. Pinckney, of Baltimore, used to arrange his arguments while pacing his room. This is the well known custom of many of the most eminent men now living. The late Dr. Mitchill, of New-York, was once asked how he acquired knowledge with such facility. He replied, "I keep stij^ring my stumps, sir." He then remarked, that when studying at a European university, he used to procure, if possible, a quarto or folio edition of the various works used for text books, and study while walking his room, and carrying his book before him. The habits of the Peripa- tetics in this respect were strictly philosophical. All the powers of the mind are refreshed and renovated by bodily exercise ; but perhaps none of them more than the power of sugges- tion or association — that power which strikes out analogies, and calls up illustrations ; that which suggested to Galileo the pendulum prin- ciple, from the vibratory motion of a chandelier before him; that which conducted Newton from the fall of an apple to the wheeHng of a planet, and unveiled that omnipresent law, which binds alike the mote and the sun. The inventive power, which is a modification of the same principle, is greatly invigorated by that healthful energy of the circulation, which is produced by bodily exercise. It is a well known fact, that a large proportion of the most impor- tant inventions, and the most valuable discoveries in the application of science to practical purposes, have originated with men remarkable for Tialits of bodily activity. In our own country, Franklin, Ritten- house, Count Rumford, Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, Fulton, and Perkins, stand preeminent in this department. The active habits and physical energy of the first four and the last are known as far as their names. Fulton, though inferior to the others in strength of constitution, was in his habits at an equal remove from bodily inactivity. The general fact that has been stated, is not peculiar to this country. Two or three years since, the editor of an English periodical made the same remark with reference to the inventions and discoveries in Great Britain and on the continent. It is not contended that bodily exercise creates mind; but it is asserted that exercise is indispensable to summon out the tttmost pos- sibility of mental effort. The most powerful extemporaneous speak- 83 ers in every age of the world have with few exceptions been men of active bodily habits. From Demosthenes and Paul, to Peter the Hermit, and Bernard ; from John Knox * and Richard Baxter, to Wes- ley, Whitefield, and Patrick Henry, the record of history bears wit- ness to the general fact. The same may be said of those in our own age and country, who can rise upon the heaving exigencies of the moment, and at whose bidding instant creations and mighty embodyings of thought and argu- ment, sublime conceptions, glowing analogies, and living imagery, burst as by miracle from the deep of mind in overshadowing forms of majesty and power. The general principle which has been stated and illustrated, is forcibly presented in the following extracts from letters recently received : "My own experience and observation have convinced me, that even moderate, but stated exercise, invigorates the memory, strengthens the power of thought, quickens the perceptive faculty, animates the fancy, purifies the taste, and imparts fresh activity to the principle of association; in a word, such a habit creates a greater capacity for mental labor, a more enduring energy, a loftier enthusiasm, a more perfect harmony in the whole system of intellectual pow- ers. The student who neglects such an auxiliary to his mental discipline and progress, is eminently unwise, if we consider only himself; but ungrateful and criminal too, if we regard his obligations to God, his fellow men, his country, and kmdred." Thos. S. Grimhe, Esq. Charleston, S. C. " I incline to the opinion that the activity of the mind sympathizes with that of the body, and that thought in all its modifications is most active when the body is in motion. Lord Sheffield tells us, that Mr. Gibbon's usual habit of composition was by pacing across his room ; and that referring to one of the finest passages in his history, he told him, with a smile, that it had cost him a good many turns." Hon. John Quincy Adams, Mass. " He that knows any thing as he should do, of the discipline of mind, knows that when fitted for action, it will do more in an hour, than it will for days when not fitted. The exhilaration of exercise is essential to its most successful operation." Professor Stuart, Andover Theol. Sent. " A frequent walk around the room, especially when arranging thought, I have found manifestly useful to me. I arrange the trains of thought which I employ in public speaking generally while walking back and forth in my chamber." Rev. B. Green, Professor of Sac. Lit. Western Reserve College. " I have often been taught by experience that if I set out and walk rapidly, * It is said of the Scotch reformer, that he often walked forty miles a day, with his pack upon his back, besides preaching two sermons." 5 34 until my whole system is in a glow, I can sit down and study more in two hours, than without it I could have done in six, or even in a whole day." Professor Cooke, Med. Depart. Transylvania University. " In my own case, while at study in my collegiate course, when labor was unfashionable, my mind could be brought to act intensely on a subject only after vigorous exercise. I was then in the daily use of such exercise, for the object above specified." Dr. Slack, late President of the Western University. III. The present system of education is perilous to morals. The Committee are respectfully referred to the following testi- mony : "Youth must and wDl have employment of some kind. They cannot study always. In our colleges they are usually suffered to devise their own ways and means of amusement. They are expected indeed, perhaps exhorted, to take exercise, and they are allowed abundance of time for the purpose. StiU the whole concern is left to their own discretion. The time they have ; and the question is, how do they spend if? Often in mere idle lounging, talking, 4" smoking, and sleeping; often in sedentary games, which, whether in them- selves lawful or imlawful, are always injurious to the student, because he requires recreation of a different kind ; but too frequently in low, degrading dissipation, in drinking and gaming, to the utter neglect of every duty, and to the utter abandonment and sacrifice of every principle of honor and virtue. I will not finish the melancholy picture which I had begun to sketch, not indeed from fancy or from books, but from facts which I have often witnessed, and which have sometimes led me almost to question the paramount utility of such institutions to the community. Still, with all their faults, I remain their decided advocate. But may they not be improved; or may not others be organized upon wiser and safer principles V President Lindsley, Nashville University. "Could the veil be lifted from some of our higher seminaries, and all the sources of youthful corruption exposed, the better part of the community would demand an immediate reform, or withhold their patronage." The late Rev. Dr. Rice. " It is a fact that ought not to be disguised, that the morals of youth fre- quently become corrupted in our academies and colleges." Rev. Mr. Frost's Oration before the Alumni of Middlebury College. " This [speaking of the employment of a certain portion of each day in bodily exercise,] is precisely the resource which is wanted in numberless insti- \ tutions, to occupy and fill up those vacant and dangerous hom-s which are A robbing so many of our young men of their physical and moral soundness. For the truth of this statement we appeal to the history and present state of every college in our country." American Journal of Education. "Idleness is the parent of every vice." Dr. Rush. "An idle man is the devil's workshop." English Proverb. 35 This is not the only way in which the moral character is put in jeopardy, and the moral sensibilities are blunted by the present system. That state of the hody occasioned hy neglect of exercise corrodes ike temper, and deadens moral feeling. Dr. Reynolds, of Boston, in his address on physical culture, describing the moral effect of that state of the system produced by neglect of exercise, says : "Pusillanimity usurps the place of that moral courage in a man which could meet every trial with firmness; * * * the spirits are dejected; * * * the voice of friendship falls powerless upon the ear; and the love of God kindles but a momentary feeling in the palsied soul." Address before the Mechanical Association in Andover Theol. Sem. <' Hence arise depression of spirits, irritability of temper, pain, confusion in the head, &.c." Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life. " It is certain, that kind of morbid affection of the corporeal powers which is induced by the neglect of exercise, has a tendency to enfeeble and becloud the mind ; to destroy its clearness and elasticity ; to injure the temper ; to render all the feelings miserable and morbid ; to indispose the individual for almost any duty, and thus very often unfit for any.'^ Rev, Dr. Miller, Princeton Theol. Sem. " Those complaints which are induced by neglect of physical cidture are almost as destructive in their influence upon the religious character, as upon the physical and intellectual. Dietetic improprieties and neglect of exercise are sure to produce irresolution, fickleness, irritability of temper, despond- ency, and melancholy. These feelings and passions are obviously most hos- tile to cheerful, healthful piety." Hitchcock on Physical Culture. "The body requires action: if this be not allowed, it will obtain it in silence ; it will act upon the passions ; and above all, the fiery temperament of youth will inflame the imagination." Professor Salzman, Germany. " When we reflect on the dreadful maladies, corporeal, moral, and intel- lectual, that result from a debilitated condition of the digestive organs and the circulatory system, that view cannot fad to induce us to use such means as may prevent these evils. Should it seem strange to some, that we connect morals and the exercise ef intellect with the state of digestion and circulation, we need only refer them to the mental phenomena exhibited by an epicure or a drunkard, or even the more innocent, though not much less distressing con- dition-of our modern dyspeptics. lu these classes of degraded and suffering humanity will be found facts that would fill volumes, all proving incontestibly the overwhelming influence exercised hy the physiological functions upon the intellectual and moral state of man." American Journal of Education. Now the sentiment of Homer, that " the day which makes a man a slave, takes away half his worth," applies in all its force to the mmister of Christ, who has become the slave of dyspepsy. If able still to retain his place, his duties are but imperfectly performed. The grasshopper becomes a burden ; 36 and in musing so much upon his own troubles, he forgets those of his people ; in resisting the progress of sin, he is timid ; in special efforts, he is deficient ; in parochial duties, extremely remiss ; in his temper, he is apt to be unreason- ably jealous, desponding, and capricious. In short, while sin and error are strong and flourishing around him, he is disheartened and inefficient ; and all because he has as much as he can do to manage a broken constitution." Hitchcock on Physical Culture. " If we put under the penalty of our censure one whose bosom is not effect- ually warmed with the spirit of benevolence, we ought to be consistent with ourselves, and to frown upon such as have allowed a good temper to be spoiled, or who have failed to cultivate all those amiable endowments, which are the fruits of health, and cheerfulness, and active efforts to do good to men. What should we think of one who should turn a wild beast loose into the streets, to worry and devour the innocent and defenceless? And yet they who educate the young, have no more right to let loose upon society men whose indolence and insolence only fit them to annoy the peace and destroy the pleasures of those with whom their standing as scholars may chance to couple them in life. A hypochondriac person is a perpetual scourge ; and the punishment which he himself suffers, for his early neglect of exercise, falls where he suffers most keenly. It haunts him oftenest in his domestic relations. Like the plague in Egypt, it turns his cup into blood, and crowds his retirement with frogs. There is no peace for those who violate the laws of nature." President Humphreys, St. John's College, Md. A sufficient amount of daily exercise would be a preventive of these moral evils in three respects : 1. The student would be kept busy. In the present system, there are three or four hours in all our institutions, during which the student is set free from all requisitions. He has nothing to do. Then, if universal experience proves any thing, he stands upon slippery places. It was when the unclean spii'it had found the house empty, that he introduced seven other spirits fouler than himself. Let any man visit our literary institutions, and take an inventory of facts upon this sub- ject, and he will be convinced that hours of idleness are a gift to the student originating in very questionable benevolence. In fine, modern education, by throwing into the hands of youth a number of entirely vacant hours each day, holds out a premium to insubordination, and practically legalizes those innumerable devices of mischief, indecency, and outrage, which abound in our literary institutions. Instead of surrounding the forming character with bulwarks of defence, it opens a thousand avenues of access, and surrenders the individual to indis- criminate assault. Yea, more ; it furnishes temptation with a pass- port to its victim, smooths the way for it, beckons it onward, and by refusing to make those requisitions which would keep it at bay, becomes its endorser, appears as its apologist and its advocate, and pleads for justification of the ruin it produces. Whereas, if this defect 37 in the existing order of things should give place to a regulation which would fill up with suitable exercise those hours of idleness so perilous to the student, he would be kept "out of harm's way." 2. Sufficient exercise would be a preventive of moral evils by sup. plying that demand for vivid sensatimi so characteristic of youth, whose clamors for indulgence drive multitudes to licentious indulgence, or to ardent spirits, tobacco, and other unnatural stimulants. It would preserve the equihbrium of the system, moderate the inordinate demands of animal excitability, and quell the insurrection of appetite. 3. Sufficient exercise would operate as a preventive of moral evils by removing those causes of irritability, jealousy, fickleness, and depression ef spirits, which are found in an unhealthful state of the system. In corroboration of these views, permit me to introduce the following testimony : " The most effectual security against external and internal causes of corrup- / tion IS constant occupaiion; and without this, no system of discipline can be / efficient. * * * And it is especially important, while the character is yet unformed, and the appetites and passions yet unaccustomed to submission and self denial." Annals of Education. "Industry is the great moralizer of man. The great art of education, there- fore, consists m knowing how to occupy every moment in well directed and use- ful activity of the youthful powers." Fellenberg. "The declaration is as trite as it is true, that exercise promotes virtue, and svbdues the storms of passion." Dr. Harris, of Philadelphia, on Physical Culture. "Labor of all kinds favors and facilitates the practice of virtue." Dr. Rush. "Make men work, and you will make them honest." John Howard. "Physical and moral health are as nearly related as the body and soul." Huf eland's '^ Art of Living." "Physical decline and moral depravity are intimately connected; and those laws which are requisite for the promotion of health, serve also to preserve and improve the morals." Annals of Physic, "A system of manual labor, while it promoted health, would be attended with many other advantages. It would exclude in a great measure those plans of mischief which are projected and executed in the hours of relaxation from study." Rev. Mr. Frosfs Oration before the Alumni of Middlebury College. " Every physiological fact which has a bearing upon the subject, teaches the value of a healthy action of the bodily organs, in promoting the vigorous 38 and effective operation of the mind. So far from deadening the susceptibility to emotion, the tendency is to quicken that susceptibility." Dr. Mussey, Professor, Medical Department, Dartmouth College. "Exercise, when properly regnlated and directed, tends to invigorate the intellectual faculties, as well as to elevate and furify the heart. It vanquishes that sickly sensibility, which frequently renders literary men so peevish and fretful." Professor Staughton, Ohio Medical College. "That system, which should provide complete employment, of a proper kind, for all the time of every individual, would, in my opinion, be the best system ; and might, perhaps, he fairly denominated a perfect system. And every approx- imation to it will, to the same extent, be an approach to perfection in this all important concern. Keep youth busy, and you keep them out of harm's way. You render them contented, virtuous, and happy." President Lindsley, Nashville University. "Physical labor will give that tone and harmony to the system which is necessary to resist most effectually the seductions of appetite, to produce the habit of self government and force of resolution." Annals of Education. "I believe exercise to be indispensable to bodily health, and that all the / operations of the mind are invigorated by health. I believe it equally pro- h motive oi the improvement of moml feeling. All the benevolent impulses of'' the heart are quickened." Hon. John Quincy Adams, Mass. The following extract from a Report of the Prison Discipline Society exhibits that practical good sense for which all the Reports of that Society are so highly distinguished : "It is the testimony of the officers, that they can prevent evil more easily among one hundred men who are busily employed, than betvi-'een one tenth part of that number who have nothing to do. This general remark is applicable to colleges, academies, and schools, and is one of ike great reasons of the frofii- gacy that is found in them, and shows the need of reform in them as much as simi- lar evils show the need of reform in the old penitentiaries. This subject would be less important, if fewer parents v/ere called annually to mourn over their child- ren's loss of character at public schools, and this, for one among other rea- sons, that they are not furnished with places, materials, and hours of labor. We hail, therefore, as harbingers of a better day, all those institutions, of what- ever name, in which it is illustrated, by actual experiment, how conducive pro- ductive labor is to virtue. To some extent, this is already done. And we know ' not why bodily exercise, in the form of productive labor should not be as condu- cive to virtue in academies and colleges, as in prisons and houses of refuge." Fourth Report P. D. S. " Our young men are exercised partly for the purpose of rendering them valiant warriors ; but then they are likewise so much tlie better citizens in time of peace. Idleness does not lead them into scandalous debauchery." '. Solon in Lucian. 39 "Persons who are compelled to use muscular labor, never complain of undue excitation of the nerves. The distress of the mind, the moody melancholy- connected with this temperament, is the exclusive possession of the idle, the devotee of pleasure, and the sedentary student. Individuals so affected can be effectually relieved hy muscular exertion alone. The precepts of philosophy, the comforts of reUgion, nay, the whole battery of the materia medica, will in such cases prove entirely powerless. It is by increasing exterior action, that we can permanently relieve the internal commotion." Dr. Harris, of Philadelphia, on Physical Culture. IV. The psesent system of education produces an indis- position TO EFFORT, AND DESTROYS HABITS OF ACTIVITY AND INDUS- How can it be otherwise, v/hen for eight or nine years the student is unused to effort, a stranger to/exposure, cooped up in a cloister, his fluids stagnating, his muscles relaxing, his nerves unbraced, and his only exercise the working of Ms brain, and all this at that forming period, when his character takes its shape for life. But surely when facts abound every where, theory may be dis- pensed with. If any one doubts the tendency of this present system, he is referred to a cloud of living witnesses. Let him traverse the country as a student of facts, and he will not ply his vocation long, before being convinced of what all the world knows already : he will find that those merchants, lawyers, physicians, and clergymen, who are least distinguished for business habits, enterprise, and active energy, are those who have "gone through a regular course of study without regular, vigorous exercise; and he will find that those mer- chants and professional men who are most eminent for promptness, activity, efficiency, and usefulness, have either not gone through a thorough course of study at ail, or if they have, their habits of vigor- ous exercise have not been laid aside during their education. True, there are exceptions, but they are only exceptions. This fact may not be obvious to mere Uterary men, who pass their lives mainly in seclusion. But with business men it has become a proverb. No remark is more common among such men every where than that the present system of education unfits men for the practical business of life. They see in a majority of those who graduate from our colleges a listless inactivity, a reluctance to locomotion, an aversion /to all vigor- ous, protracted effort, a timid shrinking from high attempt ; and if they were to sketch a full length portrait of one of them, he would probably be represented with his feet elevated upon the mantle-piece as high as his head, body bent much hke a half-moon or a horse- 40 shoe, lolling, stretching, yawning, smoking, snoring; or if he were represented in motion, it would be with a lounging air, arms danghng, and a loose-jointed gait, " Which, like a wounded snake, drags its slow length along." In every literary institution there are a number of hours daily, in which nothing is required of the student. These will generally be occupied in listless reverie, or in taking lessons in the science of time- killing, or in devising and executing schemes of mischief and low tricks, or in procuring vivid sensation by making experiments upon appetite and passion. To practice licentiousness, to make secret libations to Bacchus, to puff tobacco smoke, to play at games of chance, to hatch mischief, to mope from room to room, to shuffle slipshod through the halls, to slouch about; and gaze on vacuity, to drum with the fingers, to whistle, to doze, and nod, will generally be standard employments in institutions where the houfs^of leisure are not spent in regular exer- cise. Is it any marvel that the present system should be unfavorable to the formation of habits of industry and activity, when the stu- dent becomes so unused to vigorous effort as to regard it with aver- sion, and when there are three or four hours every day in which he has nothing to do ?* Suppose these three or four hours were filled up with appropriate exercise, and thus employment afforded for all the time of the individual, would he not, as a matter of course, form habits of industry? Let a student go through an entire course of study on this plan, and iy there is any truth in the maxim that " habit is second nature," depend upon it, that man will not slug his life away like a gorged anaconda, and crawl at last into a lounger's grave. V. The present systejvi of education is so expensive, that ITS PRACTICAL EFFECTS ARE ANTI-REPUBIilCAN. At many of our colleges the annual expense, exclusive of books and clothing, is not far from two hundred dollars ; at others, one hun- dred and fifty; and at the cheapest, about one hundred dollars. Who then can educate their sons at college ? Not more than one family in twenty. Thus nineteen twentieths of our population are shut out from the advantages of education in the higher branches ; and as knowledge is power, the sons of the rich, by enjoying advantages for * This plan [the manual labor] will obviate the objection which many worthy- people make to sending their sons to classical schools, namely, that they are ren~ dered idle, and ever afterward averse to labor. Rev. Dr. Alexander, Princeton. 41 the acquisition of this power vastly superior to others, may secure to"' themselves a monopoly of those honors and emoluments which are con- ferred upon the well educated. In this way society is divided into castes, i The laboring classes become hewers of wood and drawers of water \ for the educated. The two parties stand wide asunder, no bond of / companionship uniting them, no mutual sympathies incorporating j them into one mass, no equality of privileges striking a common level { for both. The chasm between them, even in this republican govern- ment, already yawns deep and broad ; and if it be not speedily bridged, by bringing education within the reach of the poor, it will widen into an impassable gulf, and our free institutions, our national character, our bright visions of the future, our glory and our joy, will go down into itjX The general and state governments have done much in order to bring education within the reach of the great mass of the people. Millions have been expended in the erection of buildings, the establish- ment of professorships, and in the purchase of libraries and apparatus. And what is the result ? Why the wealthy can educate their sons a little cheaper than before. But education is still so expensive, that the community generally receive no benejit from such appropriations. Thus, our legislatures have in effect aided those who needed no assistance, and tantalized the needy with a show of aid so far removed, that it can never avail them. There is no benevolence in pointing a starving man to a loaf suspended in the air, unless you give him wings to fly to it. If a portion of the funds thus appropriated had been expended in furnishing the students of our institutions with the means o^ profitable employment during those hours each day which are not devoted to study, such appropriations would have befitted the character of a republican people, and our higher institutions ; instead of meting out their blessings, as they now do, only to a favored few, would pour them equally upon all, the sun of science would not rise merely to illuminate the palace, but to gladden the hovel. The present system is anti-repubUcan in its practical tendencies in another respect : It makes labor disreputable. The human mind is so constituted, that it must trace relations. It, would be a mental anomaly, if an impression made upon it remained, unconnected with any other object. Thotights and feeUngs are intertwined in clusters, and done up in bundles. Objects connected by juxta-position of time or place, and similarity of nature or uses, are recalled together. When one is 42 suggested, the other appears. Apply this simple principle to the case before us. Look at our institutions of learning. There, culti- vated intellect, refined taste, and extensive attainments, are connected with habits of bodily inactivity ; and this connection sanctions and sanctifies these habits. The learned are inactive ; the unlearned labor. The former stand aloof from all the employments of common life ; the latter are in the midst of them. Hence learning comes to be associated as a matter of course with inactivity, puts honor upon it, and buoys it upward ; while ignorance becomes associated with labor, cleaves fast to it, sits upon it as an incubus, and crushes it into the dust. If the officers and students of all our colleges and semina- ries should spend their hours of relaxation in agricultural or mecha- nical employments, would it not go far in redeeming labor from . disgrace ? I design to notice many other particulars in which the present sys- tem of education is injurious in its influence upon the individual, and upon the community ; but the discussion of these points will be reserved to another part of this communication, where the manual labor system will come under consideration, and its influence upon character will be contrasted with the effects produced by the present system. If the facts, reasonings, and testimony already presented, have any force, they carry us to the following results : First, bodily exercise is indispensable to man, demanded alike by the necessities of his cor- poreal, intellectual, and moral nature, his individual happiness, and social usefulness ; and Second, this exercise should be incorporated into our systems of education, and alternated with study in all semi- naries of learning. The arrangements of time for this exercise, the amount to be taken, and the kind of exercise best adapted to accomplish all the objects desired, most naturally come next under consideration. I remai'k, 1. This exercise must he taken daily. The necessity of this might be shown by reference to the laws of the human constitution. But it would be more in keeping with the design of this communication, to present facts and the results of experience, rather than an investi- gation into those causes which fall more legitimately within the pro- vince of the physiologist.* * See Appendix, Note A. 43 ** Exercise is needed every day as much as food." Dyspepsy Forestalled. "That exercise may be useful, it must be daily." Disorders of Literary Men. "The body must be daily exercised." Catechism of Health. "Exercise ought to be continued daily and regularly." Caverhill. " There is no one, not actually laboring under disease, who should not con- sider it duty to appropriate a certain portion of every day to active exercise in the open air." Journal of Health. " Exercise, to have its full effect, should at least once a day proceed to the borders of fatigue." Dr. Kitchener. "Health depends on maintaining an equilibrium betw^een the organic, ani- mal, and intellectual lives. To preserve this harmonious balance, a certain amount of active muscular exertion must be daily taken in a pure and fresh atmosphere." Professor Harris, Medical Institution, Philadelphia. " I have been connected with this seminary for twenty-four years, and I have been engaged in study and professional duties more than forty years. From the whole of my experience, I have learned, that a considerable amount of regular exercise is indispensable to the enjoyment of vigorous health, and that vigorous health is necessary to the improvement of the mind by study ; I mean to that degree of improvement of which the mind is in itself capable." Rev. Dr. Woods, Andover Theol. Sem. " My experience and observation have convinced me of the importance of regular exercise for the preservation of health." Hon. John Quincy Adams, Mass. Our next inquiry respects the amount of time requisite for daily exercise. No accredited authority recommends less than two hours, as a general rule for students. Indeed, after much search in medical authors and standard works on education, I have found hardly an individual who does not recommend tnore. Some are in favor of two hours and a half; but a very large majority insist upon three hours as the least amount that will fully meet the necessities of the stu- dent. Not a few recommend four hours, and some even five and six. But there is a decided preponderance in favor of three hours a day. It may be remarked, 2. The student should spend at least three hours daily in exercise. Like every general rule, this has its exceptions. The student may be laboring under organic disease, which might be aggravated by much exercise. Those also who possess little physical energy, and // 44 have never been accustomed to much muscular exertion, w^ould doubt- less find that amount at first too much for the system. Let such take it as they can bear it, gradually increasing the quantity, and they will find in a few months at farthest, that three hours of exercise daily will not exceed their actual necessities.* " I give it as my decided opinion, that the above allotted time, [three hours daily,] is not more than is necessary for most students. Five or six hours of severe mental labor a day, is as much indeed as the economy can bear without injury." Professor Harris, Medical Institution, Philadelphia. " For a close student, three hours in the twenty-four, of active labor, is certainly not too much. Perhaps it does not exceed the minimum." Professor Staughton, Ohio Medical College. J ^ " Three hours a day would not give too much time for exercise to a student. // I have been accustomed, in my lectures to under graduates in Cambridge, to advise them that two hours a day should be the minimum allotted for exer- cise ; and three, four, five or six hours, should be afforded in fair weather." Dr. Jackson, of Boston. "From two to four hours in a day, may be most advantageously employed in exercise." Dr. Mussey, Professor, Medical Department, Dartmouth College. "It appears to the present author to be an indispensable law of longevity, that we should exercise at least two hours every day in the open air, when the weather will permit ; and if the time be extended to three or four hours, the benefit wUl generally be greatly augmented." Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, " The shortest time which will answer for the preservation of health, is two hours per day in the open air. It is far better to devote three hours to this object. Indeed those individuals who have derived the greatest advantages from exercise, have more commonly extended their out door efibrts, their walks, or their rides, or their gardening, or their herborizing, to four hours." Dyspepsy Forestalled. " He who does not spend several hours every day, in some active exercise, must inevitably suffer from a diminution of bodily strength, defective appe- tite, and imperfect digestion ; and become, sooner or later, the subject of disease." Health Almanac for 1832. " As a general rule, three hours each day, properly divided into two or three periods, would be a suitable quantity for close students. Professor Sewall, Washington, D. C. * A long series of experiments has taught me, that I am able to endure such labor with a broken constitution, and a very small share of physical force. The apprehensions of many on this subject I am confident are unfounded. Any man who is able even moderately to study, is able to work, provided he enters on this kind of exercise with caution, and pursues it with judgment." Professor Good, rich, Yale College. 45 " Three hours of exercise each day, is surely little enough for those who aim to have a sound mind in a sound body. The law of connection betweeen the healthful, vigorous and locomotive powers of the muscular system, and the state of the affections and operations of the mind, has not yet been sufficiently investigated. Facts show its existence and importance. How can any one who aspires to any force of character, act in conformity with this law, and keep his whole muscular system in a state of healthful, vigorous, and sponta- neous action, without affording it at least three hours daily of its natural and only source of nutrition, exercise. Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudett, Hartford, Conn. " From many years of experience and observation I am fully convinced that three hours of active exercise, daily, are necessary to repair the loss of strength, resulting from a course of severe study," Professor Goodrich, Yale College. " I should think that three hours a day would not be too much for a close student to devote to exercise." President Wayland, Brown University, " So far as I can judge from my own experience and observation upon others, I say, unhesitatingly, that three hours of bodily exercise daily is the minimum quantity, which can meet the demands of the human system, espe- cially if this exercise be taken at different intervals." Professor Hitchcock, Amherst College, " I am perfectly satisfied of the indispensable necessity of our studious youth and literary men giving more, and more constant attention to physical exercise. Three hours a day is not more than I should deem proper, to recruit and invigorate the powers of nature." Judge Story, U. S, Court. " In European countries three hours a day are thought but a very ordinary allowance of time for exercise and health. American Journal of Education. " Literary and sedentary men should devote several hours each day to exer- cise in the open air." Dyspepsy Forestalled and Resisted. " Three or four hours at least should be daily devoted to some species of bodily exertion." Disorders of Literary Men, " Three hours in a day is supposed by good judges to be the least amount of time which a student ought to devote to this important object ; and four hours would be better than three." Cornelius' Address, " The importance of taking a large portion of gentle exercise every day, can scarcely be overrated. Every student who wishes to preserve good health and spirits, ought to be moving about in the open air from three to four hours daily. * * * * If you wish, really, to possess the mens sana in corpore sano, of which the Latin poet speaks, rely upon it, with most students less win not answer. Miller's Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits, / / 46 " Even [after prescribing four hours of exercise each day for the youf student] when he is grown up, whatever be his office, he ought not to have less than three hours a day to employ in bodily exercise." Professor Salzman. "With regard to the amount of time which students should devote to manual labor, so as to promote the vigor of their bodies, and at the same time not to retard their studies, it appears to be the general opinion of those who have reflected on the subject, thai three hour's labor in a day, one half of which should be performed in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon, is preferable to a greater or smaller amount. I fully concur in this opinion : a lesser amount would not generally be sufficient for the purposes of health ; a larger amount would encroach on the hours which should be devoted to study." Dr. Post, Demonstrator of Anatomy, Coll. of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. Perhaps it may be objected that progress in study would he retarded by spending three hours a day in exercise. If the records of literary experience furnish demonstration of any thing, they prove that those who have spent at least three hours daily in appropriate exercise, have prosecuted study with more success than those who have exercised less. Upon the question, whether three hours of exercise a day would retard progress in study, the following testimony is conclusive. The importance of the question at issue is my apology for the number and length of the extracts which follow. " I have not a doubt that three hours a day, spent in proper bodily exercise, so far from inter.fering eventually with progress in the acquisition of know- ledge, of whatever kind, would promote it in a very important degree." Rev. Dr. Green, Philadelphia. «' From experience and observation, I am convinced that three hours spent each day in appropriate exercise would eventually facilitate, instead of retard- ing progress in study. Does any one speak of three hours as too much to be subtracted from the time of study? But is not the object of study, the acqui- sition of useful knowledge, and the improvement of the mind 1 Now if vigorous exercise, three hours in a day, will enable a student to do more in nine hours for the improvement of his mind, than he could do in twelve, without such exercise ; then, instead of saying, it would be wrong to take three hours for exercise from the time of study, he should say, it would be wrong to take so much from his improvement by spending three hours in his study, instead of devoting them to necessary exercise. It should never be forgotten that the knowledge acquired, does not depend half so much upon the leno'th of time spent in study, as upion the inienseness of the application ; and tliis depends upon that life and vigor of the mental faculties, which is so directly promoted by exercise." Rev. Dr. Woods, Andover TJieol. Sent. " I can say, with the strongest emphasis, that three hours of appropriate exercise each day will not retard progress in study." Professor Keith, Episcopal Theol. Sem. Alexandria. 47 «« Three hours each day, and for some students, and at some seasons, even four hours, if properly distributed, so far from eventually retarding, would greatly 'promote -progress in study.'" Professor Ripley, Newton Theol. Sem. "Instead of progress in study being retarded by three hours daily of appro- > 1 / priate exercise, it would be aided and accelerated'. Much more, I am confident, '' \ v might be done by the student in nine hours devoted to study, while three are ' I devoted to exercise, than in ticelve, or even /owrteen hours laboriously devoted to study without exercise. Many a student, to my certain knowledge, who imagined that he could not take time for exercise, has pored over his books for a whole day together, with a sort of stupid vacuity of mind, and has ended the day as he began it, without comfort, and without profit. To begrudge and stint the amount of time employed in wholesome exercise, is, of all parsi- mony, the most infatuated and delusive ; as it not only prepares the way for an interruption of study by ill health, but really makes "the mind, during the hours actually spent in study less clear, less active, less capable of grasping and mastering the objects of study towards which the attention is directed." Rev. Br. Miller, Princeton Theol. Sem. " I have not the slightest doubt that three hours a day systematically devoted to bodily exercise would be found to promote the intellectual progress of students, by imparting a vigor to the powers, more than sufficient to compensate for the loss of time." Rev. Dr. Ware, Cambridge Theol. Sem. "If men would be content to divide their time between study and labor, and dispense with play, I am confident they would accelerate their progress in learning by three hours devoted to labor." President Griffin, Williams College. "Three hours spent in exercise each day would rather accelerate than retard progress in study." President Chapin, Columbian College, Washington, D. C. " My observation and experience convince me that three hours spent each day in appropriate exercise would not retard progress in study. President Fiske, Wesleyan University, Middletoion, Conn. " By taking three hours, from the time generally devoted to study, the remainder will acquire an increased value, enough to make up for the loss. I do not doubt that this would be verified by experiment." President Humphreys, St. Johns College, Annapolis, Md. "The manual labor system of education will, on strictly physiological prin- ciples, enable the student to make greater advances in any given time of study, than can be realised by the system in general use. The apparent loss of time by the manual labor system will therelore prove to be an actual gain." Professor Mitchell's " Hints to Students." " If a student wishes to gain time for study that shall be felt for a course of years, let him make a law as inviolable as were those of the Medes and Persians, that three hours at least of the twenty-four, shall be devoted to exercise." Rev. Elias Cornelius. 48 "If our students would be careM to exercise as much as they study, they might study much more than they do. Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life. "From my own experience and observation, I am decidedly of the opinion that a man will accomplish more mental labor in the latitude of Georgia, with four hours of manual labor each day, than he can possibly do with less." Professor Steele, Camden Institution, Georgia. " If the student should give even six hours to exercise, this will leave him nine for sleep and meals, and nine for study, and probably he could make as great literary progress in this time, invigorated as he would be by bodily exercise for the work, as if he were to devote twelve or fifteen hours to "If there be any fact clearlj established in relation to this matter, it is that a man who devotes four hours daily to exercise, wiU make more progress in study in one hour, than he could do in three, with only one hour's exercise. Without sufficient exercise, the movements of the animal machine are heavy and labored, and the mind is clogged in the same proportion. The true way, therefore, for a student to gain time for literary pursuits, is to devote, without grudging, these three or four hours per day to giving strength, and freedom, and lightness of play to the numberless wheels, and delicate cords, and levers, and springs. Again T would repeat to those who hear me, thai to give these three or four hours per day to bodUy exercise in the open air, is a point of the last importance to the health of body and mind. Consult the history of the most distinguished literary men that have lived, and you will find that such was their practice, and that they impute to it their chief ability to accomplish so much as they have done. It is in vain to adhere rigidly to an abstemious diet, and to every other mode of regimen, if this be neglected ; for the student has no security against disease and premature debility. However various may be the opinions of distinguished physicians on other parts of this subject, here, so far as I know, they are unanimous, fi-om Galen and Pythagoras dovwi- wards. To disregard their testimony, is a mark of most disgusting self-con- ceit and presumption." Dyspepsy Forestalled and Resisted. " I cannot hesitate to reply that I think three hours is not too much time to be devoted every day to exercise, by every close student ; and with such exer- cise suitably distributed, I have no doubt every student would gain more in mental aptitude, than he would lose in time ; and that in fact, with three hours thus devoted to a preparation for his sedentary occupation daring the remain- ing hours of the day, he wiU make more rapid progress in his studies than without systematic exercise. By such exercise, all men would be in a con- dition to put forth more vigorous and healthful mental efforts of whatever kind." Dr. John James, Albany, N. Y. "Any amount of exercise less than will meet the actual demands of the system, must impede the progress of the student in study, and I have already expressed the opinion, that less than three hours will not meet these demands, unless in some peculiar cases. How then can three hours exercise impede the student's progress ? For, allowing him seven hours for sleep, and two for meals and recreation, he wdl still have twelve left for study. And how few minds are there, even in the stoutest bodies, that can endure as many hours of study as this; I mean real study, when the mind devotes itself 49 exclusively, intently and powerfully to the subject in hand, and not that torpid, snail-like, divided conalus, so common among students. Now, the fact is, there is a vast amount of this kind of study among scholars; and one important reason why it is so superficial and inefficient, is, in my opinion, that the nerves are in an irritated state, from a deficiency of exercise. I do know that I have often been able to accomplish more intellectual labor in one hour, after vigor- ous exercise for three hours without intermission, than in four hours previ- ously. I always calculate that my ability to study will be increased by exercise, until it becomes so excessive as to produce irresistible sleepiness or weariness. The effect of this amount of exercise upon the mind, (to answer your third question,) would be to strengthen it as it strengthens the muscles — to clarify the perception as it clarifies the blood — to quicken the operation of the suggestive principle a,s it quickens the circulat:o;i of the blood — ^to give the imagination a healthful play, by destroying its morbid and irregular ope- rations, just as it blunts a morbid sensibility of the nerves, and to develope, in just proportion, every part of the intellectual and moral character, just as it developes in fair and beautiful proportions every part of the physical system. These tendencies are iu such perfect accordance with my experience for the last twenty years, that I can no more doubt their reality than I can the effect of a certain amount of food in giving strength to the system, and of a certain degree of abstinence in producing weakness and leanness. It accords also with all my observation upon the habits of ssdentary men." Professor Hitchcock, Amherst College. "The effect of this amount of exercise upon "intellect, moral feeling, habits and character," would be most happy. Let him who hesitates act like a phi- losopher — make the experiment : at first, if he has been neglectful of exercise, he must expect for a season to pay the penalty of this neglect. It will be irksome, fatiguing, and he may imigine, exhausting to his mental energies. But gradually both his bodily and intellectual system wiU acquire congenial strength, and unite in developing the powers of the whole man. Let the expe- riment be made faithfully for a year, and the advocates of three hours a day being devoted to exercise need not fear the result. Rev. T. H. Gallaudett, Hartford, Conn. / "My own experience answers unhesitatingly, that in such a case, not only / the progress of the student will not be retarded, but it will be sensibly and >/ greatly accelerated. I hold so decisive an opinion on the subject, that I am satisfied, CEtens panZ;us, a student with three hours' exercise and nine hours of study, will accomplish far more in a series of years, than another with four- teen hours study and no exercise." Hon. Thos. S. Grimke, Charleston, S. C. " If three hours daily were spent in suitable exercise, it would not retard progress in study." Hon. Willard Hall, Delaware. "No student can fully develope his powers of mind, or call them into the most successful action, ■«0th any thing less than three hours of regular, vigorous exercise ; and I feel perfectly satisfied that the sameman pursuing this course would accomplish more for himself, and for the world at large, in ten years, than he would in thirty, in the old way." Rev. John Todd, Northampton, Mass. "It may be proper to say a few words in relation to the number of hours we have recommended to be devoted daily to exercise. Five or six hours a day 7 ■:/ 50 taken from study, may appear to some to be too long a period, and to leave too little time for the acquisition of knowledge. We believe, however, that upon actual experience such will not be found to be the case. Nine or ten hours in summer, and eight or nine in winter, when judiciously occupied, will, we are convinced, be amply sufficient for all the purposes of education, whether literary, scientific or professional. Let the mind, during that period, be intently occupied on any given task, and the amount of labor it is capable of performing will surprise those who have been imaccustomed thus to concen- trate their attention. The names of individuals celebrated in history for the depth, variety, and extent of their mental attainments — of men whose writings are the most voluminous, and who have labored most effectually in the cause of literature and science, have not belonged to those whose lives were passed in the privacy of their studies. Most of them have, on the contrary, acted a conspicuous part on the theatre of active life, as politicians, warriors, or statesmen, as travelers, lawyers, or physicians. So constantly, indeed, have they been placed before the eyes of the public, that it is difficult, often, to con- ceive where they found the time requisite to acquire the vast stores of know- ledge which they possessed, or to execute the mental labors of which they have given evidence in their printed works. Julius Csesar said that in the midst of his battles, he " always found leisure to attend to the stars, and to the celestial bodies. Scipio too, found time in the midst of the occupation of arms, for the pursuit of learning ; and Epaminondas, notwithstanding the time he bestowed upon the political concerns of his country, and in the prosecution of those great public measures by which he raised the commonwealth of Thebes to its sub- sequent greatness, nevertheless, excelled most of his contemporaries, by the extent of his learning. Though an active and skilful general, he was scarcely less celebrated as an erudite philosopher. These examples, and thousands of a similar character, both ancient and modern, might be adduced,, to show how much may be done in improving the mind without subtracting from the hours required for the healthful exercise of the body, by a proper division of the day, and the regular and assiduous occupation of every portion of it — idling no time away, in that languid state of inaction by which the powers of the mind and body are equally relaxed. On the contrary, even in the seclusion of the study, much time may be wasted, which might otherwise liave been profitably devoted to exercise, or to the active duties of society. The success and profitableness of mental application is not to be measured by the number of hours devoted to books, or which are spent with the pen in hand. How many students may with truth exclaim, " my time is lost through idleness, even when I appear to be most diligent." Dr, D. Francis Condie, Pkiladelpkia. " Those who labor, and those who do not, are classed together indiscrimi- nately ; nor do I think the progress of the student is impeded even by five hours' exercise daily. Indeed I am assured that in a course of study, compri- sing a number of years, it would be considerably promoted." Professor Caldwell, Maine Wesleyan Manual Labor Seminary. "Some who have paid nearly all their expenses by their labor, have out- stripped any of those who have not belonged to the laboring department." Report of Trustees of Maine Wesleyan Seminary, " The trial we have given the system has afforded the most gratifying results in promoting bodily health and intellectual vigor ; and we believe will far surpass the old system of voluntary and irregular exercise, in promoting study, and making successful students." Rev. Mr. Clemson, Principal Manual Labor School, Wilmington, Del. 51 '•After an experience of twenty years in teaching the higher branches, I can say without hesitation, that I have never witnessed such rapid progress in study, as that which has been made by the manual labor students of thia college." President Cossitt, Cumberland College, Ky. " It is a well known fact in this seminary, that since systematic exercise, in different ways, especially in the workshop, has been practiced, the health of the students has been more vigorous and uniform than before, and their appli- cation to study more diligent and pleasant, and far more successful ; and I have no doubt that a still farther increase of their exercise would be attended with correspondent increase of health and improvement." Professor Woods, Andover Theol. Sem. Having ascertained the amount of daily exercise, which seems most effectually to meet the bodily and mental necessities of the stu- dent, as a general rule, the next inquiry in order is, shall this exercise be taken in three successive hours, or shall it be divided into two or three portions, and distributed over the day 1 Much valuable medical testimony upon this subject has been received. For the sake of brevity I will condense this testimony into a few general rules, embodying the substance of the whole. As a general rule, this exercise should not be taken in three sue cessive hours, but should be divided into at least two portions, and performed at different periods of the day. It should not be taken either immediately before or after meals. Half an hour should intervene after exercise before meals, and an hour after meals before exercise. It should not commence before sunrise, nor continue after sunset ; and in the summer it should tiot be performed between the hours of nine in the morning and four in the evening. If divided into two portions, one had better precede the morning, and the other the evening meal, from the first of May to the latter part of October. During the remainder of the year, let it be commenced one hour after breakfast, and the same time after dinner. These of course are mere general rules, subject to exceptions and modifications, according to circum- stances. 2. : The exercise sliould be moderate.* A sudden transition from a * This is especially necesssary for those who have never been used to manual labor. Such will probably find at first that even one hour of moderate labor will produce fatigue, and perhaps on that account temporarily retard rather than pro- mote progress in study ; but let not such infer from this that exercise does not promote energy of body and activity of mind. The invalid rising from a fit of sickness is fatigued by a short ride- The next day he can ride farther with less fatigue. Let him pursue this course from da,y to day, and perhaps within a month he can ride for hours not only without fatigue, but will derive from the exercise 52 state of inaction which has continued for hours, to violent muscular exertion, always injures, and if the student has not been accustomed to much bodily effort, may prove fatal. With respect to the degree of effort, moderately vigorous, muscular exertion is the perfection of bodily exercise. We proceed next to inquire what kind of exercise is best adapted to the student, and most suitable to be incorporated into a regular system. It would be foreign to the subject of this communication to discuss the merits of every kind of bodily exercise. Some of the most common modes only will be noticed. Walking, riding on horseback, and swimming, are all good, but cannot be reduced to system in con- nection with an institution. Military exercises have been incorporated with literary institutions to some extent in this country. In a strictly military school, like that at West Point, such exercises are not out of place. But our systems of education will need no such appendage as an apprenticeship to the art of war, until fighting becomes the appropriate vocation of man, and human butchery the ordinary business of life. If we would have the glare of military glory eclipse every other, and a military spirit the only spirit which the people shall dehght to honor, by subjecting our youth to influences adapted to excite a warlike spirit, we employ all the instrumentality requisite to secure such a result. Within a few years gymnastic exercises have been introduced into this country from Germany, and adopted at some of our institutions. By some they are extolled as constituting the perfection of bodily exercise, and by others pointedly condemned. The question before us is not whether spending thi-ee hours daily in gymnastic exercise is preferable to idleness ; but whether that kind of exercise has as stronop claims as any other, to be incorporated into a system of education for universal and jyermanent use ; whether it is as beneficial as any other to the body, the mind, the morals and character of the student, and equally favorable in its influence upon the community. There are a few obvious objections to this system of exercise which have more than mere plausibility to recommend them. great refreshment and vigor. Any considerable change in one's hahifs produces temporary inconvenience, and often actual pain, even though this change may be a great improvement, demanded by the laws of the constitution, and indispensable to the permanent vigor and comfort of the body, and to the highest efficiency of the mind. But v/ill a wise man refuse to rectify the perversions of his system because the effort will be attended with temporary inconvenience? If he had dislocated a limb would he refuse to have it restored to its place, on account of the pain connected with the operation ? 53 1. It is dangerous. Probably too much stress has been laid upon this objection ; still it has some force. Sprains, dislocations, fractures, ruptured blood vessels, and death, have all been entered upon the records of gymnasiums in our own country.* True, no kind of exercise is exempt from the possibility of accident ; but in some the liabihty is great, in others inconsiderable ; and certainly those which are least perilous are to be pre^rred for a system of exercise, if they are equally beneficial. 2. It is unnatural. Many of the muscular movements required are such as are rarely demanded by human circumstances. Besides, the violent action which certain muscles are required to perform makes a disproportionate demand upon the energies of the system, and destroys that equilibrium which is necessary to the perfect perform, ance of all its functions. 3. It is unpMlosopMcal. It is ill adapted to interest the mind. An individual cannot be permanently interested in any active exercise, unless that exercise produce changes in the state of other objects. The child will build cob-houses and push them down, " by the hour together ;" but will it push against the wall for an hour ? No. Why not ? Because no visible effects are witnessed, and the production of man f est effects is a main element of interest in muscular movements. Give the boy a knife and a stick, and he will amuse himself with whittling for a long time ; but how much amusement would he find in rubbing the stick with the back of his knife ? In the former case there IS the production of visible effects, not upon his own body merely, but in altering the condition of another object. In the latter there are none. But perhaps it may be said, men should put away childish things. Grant it : but this principle belongs to the mental constitution, and governs the man as well as the child. Let any one try the experi- ment. Let him take an axe and cleave the air for half an hour, or chop wood with the handle, or swing his scythe where there is nothing to cut but vacuity, and he will gladly fly for relief to some kind of exercise where every stroke produces visible effects. Then his mind will have something to amuse it. It will be furnished with appro- and studious. Gymnastic exercises are unsuitable to those whose chief habits are sedentary ttiiu studious. To resort immediately from the closet to the gymnasium to try feats of agility and strength is dangerous, and has proved fatal." Professor Caldwell, Med. Dep. Trans. University, " Gymnastic exercises are in general too violent for persons who employ the greater part of their time in sedentary pursuits." Dr. Post, Demonstrator of Anatomy, College of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. " The exercises of the gymnasium, are also attended- with some hazard of personal injury ; and not a few instances might be cited of very considerable evils resulting from this practice." Mitchell's " Hints io Students." 54 priate food. That kind of exercise is best, other things being equal, which most effectually withdraws the attention of the student from himself, and pleasantly, not intensely, absorbs it in other objects. How shall this be effected ? Shall we call upon the mind to force out its attention by arbitrary volition, to fasten it upon some object which awakens no interest, and hold it there by main strength ? Or shall we surround the mind by objects fitted to awaken its interest and allure its attention — objects whose intrinsic qualities are a magnet with sufficient attraction to draw it out and delight it ? \ Gymnastic exercises produce few visible effects, and therefore cannot pennanently interest the mind. When the mind is not pleasantly occupied, the body soon becomes fatigued, and both are jaded rather than refreshed by the exercise. It is the testimony of experience that exercise, in order essentially to benefit, .must furnish the mind either with a great variety of different objects for its amuse- ment, or else with continual changes in the state of the same objects. The consciousness of effecting these changes ly one's own efforts adds greatly to the interest which they excite. The main exercises of the gymnasium merely move the limbs and change the posture of the body ; as bending forward and backward, swinging the arms and legs, hanging and swinging by the hands and feet, whirUng over poles, climbing ropes and ladders, jumping, swing- ing, dumb-bells, &;c. The novelty of such exercise is soon worn away. The movements become spiritless, and not only cease to interest, but excite aversion. But perhaps it will be said, an interest may be excited in them by other considerations : ambition may be appealed to, and a glow of interest kept up by the effort to excel others. True, and that is an argument against such appeals. Intense emotions are excited, and that state of mind is produced, which, more than any thing else, counteracts all the good effects of the exercise. Besides, such appeals excite to bodily efforts of too violent a character. Perhaps it may be said further, that sufficient interest ought to be given to the exercise by the consideration that it is promoting health. If we would make a well man sick, or kill a sick man by piecemeal, we need only require him to practice regularly some formal muscular movement, and to keep up his spirits by such a sing-song as this : I'm doing this for my health, I'm doing this for my health, For my health, for my health, I'm doing this for my health. ^ He must have a soul rather o/dly set to music, who could derive exhilaration from such a hum-(S^"um as this.* The Journal of Health, speaking of " exercise with the dumb-bells, jumping the rope, and other similar diversions," says : " They have seldom been productive of any good effect. They are deficient \ in interest, and do not, to use the language of another, incorporate into a sys- tem of actions for life. They should nevei-, therefore, be adopted, to the exclu- sion of those species of exercise which engage the mind, at the same time that they call the limbs into action. Task exercises, (under which denomination may be included all those which are resorted to merely for the sake of muscular exertion,) are pronounced, by the author of "Essays on Hygeia," to bear pretty much the same relation to health, as the castig-ations of the penitent do to piety and virtue. Neither have they at the time that salutary effect which employment, connected with interesting or pleasurable ideas, has within certain linyits." " The mere movement of the limbs, as a stated task, wiU have a far less beneficial effect upon the health of the system, than if the mind be at the same time pleasurably, but not too intensely occupied. Hence, to those who are able to command the time and means, botanical pursuits, or the cultivation of a garden; and to all, various mechanical occupations, or any innocent recre- ation, wiU be a means of increasing very considerably the salutary effects of ; bodily exercise." 4. Gymnastic exercises excite aversion and contemj^t in the public mind. The laboring classes, who make up nine tenths of the commu- nity, are disgusted and repelled by the grotesque and ludicrous antics of the gymnasium. They say, leave wooden horses to children, and monkey tricks to monkeys. A negative objection to gymnastics may i be stated in passing, and that is, the time spent in them affords no \ pecuniary advantage; and another, that the exercise benefits only the \ student; makes no contribution to the resources of his country, and j no addition to the means of human subsistence. * It ha« become quite fashionable for invalids to travel " for their health." First comes the note of preparation. Trunks are metamorphosed into drug shops, stuffed with blister plasters, burgundy pitch, cordials, tinctures, linaments, and divers " drops" for head-ache, tooth-ache, stomach-ache, and sore throat ; ban- dages and lint for accidents ; soda for " heart-burn," hartshorn for fainting, and blue pills for the liver. Disinfecting powders, peppermint lozenges, and smelling bot- tles, constitute the body-guard, and are stationed in the pockets. Thus equipped, the invalid sallies forth, compasses sea and land, feeling his pulse, inspecting his tono-ue, listening to the palpitations of his heart, measuring out doses, and watching symptoms. If the man would chase his shadow round the world he would show some common sense. Even that would withdraw his attention, in a measure, from himself — the great desideratum in the restoration of health. Let the invalid travel by all means, but never merely for health. To go poring over his ailments is suicide. Instead of darkling amidst the murky damps of his disease, let him escape for his life into fresh air and clear sunshine, and forget his health in the interest excited by the pursuit of other objects. Seek lost health and it hides, pursue it and it flies ; but give up the chase and pursue other objects, and it comes to meet you of its own accord. The principle applies with equal force to the preservation as to the restoration of health. vi/ The MANUAL LABOR SYSTEM next claims our attention. The distin- guishing peculiarity of this system is, ihat agricultural or mechaniqal labor is the employment of the student during those hours which in other institutions are left vacani. This system makes no infringe- ment upon the hours of study. The only difference between manual labor institutions and others, is the. disposition which is made of the hours of relaxation. In the former, they are devoted to healthful and profit- able exercise ; in the latter, to any thing or nothing, at the option of the student. I. The manual labor system furnishes exercise natubai. TO MAN. That agricultural and mechanical employments are natural to man, is an obvious inference from the arrangements of Providence. God designs that the human race generally should engage in these employ- ments.* He has placed men in circumstances which require it ; and are those kinds of exercise for which infinite wisdom designed the human system, ill adapted to that system? Can human ingenuity devise an artificial system better adapted to the necessities of man than that which God has prescribed ? | * " Manual labor has in my opinion decided advantages over gymnastic exer- cises. In addition to the superior moral influence which it is calculated to exert, the kind of exercise is better adapted to promote the healthy and vigor- ous action of the system." Dr. Brown, late Physician to the New-York Hospital. I " It appears, I think, from principle, as well as experience, that horticul- ture and agriculture are better fitted for the promotion of health and sound morals, than any other human occupation." Dr. Caldwell, Professor, Med. Depart., Transylvania University, Ky'. II. It furnishes exercise adapted to interest the mind. j Agricultural exercise, and various mechanical employments interest I the mind of the student, * This remark has no reference to those employments which are not necessary to man's convenience and comfort, and which minister only to the factitious wants of luxury and effeminacy. t Before Adam sinned, God commanded him to "replenish the earth and subdue it." After his transgression, it was added, " In the sweat of thy face," or bv bodily exertion, not mere intellectual labor, "shalt thou eat bread." Thus not only revealing to Adam that peculiarity of his physical constitution, which made exercise necessary, and furnishmg him with a rule of action based upon that necessity, but also promulging the universal law of human well being. A clergyman in New-York, said recently in a sermon, "God has decreed that man shall eat his bread in the sweat of his face. This is nature's law, as well as God's command. If a man breaks it, and eats his bread without sweating, he cannot digest it ; and that is nature's part o/the penalty-" 57 1. By presenting a variety of objects to allure his attention. 2. By the successive changes effected in these objects hy his own efforts, and the different forms which tliey continually assume under his hand, as the work goes on. 3. By the exercise of ingenuity, tact, and skill, which they demand. 4. By the associating idea of their usefulness, not merely to him- self, but to his countr}', and the whole family of man, in multiplying the comforts and conveniences of life; in promoling practical habits, and giving countenance to industry. " No moda of exercis3 can in ordluary cas3s be compared, either as to profit or pleasure, with soai3 kind Ol ejjicient labor. Rev. Dr. Woods, Andover Theol. Sent. " If two or throe hours ouT'it to ba spent in healthful exercise, why not employ those hoars daily in tha pleasanl occupation of horticulture, agriculture, or mechanics. Rev. Dr. Alexander, Princeton Theol, Sent, "Agricultural and machanical employment have another advantage over gymnastic exercises in this, that on account of the science and knowledge, the skill and ingenuity which they reqairj, they create a more various and perma- nent interest in themselves, thus combining utility and fleasure in a higher degree than gymnastics ; and manifestly exercising tiie mind greatly and efFtJctually in common with the body, much more than their coinpatitor can. Hon. Thomas S. Griinke, Charleston, S. C. " I am equally convinced, that manual labor of some kind, is peculiarly adapted to this end," [for the purposes of exercise.] Professor Gjodrich, Yale College. " Gymnastic exercises are not so well calculated as agricultural or mecha- nical employments, to alFord an agreeable relief to the mind, after the fatiguing studies in which it has been employed. It is true that the exercises which have been a,liudedto, have the appearance of amusement, and are captivating at Jirsl sight ; but they are likely to become dull and wearisome wiien the attraction of novelty has worn o.T. On the other hand, those employments which moderately exercise the muscles, and which yield valuable products to tho3e who are engaged in them, will keep up a more permanent interest in the mind, and exert a more beneficial infiu3uceon the health. Dr. Pas.t, Demonstrator of Anatomy, Coll. of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. Omit practical agriculture and mechanics in a system of education, and ever}' reflecting man must pronounce it incompls/'e and defective, whether as regards bodily health or mental resources. Employment in the field or the workshop,, alternating with the common scholastic exercises in schools and colleges would be a relaxation from the studies,, purely intellectual^ and not a labor." Dr. John Bell, Philadelphia, Editor of the Journal of Health. III. Its moral effect avould be peculiarly happy. This follows as a legitimate inference fi-om principles which have been already discussed at length in this communication. The testi- 8 68 I mony upon this point, from all the manual labor schools in the country, / is most explicit ;i and if inserted here would fill many pages. I select from the mass, the three following, on account of their brevity : " The moral character of our school has been singularly favorable, and we mention it because we believe the system of connecting manual labor with scientific pursuits has had no small share of influence. There have been no cases of dismission for disorderly conduct, and not an instance in which any thing more than gentle admonition was required ; no strife or contentions with each other, and no complaints about fare. A private family of brothers of the same blood, under the same paternal roof, could not present, in the main, a more harmonious society than our beloved institution." Report of the Teachers of Oneida Institute, Whiteshoro' , N. Y. "The result is most happy in its influence on piety, and operates most effectually as a test of character." Rev. Mr. Clemson, Principal Manual Labor School, Wilmington, Del. "The moral influence of the system is salutary and powerful. The differ- ence between this and the common system in respect to the ease with which the students are governed, (if government it may be called,) is truly remarkable." J. H. Coffin Esq. Principal Manual Labor School, Greenfield, Mass. IV. It would furnish the student with important practi- cal ACQUISITIONS. A practical acquaintance with agriculture and gardening with some knowledge of mechanical employments, and skill in the use of tools, are accomplishments more than convenient to every man whatever his station in life ; accomplishments befitting the nature of our government, and the character of a republican people. " Who would not wish for the capacity to help himself, on a thousand little occasions, at home and abroad, when a familiar acquaintance with the use of common mechanical implements, would enable him to avoid those many vexa- tions which are wont to arise from the absence of mechanics and their want of punctuality ; which are so precisely suited to annoy the very persons who take the least care to provide against them." President Humphreys, St. John's College, Annapolis, Md. I V. It would PROMOTE HABIT3 OF INDUSTRY. Habit is formed by the repetition of single acts. To be constantly employed is to be forming a habit of industry. Constant occupation is the peculiarity of the manual labor system. VI. It would PROMOTE INDEPENDENCE OF CHARACTER. Exercise is the universal law of improvement for the faculties of the mind, as well as the powers of the body. If the memory is to be 59 improved it must be exercised. If scope is to be given to the imagi- \ nation, stability to the judgment, and energy to the reasoning powers, | the object can be accompHshed only by the exercise of the several 1 powers. Giving enlarges benevolence ; daring increases courage ; J enduring augments fortitude ; and self reliance ■promotes independence^ Independence is an intelligent reliance upon one's own resources. If we would develope this principle we must call it into action : and how shall it be called into action except by creating a necessity for its action by throwing the individual upon his own resources ; thus not only developing but multiplying them ? That system, then, by which the student can support himself with the least amount of aid from / others, is manifestly. better calculated than any other to promote inde- / pendence of character. This, the manual labor system accomplishes. J When will a child learn to walk if it is never set upon its feet? He who bears all his weight upon others is in a fair way to become a cripple ; and he must either lose his legs or throw away his crutches.* VII. It would promote originality. f The student who has been accustomed for years to tax his own resources for the supply of his wants, has formed a habit of inesti- mable value to his mind. Habituated to resort to himself for the means of his own support, he would be far more likely to construct his intellectual fabrics from the materials of his own producing. Instead • of being a petty retailer of other men's wares, he would have a -whole- sale manufactory of his own. Let a demand be made upon such a man for thought, and instead of applying to his library for aid, and fumbling over every thing, from a commentary to a catechism, he will jr" dig in the depths of his own mine, coin the metal in Jus own mint, and| stamp it with his own image and superscription. VIII. It is adapted to bender permanent all the manlier I FEATURES OF CHARACTER. \ A system of seclusion, inactivity, idleness, and dependence, has a | * " I cannot here omit particularly noticing a quality of the manly character which our effeminate education is continually rendenng more scarce. This is a certain wise confidence in our own powers, which prevents us from crying out for help, or falling into despair on every trifling occasion— a quality which must be at the bottom of every g/eat or little enterprise, and which is indispensably necessary to enable us as men and citizens to preserve a certain independence." Salzman. 60 tendency to weaken the strong points of the character, and render it sickly and effeminate. On the other hand, a system requiring activity, industry, exposure, energetic action, and self rehance, incorporates into the still forming character, the elements of firmness, decision, perseverance, courage, constancy, and generous self-sacrifice. It produces a commodity which the exigencies of our own age call for with deafening clamor, hut which is a scarcity in the modern market — manhood, full grown manhood.* iX. It would afford facilitiks to the student in acqui- ring A knowledge of human nature. / Whoever would understand human nature must lay bare the springs of human action ; the pulsations of the naked heart must be seen. The natural successions of thought and feeling must be marked as they come and go, and these lessons must be conn'd often and long, if he would be more than a mere smatterer in the science of human character. But how is the student to witness these exhibitions? Students generally are introduced into the higher classes of society, as they are called ; and they will hardly get a glimpse at them there ; where etiquette is law, actions are measured by rule, and the heart studiously covered up. The middling and lower classes of society, which are not wrapped up in the innumerable folds of ceremony, nor entangled in the endless meshes of fashionable forms, furnish the best text book in the science of the heart/ But how shall the student / narrow down the distance between the learned and the laboring I classes, and thus get sufficiently near the latter to see them as they are? He may mingle with them a lifetime, but if he cannot make i them feel at home with him, he can never see that unobstructed flow of thought and feeling which constitutes nature. He must first remove that instinctive aversion and prejudice which keep them from him; and these cannot be dune away effectually except by removing the causes'which produce and perpetuate them ; and the main cause is total dissimilarity in habits and mode of life. Similarity of habits strikes a common level, prodaccs familiarity of intercourse, establishes a bond oi' union, and excites a feeling of mutual interest. Let our students put on a working dress and spend three hours a ^ » » In a word, industrious habits of daily labor will metamorphose a book worm into a MAN— a man prompt and ready for all emergencies— a man of the nine- teenth century." Professor Staughton, Med. Coll. Ohio. 61 day in agricultural or mechaiiical employment, and they would disarm the laboring man of his prejudices, and beckon him' toward them. That discontent, jealousy, envy, disgust, and those heart burnings, which keep in a ferment the laboring classes in the vicinity of our higher seminaries, would give place to kindlier feelings. These classes would become approachable ; a brotherhood would be estab' lished, and the student would enjoy a variety of facilities for acquiring a knowledge of men as they are, wh:ch would otherwise be denied him. X. It would greatly diminish the expense of education. This is not mere theory, as the following statements will show : "The students generally pay their heard by their labor; some pay all their expenses ; and some do even more than tliis." Report of Maine Wesleyan Seminary. "The pecuniary benefit which the students receive, is ih.e vayment of their beard by their lajor. Some do much more." Report of Oneida Institute. "The amount of labor performed by our students (two hours per day) diminishes the expense of their education more than one third." President Cossitt, Cumberland College. "After deducting an expense of about fifty-six dollars for the use of team and too]s. and for contingencies, and about two hundred and fifty dollars for the use of ihe land, will leave a balance to the students of about one dollar for every eighteen hours labor. If the land could be furnished without expense to the students, they would be able, during tlie agricultural season, to defray nearly or quite th? whole of their expenses, which are ordinarily from $2 00 to $2 25 per week." ^ Report of Manual Labor School, Greenfield, Mass. "The pupils have by manual labor paid nearly one half their expenses of education." Report of the Pennsylvania Manual Labor Institution. "In the mechanics' shop connected with Waterville College, an experi- ment has been made, the results of which, though obtained under great disad- vantages, are certainly of the most cheering kind. The profits derived by many of the students from their labors in the shop have been very considerable. By devoting three hours of each secular day to business of this kind, they have earned from one to two dollars a week,/which in an infant establishment like this, ought to be considered as highly encouraging, and as furnishing good ground to expect that when the system is properly matured, and the neces- sary fundd are provided, the industrious student wih be able to earn at least sixty dollars a year." Report of the Mechanical Association, Waterville College, Me. 62 The members of Lafayette College, .Pennsylvania, reduce the expenses of the institution, by manual labor, one third, on an average, as appears by the report of 1832, and some of them pay their entire expenses. At the Maryville Theological Seminary, East Tennessee, the expenses are diminished more than one half by manual labor. The following is an extract from the Third Report of the Lano Seminary at Cincinnati, Ohio, which has just been received ; DIKECT AND INDIRECT PECUNIARY RESULTS OF MANUAL LABOR. Fiftv of the best farmers earned 5 1-2 cents per hour each, and worked upon an average 16 hours per week ; average amount earned, allowing each to have worked durmg the whole forty week's sessions, , ,„, , j /in nA Those who worked the regular 18 hours per week, earned, 4U W Several of the above have earned during the vacation by farming, teaching, agencies, or otherwise, o i o Twentv-eiffht of the best mechanics earned upon an average H 1-^ cents per hour, and worked 16 hours per week ; average amount earned, allowing each to have worked during the whole 40 ^^ ^^ week's session, , ci oi Those who worked the regular 18 hours per week, earned, bi ^1 Some of the above earned during the vacations, 4" "" Seven regularly trained mechanics earned 12 1-2 cents per hour ; averagi time of labor per week, 16 hours ; amount earned, allowintr each to have worked the whole 40 weeks, WO UU Those who worked the regular 18 hours per week, earned during ^^ ^^ the 40 weeks, , . .- j fin nn Such of the above as worked durmg vacation, earned, ou uu The foregoing results are taken mostly from institutions that have been in operation for a number of years; and where the amount of pecuniary profit may for the future be expected rather to increase than diminish, as many of those difficulties which usually embarrass the commencement of such an enterprise have been already overcome. Many manual labor schools have gone into operation within the last year. With two or three exceptions, specific details of their opera, tions have not been given to the public* * » Allusion is made to the economy of this plan. If we suppose the highest • f t^ Ko ittnmed is defravinff the expense of board, and this to be valued at S per vearfor L hund/cd Itudents'this would be $5,000, and eight year's ftndv 1ft40 000 Suppose there should be ten thousand students m a course of edt^ationin our country, the annual saving would be five hundred thousand ^nUnrtr ^um eoual to that raised for all the great benevolent objects of the day and for eigS years study, four millions!" Speech of Rev. Mr. Frost, at Masonic Hall. 63 XI. It would increase the wealth op the countky. Such a system would enable the sons of our farmers and mechanica to acquire a thorough knowledge of those branches of science whose practical ^ application to agricultural and the mechanic arts would greatly increase both in quantity and quality the productions of the soil, and enhance the value of mechanical products. The benefits resulting to the farming interest especially, from a thorough acquaint- ance with the sciences of chimistry and geology are little appre- ciated in comparison with their practical importance.* The system loould increase the wealth of the country in another respect. In our academies, high schools, colleges, and professional seminaries, there are not far from thirty thousand youth. Let each of these fill up three hours a day with productive labor, and he makes no incon- siderable contribution to the resources of his country.- He multiplies the means of subsistence, and augments the common stock of conveniences and comforts. These thirty thousand, by laboring three hours per day, would furnish an addition to the productive labor, and of course to the wealth of the country, equal to the labor of at least five thousand working men, who should labor ten hours per day. Besides this, the manual labor system would increase the wealth of the country, by contributing to its health and muscle, and no less to its mind. XII. It would tend to do away those absurd distinctions IN society which make the occupation of an individual the STANDARD OF HIS WORTH. Let the contents of our sixty colleges, and fifty professional semi- naries, with a thousand academies and high schools, pour themselves into our fields and workshops, and there, for three hours each day, ply the implements of agriculture and the mechanic arts, would it not * A distinguished citizen of Massachusetts, who is also a practical agricultu- ralist, has kindly furnished me with the following facts and opinions : " In the state of Massachusetts there are about four hundred townships. In each of these townships there are at least one hundred farmers who experience an average loss o? fifty dollars each, per annum, in consequence of lacking that chimical knowledge necessary for the judicious mixing of manures, and adapting them to the different kinds of soil, in order to obtain the greatest product, from the culture of different grasses, grains, and vegetables. I have not a doubt that the farmers in this state annually sustain a loss of two millions of dollars, for the want of that knowledge of the practical uses and applications of chimistry, geology, &c. which they might obtain in a manual labor institution, and which most of them could not afford to procure elsewhere." f 64 have a powerful tendency to render labor honorable, and the laboring' man more respected? Would it not create sympathies between the learned and the laboring" classes, a permanent community of feeling, and identity of interests ? The thousand repulsions arising from dissimilarity of habits which have so long operated to estrange them from each other, cease with the causes which produced them. Instead of being driven asunder by jealousies, and smothered animosities, they approach each other with looks of kindness, and form a compact, based upon republican equality, and the interchange of mutual offices of courLesy and kind- ness. He who does not perceive in such a system a tendency to these results, has mingled little with men ; and however profound in other things, is a novice in human nature. XIII. It would have a tendency to render permanent ovn REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS. This would be the result of such a state of society as has just been noticed. The elementary principles of republicanism are equality and reciprocity; its basis industry, economy, practical habits, general intelligence, and morality. We have seen that the connection of manual labor with study ig,/ calculated to produce these effects, and consequently to perpetuate our republican institutions. In the conclusion of this part of the subject, the comparative advan- tages of agricultural and mechanical labor demand a brief notice. Agriculture and gardening afford a much greater variety of muscular exercise than mechanical labor. They have the advantage of purer air ; they habituate the student to atmospheric changes, enable him to endure hardships, and can be engaged in without a previous apprenticeship. Mechanical labor is more cleanly, generally more profitable, and can be performed in all weathers and seasons. The committee are respectfully referred to the following extract of a letter just received from Dr. John Bell of Philadelphia, editor of the Journal of Health : "Is agricultural or mechanical labor most healthful for students?" My reply if, that the former, or agricultural labor, should, if we can choose, be preferred. Employed in this way, the whole body is more or less called into action ; since, in most kinds of field and farm-yard labor, there is successive and alternate movements of tlie upper and lower limbs ; the attitude is either erect, or readily becomes so, between the frequently repeated fits of muscular effort ; and the chest has, in consequence, greater freedom for expansion and 65 the inhalation of air, which moreover is purer, more vivifying, and cordially stimulating in the fields than in doors. By agricultural labor a person becomes also inured to vicissitudes of the atmosphere, in respect to tempera- ture,and hygrometrical and barometrical states, and is thus saved the many dis- comforts, and actual disadvantages, to vsrhich the mere student and habitually sedentary man are liable, from occasional exposure, to extremes and inclem- encies of the weather. In advocating this kind of employment, I of course suppose that a student will not confine himself to one of the many varieties of field and farm-yard labor. Were he to do so, the benefits which I have just stated would not be obtained. A man who should do nothing but plough, would indeed become strong ; but he would be awkward, and not unlikely acquire a raised shoulder, and a deviation of his spine from the right line. Similar inconveniences would foUow mere mowing and cradling grain. Digging and hoeing, on occasions excellent exercises, might, if the exclu- sive ones, give an ugly stoop to the individual, and interfere with the dilata- tion of the chest and fireedom of respiration. All these kinds of exercise together, with harrowing, sowing grain by broadcast, cutting down and split- ting timber, ought to be had recourse to in due succession, and with a reference to the strength of the student, or to the bodily infirmity from which he wishes either to entirely escape, or if a sufferer under it, to be cured. Most varieties of mechanical labor are attended with the disadvantages of only allowing of the exercise of particular parts of the body. Commonly it is the upper limbs which are in motion, and they with equal force, whilst the lower limbs are entirely quiescent ; the posture is either standing or sitting, and too often leaning forward or on one side. The limgs are more apt to suffer, both from the impediment to suitable dilatation of the chest, and the want of fresh, pure air, and likewise from the fine particles given off from the various matters used in the mechanical arts. Most of these objec- tions may, it is true, be obviated by preventing many persons from being at work in the same room ; by the constant introduction of fresh and pure air from without ; by a change in the labor, so as to require, in different days, different postures, and varieties of muscular movement." r L, Objections Consideked. 1. " The manual labor system will have a tendency to destroy a grace- ful carriage, and make the student stiff-jointed and awkward in his movements." The objector probably inferred this from the fact that the muscles of farmers and mechanics sometimes lack that kind of flexibility indispensable to graceful motion. But let him make the cases parallel before drawing parallel inferences. The manual labor student exercises his muscles three hours per day ; the farmer and mechanic ten or twelve. The exercise of the former supplies the demands of the system ; that of the latter exceeds them, and partial muscular rigidity is the consequence. Three hours of exercise each day, is indispensable to the full deve- lopement of the body, and the perfection of manly proportion. Instead of making the student stifT-jointed, it is the very thing to lubricate his joints. Instead of making him awkward in his movements, it subjects 66 his muscles to the control of volition, and enables him perfectly to govern their movements. Instead of destroying easy, natural motions, it legitimately produces them. Awkwardness of motion results from imperfect control of the muscles :* this state of the system is produced mainly by two causes : First, too much muscular exertion ; and Second, too little. Day laborers illustrate the former, and literary men in general the latter. The first overwork their muscles, and the consequence is, a degree of inflexibility. The second exercise them so little that they become relaxed and flaccid, and their arms and legs loosely bag about as the law of gravity dictates. The day laborer takes on board so large a cargo, and sinks his vessel so deep, that it ploughs straight ahead, little heeding the rudder. The literary man neglects to take even enough for hallast, and consequently his vessel makes most ungainly lunges. If the objector had been a physiologist^ instead of opening such a battery upon the manual labor system, he would have turned it point blank against the non-manual labor system, assured that every shot would tell. For the fact is notorious that literary men as- a body, can most conscienciously plead not guilty to the charge of gracefulness of motion, and a natural, commanding, manly carriage. A single glance at the present system of education unravels the mys- tery of the fact, and explains its philosophy, f 2. " The manual kibor system would have a tendency to make the student a sloven.^'' Even if it were so, the advocates of manual labor would not be left utterly comfortless. The reflection that the system would not inflict upon the world a generation of dandies, would be no small solace. Better, infinitely, that the bar, the bench, the hall of legislatio^n, and the pulpit, should be filled with men careless of their appearance, and slovenly in their dress, but whose firm set frames and brawny muscles indicate their sex, and whose original minds poise themselves upon their own centre, rather than be desecrated by mincing things of pow- * The case of Casper Hauser, whose history has just been translated from the German, and published in Boston, is an illustration in point. t " It is by exercise alone that we acquire a full and easy control of the various muscles of voluntary motion, and thus become enabled to assume, at pleasure, those attitudes, and to perform those flexures and gestures with perfect ease, which contribute to the personal dignity and grace of man. Hence exercise is as necessary for personal grace and dignity, as it is for agility and strength. And it is doubtless more owing to the want of proper exercise than to any thing else, that so many students and professional men are more awkward and uncouth than the plougliboy." Sylvester Graham, Lecturer on Health and Longevity^ 67 •der and perfumery, nauseous specimens o{ diluted manhood, scribbling sentimentally in albums, and lisping insipidity. Let " the sacramen- tal host" be led on to victory by sturdy clowns in shaggy homespun, "but of overmastering intellect and lofty daring, rather than be officered by knights of the reticule, valorous in onset upon cologne bottles, and prodigies of prowess among sprigs of rosemary. But let us examine the objection. " The manual labor system will make the student slovenly in his dress." How ? " Why, when he labors, he will put on a leather apron, a working frock, slouched hat, clouted shoes, &c." What next ? Will he fall in love with them ? " Why, he will become accustomed to them, and of course careless about clean clothing, and quite contented with dirt." Answer: a man who is occasionally sick, will learn how to prize health ; and not only so, but will be more careful of his health while it lasts : so a man who is occasionally in his " duds," will learn how to estimate better clothes ; and not only so, but will be more careful of his better clothing while he has it on. Upon the principle of the objection, if a man were to be placed in circumstances which made it necessary for him to soil his hands once or twice a day, he would become accustomed to dirty hands, and of course careless about clean ones, and gradually pass into a sloven — a very pretty theory, but contradicted by universal experience. The world over, occasional experience of discomfort gives zest to the enjoyment of comfort, and increases the desire to make the most of it while it lasts. 3. " It would have a tendency to degrade the mind, making it dull and plodding, and restraining the excursions of genius.''* How ? " Why, it results from the law of association. The field and the workshop have nothing that is adapted to elevate and enliven. The objects with which the student comes in contact, are monotonous, untasteful, and unintellectual." This objection is vastly sentimental. It rises quite into the region of poetry. If the exquisite taste and delicate sensibilities of the objector had been counselors in the work of creation, the human mind would have * " Our country has been fruitful in examples of the influence which early agri- cultural and mechanical pursuits have had in developing the mental powers, and qualifying men for important enterprises, and deeds of high daring. Nothing has appeared so much to make the mind acute, fruitful in expedients, decisive, persevering, and firm in purpose, as these employments ; and this has evidently been from the influence they have had, in expanding and perfecting the physical and moral powers." Dr. James C. Bliss, N. Y. 68 been spared the outrage of being embedded among such gross mate- rials, as flesh and blood, and located in such a dusty world as this ; ever in contact with the foul ground, the eye offended with the sight of clods, the olfactories outraged with scent " most villainous," and the whole man thus acquiring, " by the law of association," a ditch- going tendency. If the objector had been chief manager, balloons would have been human habitations, and men aeronauts, sailing high above earth's vapors, dust and smoke, and strong, unsavory scent. A formal answer to this objection would savor strongly of the ridi- culous. It is therefore returned to the objector for revision and amendment. The attention of the committee is respectfully requested to the fol- lowing extract of a communication which I have recently received from Dr. John Bell, editor of the Journal of Health. It is not intro, duced in this place as an answer to the preceding objection, but on account of its important practical bearings upon the general subject. I make no apology for the length of the extract, and none will be demanded by those who read it. / «' Hitherto I have limited myself to speaking of agricultural and mechanical labor iii connexion with health ; but if their importance as a branch or part of education were the question, the inquiry wonld take a wider, and if possible, a still more satisfactory range. Omit practical agriculture and mechanics in a system of education, and every reflecting man must pronounce it incom- plete and defective, whether as regards bodily health, or mental resources. Employment in the field or the workshop, alternating with the common scho- lastic exercises in school and college, would be ?, relaxation from the studies purely intellectual, and not a labor. The mind would still be acquiring ideas, and those of the most enduring kind ; since they are the effect of impressions made by the objects themselves, and not by written or verbal descriptions. Habits of attention would be formed, and a love of observation of the pheno- mena exhibited by external nature, and of the gradual and wonderful muta- tions accomplished by art, would be a strong and ruling passion. His body, accustomed to active and vigorous effort at the suggestion of the mind, a person feels more confidence in his own resources; is prompt and ready in moments of difficulty [or danger ; and whether on sea or shore, in the crowded haunts of men, or in lonely travel, he has means of extricating him- self from imminent peril, which others, differently educated, would never think of, or, if knowing, want the energy and presence of mind to turn them to account. The addition of agricultural and mechanical employment to theo- retical learning cannot but enrich the mind with a large stock of ideas and imagery, and enable it to indulge in new and varied combinations of known \ facts and opinions, and afford it much greater facihties for striking out fresh paths for investigation and discovery. However much we may admit the original or innate differences among men, in regard to their aptitude for acquiring knowledge, and shining as inventive geniuses, (and few will carry the belief farther than I do) we must still, it seems to me, confess that unless materials be furnished from the external world for the mind to work on, its displays will be obscure, unsatis- 69 factory and unprofitable. The poet, the orator, and the more professed moral teacher, will be successful, not alone in proportion to the innate strength of their intellectual faculties, including imagination, but to the extent of their communings with men, and their long and varied observations of things. Without these, all the knowledge obtained from books ; all the research and deep study within college walls ; all the recitations and exercises after the most approved rules of the most learned pedagogue,' will not enable a man to teach and counsel his fellow men with success ; to enlist their sympa- thies for whatever is great, noble, and good, in real or fictitious life ; to charm them with the magic creations of the pencil and chisel ; or, irf fine, to make them wiser, better, and happier. This assertion may seem at first view to be hazarded rather as expressing an inference deduced from the theoretical premises already advanced, than the reality of the annals of literature, and the history of genius. I am content to change the mode of argument, and to rest our cause on the result of an appeal to these latter sources. If I mistake not, we shall find that a life of adventure, hardships encountered on sea and shore, long and fatiguing travel, mechanical and agricultural employment, and field sports and athletic exercises, and even the turmoil of a camp, however much most of them were severally regarded at the time as vexatious interruptions to study and the cultivation of genius, they wei'e in fact main contributing causes of the success and renown of many of the most distinguished names in arts, science, and letters. Foremost in the list, among the worthies of our own country, is Franklin, whose very necessities, and employment as a journeyman printer, by making him a slower reader of books, made him more thorougldy imbued with what he did read, and whose mode of life, and early associations, gave his mind a practical as well as an inquiring turn, and compelled him to a slow and gradual development of his powers, and corresponding discoveries, which it is very doubtfiil would ever have been obtained in the continued sun- shine of prosperity, and in the enjoyment o? gentlemanly and scholastic leisure. He was eminently the working man and student, the printer, and the philo- sopher. The two Stephenses, father and son, were both of them among the best and most laborious printers, and the most learned men of their age. " The first, or Robert, author of the great Thesaurus of the Latin language, did more," says DeThou, "to immortalize the reign of Francis I, than all the monarch's own most famous exploits." Henry Stephens, the son, was one of the most learned men that ever lived; and although toiling in a laborious occupation, under the pressure of misfortune and penury, and often wandering about in quest of mere subsistence, he was so voluminous an author, that if he had spent his whole life in writing books, he would have left enough for us to admire in his industry and fertility of mind. His Thesaurus of the Greek language, the fruit of twelve years laborious application, is well known to the learned. Brindley, the celebrated engineer, was till near the age of manhood a carter and ploughman, afterward a milhoright, in which employment his mind was trained for the grander exhibitions of inventive genius in superintending the construction of the Bridgewater canal, with its tunnels, aqueducts, and locks. Watt, as mathematical instrument maker and general engineer, was placed in the path of discovery the more easily and successfully, by his combining with practical science the study of its theory. His steam engine, if not the unavoidable, was at least a natural result of his frame of mind, and mecha- nical pursuits, despite the obstructions interposed by delicate health and not unfrequent sickness. Bowick, the celebrated engraver on wood, and author of the History of Quadrupeds, delighted from his earliest years in observing the habits of ani- mals; and it was this fondness, which could only have been indulged in the 70 il-eedom of a country life, that gave rise to hia first attempts at drawing. He ever continued to be fond of all the manly and invigorating sports of the country. Ferguson, while yet a shepherd and farm servant, was a student of astro- nomy. His first attention to mechanics, when only seven or eight years of age, was from witnessing the employment of a beam resting on a prop, to raise part of the roof of his father's cottage, which had fallen in. Not dissimOar to this was the early life of our own Rittenhouse, who, when a young man, used to draw geometrical diagrams on his plough, and study them as he turned up the fiirrow. The advantages of early difficulties, and obstacles to study, are, it seems to me, forcibly shown in the case of Sir Humphrey Davy. With his strong natural vanity, and dash of coxcombry, and love of show, it is not likely, had he been the son of a gentleman in affluent circumstances, in place of that of a poor wood carver, and an apprentice to an apothecary in a small town, that he would have displayed that early love of science, and perseverance in experimenting, which made him eventually the most brilliant discoverer in chimical science of his day. Many of the best historians were men who traveled much, or had been themselves busy actors in the scenes and events which they describe. The names of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Julius Ceesar, Froissart, Philip de Comines, Sir Walter Raleigh, Frederick the Great, De Thou, Clarendon, occur to me at the moment, in support of this position. In continued toil, and often imminent peril, while leading the life of a sea- man, Columbus rendered himself the most accomplished geographer and astro- nomer of his age, and kept up that acquaintance, which he had begun at school, with the different branches of elegant literature. It was at sea, too, that Cook acquired for himself those high scientific, and it may be added literary accomphshments, of which he showed himself to be possessed. Lord Collingwood was only thirteen when he entered the navy, and during the remainder of his life he was on shore but very short and few periods ; and yet, as is evident from his correspondence published since his death, he writes in an admirable style, and proves himself to have been a man of varied literary attainments. Of the successfiil union of mercantile busmess with literature and phi- losophy, we have instances in the first Cosmo de Medici, Gugo, Ricardo, and others. Poets, too ofl;en considered as mere dreamy enthusiasts, and unfitted for the common affairs of life, have been for the most part nice and accurate observers of men and things ; have travelled much, and been subjected to vicissitudes of fortune. Homer, as far as we can glean from tradition, was a great pedestrian, and had carefully noted the customs of the various people, and appearance of the countries described in his two grand poems, but more especially in the Odyssey, ^schylus was a soldier as well as poet, and shared in those ever memorable battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Plateea. Sophocles was of the same school as ^schylus, whom it was his fortune to excel in poetry as well as to surpass in military rank, since he commanded the Athenian armies, and in several battles shared the supreme command with Pericles. He also filled the office of chief magistrate, or archon, with credit and honor. Virgil was quickened to a display of his powers by misfortune, and for the success of his most finished poem, the Georgics, he was mainly indebted to a practical knowledge of rural affairs, and the changes and effects of the seasons, acquired by his residence in the country, untU he was forced to visit Rome with his father. Milton was accomplished not only in the learning of the schools, but in a knowledge of the world by foreign travel, and mixing with men of all ranks. He was fond of, and displayed himself to much advantage 71 in the different manly exercises avd sports. I was near omitting the contem- porary and rival of Shakspeare, the celebrated Ben Jonson, who, at one period a soldier, and at another a mason with trowel in hand, still continued to find time for the composition of some of the finest specimens of dramatic poetry in the English language. Burns' sweetest poems were inspired by the scenery and associations connected with the fields and streams of the country over which he loved to roam, and in which he for years toiled as farmer. Scott, fond of 7'ural sports and exercises, and of wandering amidst the wild and romantic scenes of his native land, has given them and himself imperishable fame, by describing them in harmonious numbers, and by throwing a new charm over history, in his account of times gone by. His chief, at any rate great charm, is fidehty of description, whether of the features of a country, of the personages introduced, their costume, armour, and accoutrements. AU. there, to be well and truly portrayed, must have been seen and examined, or the fictitious drawn fi-om the model of real life actually before him. No college student, with his cigars, late hours, moping and dyspepsy, his fear of the fresh air, and of rural and domestic occupations, can ever hope to attain to any of these excellencies. His complaints, and whinings, and meta- physical jargon in rattling metre, or namhy-pamby rhyme, are not poetry. He must go abroad in the full light of heaven, and roam over mountain and valley, converse with all degrees of men, know their ways and wants, and the applica- tion of science to every day^s business, before he can pretend to be a poet. Sel- dom, in the routine of scholastic or even common life, is the mind roused to a full display of its energies : various if not forceful appeals are required for it to do itself entire justice. On occasions, indeed, it would seem as if the intellect necessarily must receive the quickening impulse of strong and impassioned feelings. The case of Byron is an illustration of the first opinion. Another notable instance is met with in Alfieri, the chief of Italian dramatic poetry. He tra- versed Europe over and over, with all the eagerness of earnest pursuit, and yet unknowing what he wanted. At last the secret was revealed to him ; his ardent temperament only preyed on itself, until the external world fur- nished him with materials, and study gave him the ability to fashion them into the animated forms of poetry. The forceful energy imparted by active participation in civil strife, and the proscription following defeat, is shown in the fate of Dante. It is his keen observation of character, his multiplicity of individual portraits, obtained in the struggle between Guelph and Ghibelline in Florence, that imparts such strong, sometimes involuntary interest when we peruse his grand poem, or series of poems it may rather be called, com- posed by him when exiled from his native land. Similar misfortunes, and a still more chequered life, were the lot of the famous George Buchanan. The interruptions to the acquiring of knowledge, by the bustle and agitation of a soldier's life, would seem, to most persons, so great as to forbid any addiction to study, certainly any advancement in science. .. Yet, it was in the period of his life in which he was a. soldier in Holland, that the great Descartes laid the foundation of most of those mathematical discoveries which subsequently gave him so much celebrity. Of a different order of genius, but also commencing his life as a soldier; was the inimitable Cervantes. He was detained five years a captive in Algiers ; and even after his return to his native country, was treated with such signal injustice, as to be thrown into prison. It was here that he wrote the first part of Don Quixote. Buchanan was a soldier for a time : he composed his celebrated Latin version of the Psalms, in a Portuguese prison. Of Ben Jonson having been also a soldier, I have already spoken. The early life of penury and toil led by GifTord, has been well and forcibly described by himself. The two celebrated orators' of antiquity may be adduced to show how much can be accomplished by persevering use of bodily exercise, added to habits of 72 mental occupation. Demosthenes strengthened a weak voice, and cured him- self of indistinct articulation, by declaiming while ascending the brow of a hill or walking amid the noise of the waves on the sea shore. Cicero, when he first appeared in the forum, was in such weak health, that his friends des- paired of his life. One of our young promising lawyers of the present day, would probably be content with enjoying the sympathy of his fellow citizens, for his infirmities, and in order to keep up their interest in his state, he would speak longer and louder than allowed by the weakness of his chest, smoke an additional number of cigars, perhaps drink his brandy and water, and sit up late at night, to show his studious habits, and his contempt for the rules which give the ignorant countryman health and cheerfulness. At last our youth of fair promise dies, a victim to his intense ardor for study and professional renown ; and (but this is not told) to his silly obstinacy in continuing to smoke and drink, and to sit up late, and indulge in habits of bodily indolence. Not so acted Cicero : he abandoned, for a time, Rome and the forum, and traveled into Greece and Asia Minor, acquiring bodily vigor, and at the same time improving himself in the graces of oratory. The sovereigns who have shone most conspicuously in the annals of the world, were those who from fortunate early habits, or from their kingdoms being plunged in intestine or foreign wars, led a life of activity, often of hard- ship, and even personal exposure ; such as the emperor Julian, the English Alfred, Charlemagne, Harry IV. of France, Frederick the Great, of Prussia, Peter the Great, of Russia, and in our own day. Napoleon Bonaparte. The ancient philosophers were for the most part men of action. It was reserved for modern times, and an age boasting of its civilization and science, to admit the creed, that philosophic contemplation is incompatable with a discharge of the active duties of life ; and that for the mind to develope all its energies, the body must be kept inactive. Not thus reasoned and acted the great man of Greece, Socrates, the son of a statuary, spent, himself, the first part of his life with chisel and mallet in hand. Nor, when encouraged to ele- vate himself to the study of philosophy by Chile, under Archelaus and Anax- agoras, did he, like our modern book-rvorms, think himself fireed from the duty of defending his country in the field of battle. He fought, it is known, with rare valor, and was so fortxmate as to save by liis courage two of his friends and disciples, Xenophon and Alcibiades. His lectures and his teachings were oftener under the broad canopy of heaven, in the groves of the academy, or on the banks of the Ilyssus, than in the cramped space of man's architecture. Plato, though more favored by noble birth and the inheritance of wealth, than his master, Socrates, was not on this account inclined, like most of our young men in similar circumstances, to indolence and debasing pleasures. His body was strengthened by gymnastic exercises, and his mind cultivated with the study of poetry and geometry. After living- twenty-eight years a disciple of Socrates, he traveled over nearly all the then civilized portion of the earth, Greece, Sicily, Magna Grecia, and Egypt. Thus prepared, our wonder is less, that for forty years, the groves of the academy should resound with the voice of the philosopher uttering the most sublime doctrines in ethics, politics, and human nature in general, in the language of the most seductive eloquence. With the name of Xenophon, who does not associate ideas of a skilful gene- ral, an accomplished and eloquent historian, and a profound and persuasive philosopher. But why continue an enumeration which must be fresh in the memory of every reader. The name of Pythagoras must not however be passed over in silence, connected as it is with so much that is practical in phi- losophy, pure in ethics, and amiable in common life. Skilled in all the learn- ing of his age, Pythagoras was also celebrated in early life, for his strength and dexterity in gymnastic exercises ; and he first made himself known in Greece at the Olympic games, by obtaining, in his eighteenth year, the prize 73 for wrestling. He was not content with the accomplishments and knowledge, imposing as they may have seemed, which he gained in Greece. His powers of observation were strengthened, and his memory stored with a vast and varied collection of facts, connected with the condition, duties and capabilities of mankind, by foreign travel in Egypt and Chaldea. The rules for early education, inculcated by Pythagoras, and so successfully carried into effect by an immense concourse of followers and disciples, are peculiarly worthy the notice of, and imitation by, the executive committee for promoting manutl labor in literary institutions. Here we discover carried into full practice, upwards of two thousand years before their attempts, the plans of PestalJzzi and Fellenberg. How painful the reflection, that the most natural and rtasonable system of education, the most conformable with sound theory, and ihat which has been again and again, in so many remarkable instances, snd even in entire communities, proved to be both practicable and efficient, should have been so long, and still is so generally neglected, or misunder- stood and opposed. After perusing this long letter, I feel that in sending it to you I shaU unduly tax your patience, although it was written in conformity with your special invitition; and I am almost tempted to cancel no small portion of it. But you will, I am sure, make due allowances, in consideration of the circum- stmces under which it was written — in haste, and in the hours snatched from professional calls, and the discharge of other equally paramount duties. This must also be my excuse for not reviewing with care, or copying out and giving a better arrangement to what I now send you. The offering is made, how- ever, with perfect good will, and my best wishes for the success of the society which has chosen you, sir, as its official organ for agency and correspondence. With great respect, I remain, yours, JOHN BELL. 4. ^^ If the labor sJiouM he a requisition, a youth of high spirit would never submit to it. " The whole college course is a routine of requisi- tion. Students are required to rise at a given time in the morning. But what matters that to a youth of "high spirit?" He'll show the faculty that a " young man of blood" will get up when he pleases. The bell rings for recitation : very well, let it ring. " I'm a young man of high spirit; I'll not submit to dictation." In a word, his spirit is quite too high to study, to recite, to write composition, or to comply with any of the " requisitions" of the institution, and just high enough to entitle him to immediate graduation, with the highest honors, of upstart, ignoramus and dunce. All admit that requisitions of some sort must be imposed upon the student. He must have lessons assigned him, and be required to recite them. But why require him to do these things ? Because, without system nothing can be done to any purpose. And regulations are indispensable to every system. If then, requisitions are neces- sary for the improvement of the student, and he submits to them cheerfully because they are necessary, will he refuse to submit to regu- 10 74 lations requiring such an amount of daily exercise as will strengthen the body, invigorate the mind, guard the morals, fortify the habits, and give compactness and energy to character 1 If his spirit is high enough to constitute him a patriot, will he show his patriotism by refusing compliance with those requirements, which, in addition to all these benefits, increase the productive labor of the country, the only permanent source of its wealth — modes of exercist by which he makes labor honorable, and the laboring man a brother ; and by which he throws the weight of his example and influence into the scale, whose preponderance is to decide the perpetuity of our free institu- tions ? Would he fain make the world believe that he is h youth of high spirit ? Then let him show it by his acts. Instead of being dandled and lullabied through his education, carried in the arms, and fed upon the pap of a parent's wealth, let him stand upon his own feet. Let him make drafts upon the resources of his "high spirit," and eat the bread of his own earning. In a word, let him hail those regulations, which enable him to procure his education, at least in part, iy his own efforts.* 5. " Even if the labor were optional, a high-minded young man would feel himself above such drudgery." Then let him take a lesson of Paul, the tent maker ; of Socrates, the statuary; of Moses, for forty years a shepherd, after having been for forty years a. prince, and before being for forty years the leader and the law-giver of a mighty nation ; of the "sweet singer of Israel," a king, and a " keeper of sheep in the wilderness ;" of Cincinnatus, the Roman Dictator and a. farmer ; of Elisha, a prophet and a ploughman ; of John, the "beloved disciple" and a fisherman ; of William Tell, the deliverer of Switzerland, and a mountain peasant ; of Thomas Scott, the commentator, and a gra. tier ; of Franklin, the statesman, the ambassador, the philosopher, and printer ; of Roger Sherman, the mentor of Congress, the chief justice * "A youth of " high spirit ! !" These are no longer wor^s of mystical import. The community are so frequently enlightened into their meaning by practical comments, there is little danger that their definition will pass from memory. The youth of" high spirit" in our colleges immortalize themselves by deeds befitting their native sublimity ! Their lofty aspirations find vent in the carrying away of gates in imitation of Samson, in storming hen-roosts at midnight, barricading doors, cutting bell-ropes, smashing windows, throwing fences across streets, cropping horses' ears and tails, defacing monuments, strewing filth in sacred places, draining mud puddles for amunition to be expended upon freshmen, dis- guising their persons, and parading the streets"" with music of kettles, tin horns, shovels, grubbing-hoes, frying-pans and whistles ; assaulting and maiming peace, able citizens. Such "high spirited" youth will never submit to the indignity of manual labor. From such the objection comes ; to such belongs the honor ; and I leave them ♦« alone with their glory." 75 ^f a state, and a shoemaker ; of Rittenhouse, the Astronomer, and a Worker in brass and iron ; of Samuel Lee, professor of Hebrew in the University of Cambridge, England, and a carpenter.* Some remarks in a letter received not long since, from the Hon. Daniel Mayes, of Kentucky, professor of law in TransylvaniajUniver- sity, are so perfectly in point here that I subjoin the following extract: " There are here, as every where else, individuals with whom labor is dis- reputable, and who might, and probably would oppose the manual labor sys- tem. This class, however, is composed of individuals of weak or perverted understanding, who have no influence except that which is exerted over minds as chaffy und worthless as their own. That such should stand aloof, I con- sider fortunate ; for, in my opinion, jfill any hterary institution with heads such as those are, who conceive themselves to be too good to work, and you will break that institution down ; for they cannot be educated ; the mind ia not there*, and no literary institution can make mind. As education cannot ■create the raw material, but can only prepare it for usefulness ; it follows of course that he who has not sense enough to see that labor is honorable, can- not, by any system of education, be made a useful man." 6. " There is no necessity of making exercise apart of the system, or of making puMic provision for it. Let the student he urged to exercise., and then he left to manage for himself." This is exactly the plan now pursued in our colleges and other seminaries. The presidents and professors urge upon the students the importance of exercise. They reason, they exhort, they remonstrate, they appeal lo conscience, and what is the effect ? Why, th^ students listen, assent, applaud, per- haps solicit a copy for the press, publish, and there it ends, until ano- ther alarm bell is rung^some are startled, take a few turns round the room, swing chairs, lift at the mantle-piece, perhaps run to the wood-pile, seize the saw and drive it with a vengeance, make stout resolutions, follow them up a few days, then become irregular — their zeal evaporates, and they stop short. The history of every hterary institution in the land, proves that students cannot he induced to take exercise regularly and sufficiently, unless it is made a part of the system. A distinguished professor in one of the oldest theological seminaries in the country, after urging with earnestness and eloquence the impor- * " Samuel Lee, professor of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge, England, was 17 years of age before he conceived the idea of learning a foreign language. Out of the scanty pittance of his weakly earnings as a carpenter, he purchased at a book stall, a volume, which, when read, was exchanged for another, and so by degrees he advanced in knowledge. He had not the privilege of balancing between reading and relaxation ; he was obliged to pass from bodily fatigue to mental exertion. During six years previous to his twenty-fifth year, he omitted none of the hours usually appropriated to manual labor, and he retired to rest regularly at ten o'clock P. M. At the age of thirty-one years he had actually taught seveuteen languages." 76 tance of regular exercise, said in the conclusion of his remarks to the class, " But still I know you will not do it : I never knew students that would." "I see young men almost daily, who, after all that can be said to them, are going on, undermining their health, and in a fair way to prostrate their health and strength, before they are ready to enter on their professional career. This is a great evil. Whether any thing can be done to furnish an effec- tual remedy I know not. This I know ; that I should hail the man who should propose such a remedy, as one of the greatest benefactors of the church and of the world. * * * * For this deplorable evil, I can suggest no remedy which satis- fies my own mind. To provide means, and perfectly adequate means, for giving young men engaged in study a sufficient amount of exercise, is not a difficult thing. But to persuade young men to make use of these means ; to overcome the lassitude which disposes them to sit still when they most urgently need exercise, hie labor, hoc opus est. I have seen nothing that would effect this, for any lengtli of time together, and have sometimes doubted whether this object would be gained in any other way than by appointing, in aU our principal seminaries, a professor of bodily exercise. I have exhorted and warned and entreated young men on this subject with persevering importunity, and almost tears, with very little effect. "I speak on this subject with the more feeling, because when I entered on theological study, I was warned, entreated, and conjured, to pay due attention to this subject : I thought, however, that as much exercise was not necessary for me as for most other persons, I in a great measure disregarded the counsel which an experienced friend had taken much pains to give me ; and the con- sequence was an injury which retarded my studies ; which has diminished both the usefulness and the comfort of my whole life, and of which I feel the direful effects to the present day." Rev. Dr. Miller, Princeton Tkeol. Sem. "Almost all close students injure their health because they will not he per- suaded to take exercise." President Wayland, Brown University. "Your system will depend for its whole efficiency on forming it in such a manner that every student who is educated in conformity with it shall not he able to avoid taking all the bodily exercise which the system prescribes. If it can, in part, be avoided, it assuredly will be avoided by a number ; and generally the most by those whose who most need to be driven to activity. All my experience confirms this remark." Rev. Dr. Green, Philadelphia. *« Sedentary habits fi-equently occasion such apathy and aversion to bodily effort, that students who are sinking mto the grave for want of proper exer- cise, cannot be prevailed upon to take it by the most earnest solicitations of their friends and physician." Dr. James C. Bliss, New-York. "Regular exercise only will form the requisite habits, and no student is safe imtil these good, permanent habits are established. Men are too much inclined to escape the force of the original sentence, which, both for them- selves and for the happiness of society, compels them to work. In a literary institution, particularly, it is apprehended, the majority may not wisely be left 77 to themselves. The Jews understood this better than we; for their children learned their trades." President Humphreys, St. John's College, Md. " One of the most alarming features of this evil is, that the fate of former victims has little or no influence on their successors. Like intemperance in ardent spirits, the delusion of each leads him to think himself safe until it is too late." President Fisk, Wesleyan University. "However earnestly the teachers in literary institutions may endeavor to impress upon the minds of the students the necessity of bodily exercise, their admonitions wiU generally be unavailing. There appears to me to be no way of avoiding the evil, but by a systematic and regular course of exercise, to which certain hours shall be appropriated, and to which every student shall be required to give his attention." Dr. Post, Demonstrator of Anatomy, Coll. of Physicians and Surgeons, N. Y. Shall we plod through the same process forever ? Shall we trudge on in this profitless round of exhortation and remonstrance, doling out the same old lamentation, and reading at every step the same stale homily upon exercise, which rarely if ever made a practical convert. Shall we play the fool any longer, by repeating an experiment in the face of ten thousand failures under the same circumstances, and when in the very laws of human nature there is "confirmation strong" that every future effort will result in failure ? Let us suppose a case. Suppose all our existing institutions were established solely for the education of the body. Suppose each had a complement of teachers, full courses of lectures and experiments, merely for promo- ting the beauty and strength, symmetry and perfect action of the body — all the requisitions leaving utterly out of sight the whole circle of science and literature. Suppose three hours of relaxation from these exercises are allowed the students daily. Suppose, moreover, they are told they have minds, and are eloquently urged to devote these three hours each day to mental improvement. But not a single facility is furnished for the accomplishment of this object. No appa- ratus, lectures or experiments, no libraries, no cabinets, no recita- tions, no teachers, no requisitions for study, and no regulations designed to afford the least aid or countenance to the student in the culture of his mind ; and not only so, but these three hours of leisure are divided into four or five portions, and are distributed over the day, and so entangled with other arrangements as to make it exceed- ingly difficult to employ them in mental cultivation. Thus, instead of receiving any encouragement to educate his mind, all the exercises 78 of the institution are arranged in such a manner that the student is harassed, subjected to great inconvenience in all his efforts to acquire knowledge, finds himself unsustained by the example of his teachers, who are most zealously engaged in the improvement of their bodies alone, public sentiment, is against him, and he becomes disheartened, and rather than carry on a contest without auxiliary or ally, he sur- renders at discretion, and lounges away his leisure, in conformity with the fashion around him. Still, once a quarter, perhaps, he is dos'd with a lecture upon the importance of educating his mind, and exhorted to provide himself with all the requisite facilities, and set about the work in earnest during his leisure hours ! ! What would such appeals avail? They would excite unmingled contempt and disgust ; and the more eloquently they were urged, and the oftener repeated, the more they would be regarded as downright mockery and insult. Well might the student exclaim, " What ! will you taunt the misery of a starving man, by exhorting him to eat while you deny him bread, or will you put him in fetters and handcuffs and then place food before him, merely to mock his anguish by tempting his appe- tite ? Do you exhort us to store our minds with science, and yet deny us the means of its acquisition ? Give us access to libraries and cabinets, laboratories and apparatus, experiments and lectures ; fur- nish us with teachers, make requisitions for study and recitation, for composition, discussion and declamation ; make specific regulations, have a system — then we will believe you honest and in earnest. " Conduct hath the loudest tongue. The voice Is but an instrument on which a man May play what tune he pleases. In the deed, The unequivocal, authentic deed, We find sound argument." The appUcation of this supposition to the case before us is manifest. Look at our institutions as they are. All not only admit the import- ance of exercise, but advise and urge students to take it regularly, and in considerable quantities, and yet^have not made a tittle of provision for it ; have furnished not a single facility ; have made no arrange- ment of studies and recitations, calculated in the least to favor it. All their regulations are profoundly silent about health and physical improvement ; passing over the body as if beneath their notice, leav- ing the whole matter of phj^sical education to the supervision of chance and accident, to be regulated by freaks and fantasies, under the dictation of ignorance or caprice. Thusour institutions 79 practically nullify their own precepts, by withholding every faci- lity for reducing them to practice. They render their exhorta- tions void, and their remonstrances of none effect, by refusing to fur- nish those means, and to adopt that system, without which they must of necessity become a dead letter. Besides, the arrangement of the hours of study in our public insti- tutions is such as is calculated to discourage the student in his attempts at exercise. Though there are about four hours of leisure allowed to the student each day, yet this time for relaxation is for the most part immediately after meals, when the system is indisposed to muscular action, and would be injured rather than benefited by it. Permit me, gentlemen, to call your attention to the following extract of a letter from Professor Hitchcock, of Amherst College, upon the point under consideration. Few men of the present age have more maturely considered the physical evils resulting from the present system of education ; and fewer still have with equal intelligence, earnestness and eloquence, urged the necessity of immediate reform. "But, after all, is it not a fact, that in most of the colleges of our land, such is the arrangement of the literary exercises, that nothing but the most deter- mined resolution can enable the student to take sufficient bodily exercise 1 In other words, has not the subject of physical culture been left out of the account almost entirely, in the anxiety of the founders of these institutions to urge the student forward as fast as possible in intellectual culture 1 I believe the insti- tution with which I am connected gives as good an opportunity for bodily exercise as any coUege in New-England. But I confess I do not see much opportunity for exercise. At this season of the year, January, for instance, (though I confess this to be the most imfavorable season) the students are called at daylight to attend morning prayers, after which they attend a reci- tation an hour long. This brings breakfast at eight o'clock. If breakfast be dispatched in half an hour, there remains half an hour for exercise before the commencement of study hours at nine o'clock. From this time till twelve, are study and recitation hours. From twelve to two, the time is devoted to dinner and exercise, giving an hour and a half for the latter, but immediately after dinner. From two to five are study and recitation hours, when prayers and supper succeed. Now it is obvious, that the student can find no time during daylight for exercise, unless he take it at the most unfavorable time, viz. after meals, especially after dinner. The only chance for exercise at a better time, is to rise early and take it before daylight. But who that is acquainted with human nature, does not know that very few wiU take such a course ? Is it to be wondered at, that with such a system, instructors should be called to witness very many painful instances of a failure of health, and the utter destruction of many bright and blooming hopes. The records of any New -England college would furnish an appalling list of such failures. But other causes than want of exercise are assigned, and no doubt other causes conspire, though this is a principal one ; and thus instructors and trustees look upon such cases as unfortunate, but remediless. If they did not thua regard them, I cannot believe that so many excellent men as now have the 80 management of colleges would suffer the existing arrangement of literary duties in those seminaries to monopolize all the time during the day most favorable for exercise. I sincerely believe that hundreds every year suffer seriously and permanently in their health and ability to study, and that not a few are laid entirely aside, if not in their graves, in consequence of this system, I cannot, therefore, but utter my most earnest protest against it." 7. " If the manual labor system is generally adopted, and institutions are established upon that plan, it will operate unfavorably upon existing institutions, by drawing away their students." Let us see how this hangs together. In the first place, it admits the superiority of the manual labor system over the common system, and then makes those superior advantages the only ground of attack upon the manual labor system, because they w^ill operate as a lure to draw^ away students from other institutions. The superiority of the manual labor system over the other is singled out as the obnoxious feature, and the effects of that manifest superiority assigned as the only reason why the system should not be tolerated. The objection in plain English is this. The manual labor system is in one important respect an improvement upon the common system ; hence if that is supported, the common system must go into disuse ; therefore of two evils I prefer the greatest — so let the better sys- tem be strangled, and the poorer breathe on. Railroads are an improvement upon turnpikes ; consequently will be more used — there- fore, make no railroads. Navigation by steam is an improvement upon the old method of propelling vessels ; of course sloops will have less employment — therefore, break boilers and lay up steamboats in dry dock. Printing is an improvement upon writing ; hence interferes with scriveners — therefore, burn up presses and melt down types. The objection, by admitting the superiority of the manual labor sys- tem, and making the effects of this superiority the plea for a crusade against it, rivals, both in intelligence and magnanimity, the oppo- sition of the English operatives against machinery, and their patriotic combinations to destroy all within their reach. Let us look at the objection in another light. The number of grad- uates at all our colleges in the year 1832 was about 680. The addi- tion to our population during the same period was more than 400,000 ; a proportion of one to six hundred — and does the objector refuse to furnish the means of a liberal education except to one individual in six hundred of our population ? Is he afraid of enlightening the people ? Does he deprecate the universal diffusion of knowledge ? Would he bewail it as a calamity, if the means of a thorough education were to 81 become the birthright of every American citizen ? Let the objector ponder the nature of our government, the practical bearings of our free institutions, the spirit of inquiry.wKch they have enkindled, the free and fearless discussion of principles to which they invite, and the rewards which they proffer to high intelligence ; let him consider the influence of universal suffrage, the fierce confliction of sectional interests, the vastness of our territory, the accessions to our popula- tion by foreign emigration, unparalleled during the past year, and having in near prospect an hundred fold increase, and will he then decide that only one from every six hundred of our population shall be furnished with the means of high intellectual attainment? No; he will say as we do ; every existing institution is needed, and hundreds more, to save us from shipwreck upon the shoals of popular ignorance. 8. " The system appears impracticahle, inasmuch as some manual labor schools have failed." Have failed! In what have they failed? In preserving health, and promoting physical strength? In giving clearness and vigor to mind? In investing the morals with defensive armor ? In rescuing the habits from perversion ? In giving energy, courage, independence, and manliness to character? "Oh no ; they have succeeded in those respects." Where then has been the failure? " Why, the system did not lessen the expense of education so much as was expected, and so the trustees gave up the institution." This, then, was the failure — the students made less money than was expected — this, the "front of its offending," its sin, unpardoned and unpardonable. No matter how beneficial the effects of the system upon body and mind. No matter though it preserve from vice, and establish in virtue ; though (ijii draw out into prominence every manlier feature of character, and though its influence upon the community be powerfully repubhcan, yet — money, money! — it failed to make money. If any who profess friendship to the manual labor system suppose that its main object is to make money, well may it cry out, " Deliver me from my friends." True, the fact that it diminishes the expense of education is a strong argument in its favor ; but every intelligent friend of the system knows full well that this is a collateral consideration. That man has not yet arrived at the border ground of the subject who supposes that manual labor is to be connected with study mainly for the sake of its pecuniary advantage. The main arguments upon which the manual labor system rests its claims, disa- vow all companionship with money. Their flight is infinitely higher ; 11 83 they sweep the world of mind, and morals, and character, and use. fulness. They strike chords which will vibrate through eternity, and wake echoes which will reverberate forever. The paramount object of the manual labor system is to arrest the havoc of health, the eclipse of intellect, the wane of influence, the perversion of habits, the stagnation of social feeling, the wreck of morals, the death of usefulness, and the annihilation of hopes — those giant woes which throng in the train of the present system of educa- tion, uttering voices of lamentation, and strewing its pathway with ruin. The aim of manual labor institutions is to introduce a redeeming principle into the system of education, that it may no longer practically unfit men for the high trusts of human responsibiUty. But by girding up the body, by giving vigor to the intellect, by casting the habits in the mould of active energy, by stamping the morals with the impress of virtue, and by incasing the character in the steel mail of manhood, prepare man for his high destiny, and lead him out to grapple with difficulties, to overmaster temptations, to rise elastic from the blow of misfortune, to look unstartled on the face of danger, to scale the heights of mind, and wave over them the sceptre of its sway — these are the objects which the manual labor system sets up on high before it. Facts, experience, the history and the philosophy of mind, bear witness to the competency of such a system, jTor the production of such effects. Possessing such legitimate tendencies, and intrinsically adapted to produce such results, shall the operations of the manual labor system be stigmatized as a failure, unless, in addition to all these results, they can pay a certain per cent, in money upon all the filthy lucre invested in them? Even if the manual labor student could not earn a single cent by his labor, yea more, if he were obliged to pay for the privilege, and could procure the means only by the sacrifice of many conveniences and comforts, he would be wise to purchase it even at such a price ; and with such a man, it would matter little, though dandies should peep from their bandboxes, and quiz at him, or fools make him their song. That the manual labor system does greatly diminish the expense of education, has already been proved. But if it furnished no pecuniary advantage, the most prominent features of its distinctive character would remain. The grand basis of its claims is immoveable. The laws of the body, the principles of the mind, the elements of the cha. racter, these form their anchoring ground ; and till earth pass away, it will never swing from its moorings. In view of these facts, let 83 those talk of failure, whose sole definition ofsiiccess is money making ; who are ravished by no music but the jingling of pence ; with whom nothing is merit but skill in handling the " muck-rake ;" whose eyes are enlightened by nothing but the reflection of coin ; and to whom the dimensions of a bank note are the circumference of the universe. But further, what were the circumstances attending these alleged fail- ures to make money ? Has the objector traced the operation of all the causes which combined to produce the result ? Is he quite sure that the fault of " failure" is chargeable upon the system ? Can it be accounted for upon no other grounds ? Does he claim exemption from the possibi- lity of error for those who managed the institutions ? Is he certain that the " failure" is not attributable to their inexperience, or inefficiency, or imprudence, or want of business tact and habits ? Is he certain that it was not owing to unfavorable location, or to a deficiency of funds for unembarrassed operation, or to a lack of system, or to misjudge- ment in the kind of labor, or to the fact that the students were mere boys, perhaps mainly from cities, unused to labor, unfitted foi it by previous habits, and totally averse to it ? I ask, is the objector in possession of information upon all these points, so specific as to war- rant the assertion that none of these causes operated to produce the result ? Patient investigation, close scrutiny, extensive acquaintance with facts, careful analysis of principles, accurate knowledge of the ope- ration of causes immediate and remote — such auxiliaries, perchance, can be dispensed with ; such employments would be a waste of time, since the only requisites for uttering sweeping denunciations against any enterprise are strong lungs, and a hearty volition to ply them. The logic of the objector is compendious, if not conclusive. Some manual labor schools have failed to make money ; ergo, the manual labor system in a pecuniary view is a failure. Some merchants have failed to make money : ergo, the mercantile business is the road to bankruptcy. Some canals are unproductive property; ergo, canals are bad economy, and the canal system impo- verishes the country. Grant it, that soTue manual labor schools have failed to diminish the expense of education. But a large majority of those manual labor schools, in which the students have labored three hours per day, have diminished the annual expense of education nearly one half; and some of them much more. But perhaps the objector may still urge, that some who once thought favorably of the manual labor system, as furnishing to a considerable 84 extent the means of self-support, have tried the experiment, and are convinced of the impracticability of the system. It is the misfortune of some minds to suppose every enterprise impracticable in which they have been unsuccessful. The fact of their failure proves impossiUliiy of accomplishment. When their patients die, the disease is always incurahle. If such individuals would con- sent to admit the possibility that the failure might be owing to some other cause than intrinsic defect in the system itself, it would at least savor of modesty. 9. "-The system is not popular loith the teachers and students of manual labor schools." I have in my possession testimony upon this point which would fill many pages. A few brief extracts are subjoined. " The practicability and importance of the system have grown upon my con- victions. I know no field of labor in which a man can spend the energies of his mortal body and his immortal mind, with higher probability of becoming a benefactor of his country and his kind, and a co-worker with God in the uni- versal extension of that kingdom which is light, and peace s.nd joy. President Junhin, Lafayette College, Pa. " Every year has greatly confirmed me in the opinion that our system is perfectly practicable, and "that its excellence will lead to its general adoption." Professor Caldwell, Maine Wesleyan Manual Labor Seminary. "Our convictions of the practicability and excellence of the system are not only strengthened, but confirmed, silencing aU doubt." President Cossitt, Cumberland College, Ky. "The system has been generally admired by the students, and has grown in their affections, as they have continued to try it. I have heard several say, they could bless the Lord that be had allowed them to be connected with such an institution." Rev. Mr. Clemson, Principal, Manual Labor ScJiool, Wilmington, Del. The following communication was made by the students of the Oneida Institute, three years and a half ago, to the trustees of that institution : "Gentlemen — Believing the results of experiment weightier than theory, we beg leave respectfully to lay before your honorable body those convictions respecting the plan of our institution, which have been created solely by our own experience in its daily details. 1. We are convinced that the general plan is practicable. 2. That the amount of labor required does not exceed the actual demands of the human system. 3. That this amount of labor does not retard the progress of the student, but by preserving and augmenting his phy- sical energies, does eventually facilitate it. 4. That the legitimate effect of such a system upon body and mind, is calculated to make men hardy, enter- prising and independent ; and to wake up within them a spirit perseveringly to do, and endure, and dare. 5. Though the experiment at every step of its 85 progress has been seriously embarrassed with difficulties, neither few in num. ber nor inconsiderable in magnitude, as those know full well who have expe- rienced them, yet it has held on its way till the entire practicability of the plan stands embodied in actual demonstration. ■" In conclusion, we deem it a privilege, while tendering this testimony of our experience, to enter upon the record our unwavering conviction, that the principle which has been settled by this experiment involves in its practical developments an immense amount of good to our world ; it is demanded by the exigencies of this age of action, when ardor is breathing for higher attempt, and energy wakes to mightier accomplishment. " All which is respectfully submitted." HORACE BUSHNELL, Chairman of lie Committee. The following testimony was given a few weeks since by the stu- dents of the same institution, all of tohom have become members since the date of the preceding communication : "The influence of the system on health is decidedly beneficial, as all of us can testify who have pursued it for any length of time. We can pursue our studies, not only without injury, but with essential advantage. Not only is our bodily power increased instead of being diminished on this plan, but the powers of the mind are augmented, while moral sensibility is not blunted by hours of idleness and dissipation. We suffer no loss of time, as no more is spent in labor than is usually spent by students in recreation ; and we are taught to improve every hour. Our opinion is that intellectual progress is promoted rather than retarded by this system. In its success, we are con- vinced, is deeply involved the prosperity of education, and the great work of evangelizing the world." ASA A. STONE, ) HIRAM FOOTE, } Committee. ORVILLE C. BROWN, ) The following is an extract from a commmiication recently received from the students of Cumberland College, Kentucky : " We beg leave to state the results of our own experience. Having been for a considerable time members of a manual labor institution, we have had an exhibition of its principles and efficacy continually before us ; and we are convinced that labor, active and diligent labor, for two hours or more, each day, is essential to the health of all close, students, and equally necessary for Xhe development of the mind." In behalf of the students of Cumberland CoUege, C. W. RIDGELY, ) W. W. FAMBRO, } Committee. R. S. WADDILL, ) The following communication was recently received from the Rev. Dr. Kendrick, professor in the theological institution at Hamil- ton, New-York. "It was not until last spring that provision was made for daily and system- atic exercise. A sash factory was then established, and accommodations have been made to employ about sixty in the manufactui-e of window-sash. 86 The effects have already been beneficial to health. I have just called for the sentiments of the present members of the institution, consisting of more than one hundred, on the subject of your inquiry; and the following ia the reply : * We feel the fullest conviction that every student who neglects systematic exercise, is effecting the ruin of his physical and moral powers. Nor is the influence of this unpardonable neglect less perceptible or deleterious, as it regards his moral feelings. Without it, however pure his motives, or ardent his desire to do good, we have but faint hopes of his success. Such habits as he would inevitably form, we believe, would ruin all the nobler energies of his nature. * * * We think three hours appropriate exercise each day will not eventually retard progress in study. * * * We must say, from five or six years experience in the institution, we have not learned that any close student Mfes ever completed an entire course of study without serious detri- ment to health. We hope, however, our present system of exercise will soon enable us to present a different statement. In the preservation and improve- ment of health, we have found an unspeakable benefit arising from systematic exercise. Without it, we deem it impossible for the close student to preserve his health.' " The following is an extract from the third Report of the Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, Ohio, which has just been received : " The Committee have great satisfaction in being able to state, that a strong conviction pervades the minds of the young men generally, as well as their own, that laborious exercise for three hours per day does not occupy more time than is necessary for tlie highest corporeal and mental energy ; that so far from retarding literary progress, it greatly promotes it ; that instead of finding labor to encroach upon their regular hours of study, they find them- selves able, with a vigorous mind to devote from eight to ten hours per day to intellectual pursuits; that under the influence of this system, mental lassitude is seldom if ever known ; that good health and a good constitution are rarely if ever injured ; that constitutions rendered delicate, and prostrated by hard study without exercise, have been built up and established ; that this system with temperance is a sovereign antidote against dyspepsy and hypochondria, with aU their innumerable and indescribable woes ; that it annihilates the fear of future toil, self denial, and dependance ; secures to them the practical knowledge and benefits of agricultural and mechanical employments ; gives them familiar access to, and important influence over that gi-eat class of busi- ness men, of which the world is principally composed ; equalizes and extends the advantages of education ; and lays deep and broad the foundations of republicanism ; promotes the advancement of consistent piety, by connecting diligence in business with fervency of spirit, and by giving countenance to the exploded maxim, "If any man will not work, neither shall he eat;" and wiU bless the church with such increasing numbers of ministers of such spirit and physical energy as will fit them to "endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus •Christ." " The Committee are every day more and more impressed with the importance ■and practicability of the manual labor system, as the only one by which the increasing hundreds and thousands of the pious and talented sons of the church can be raised up with the enterprise, and activity, and power of endurance, ■which are indispensable for the conversion of the world to God." Permit me, gentlemen, to add to this testimony the results of my own observation and experience. When I accepted your appoint- 87 ment a year since, I had been for three years and a half a member of a manual labor school. The whole number of my fellow stu- dents during that period was about two hundred. I was personally acquainted with every individual, and merely " speak what I know," and " testify what I have seen," when I state that every student who acquired a reputation for sound scholarship during that time, was a fosi friend of the manual labor system. The most intelligent, without a single exception, were not only thoroughly convinced of the import- ance of the system,, but they loved it with all their hearts. They counted it a privilege and a delight to give their testimony in its favor, and they did it, in good earnest. Their approval of the system rose into an intelligent and abiding passion ; and it is no marvel that it was so ; for they had within them a permanent, living consciousness of its benefits and blessings. They felt it in their bodies, knitting their muscles into firmness, compacting their limbs, consolidating their framework, and thrilling with fresh life the very marrow of their bones. They felt it in their minds, giving tenacity to memory, stability to judgment, acuteness to discrimination, multiform analogy to the suggestive faculty, and daylight to perception. They felt it in their hearts, renovating every susceptibility, and swelling the tide of emotion.* But there isanother side to the picture. It is true, with a few, a very few of the students, the system was unpopular, and so were lan- guages and mathematics, philosophy and rhetoric, and every thing else in the daily routine, save the hed and the dinner table. Such students were snails in the field, drones in the workshop, dumb in debate, pigmies in the recitation room, and cyphers at the black board. Substantially the same state of things exists in every manual labor school which I visited in my recent tour through the west. It was the invariable testimony of trustees and teachers, that the talent, the scholarship, the manliness, the high promise, of all such institutions, were found among the pupils who gave the manual labor system their /hearty approval ; whereas, if there were among the students brainless coxcombs and dandies, sighing sentimentalists, languishing effemi- nates, and other nameless things of equivocal gender ; to prostitute * If there are any who are strangers to the indescribable glow which diffuses itself through a healthy frame during vigorous exercise — who have never felt that all pervading gush of vivid impulses which revivify the body, and electrify the mind ; to such I probably speak in an unknown tongue. For an interpretation, they are referred to the letter of Professor Green in the Appendix. See Appendix,. Note B. 88 their lily hands and taper fingers to the vile outrage of manual labo? was indeed a sore affliction ! 3. " The system can never become popular with the community.^'' It ought to be popular with the community ; and what ought to be, can be. It has already been shown by copious reference to the laws of the human constitution, by an appeal to universal fact, and to principles in philosophy, changeless in their nature, and which have never been gainsayed, that the manual labor system is based upon man's neces- sities, befits human circumstances, and is better adapted than any other to develope the whole man in symmetrical proportion, and qualify him to stamp upon the mind of his generation the abiding impress of his own character with every lineament in legible relief. To say that a system having such legitimate tendencies cannot be made popular with the community is a libel upon public intelligence. True, facts must be presented, principles must be discussed, practical bearings must be traced out, and results must be embodied before the public mind ; and in order that the community may be effectually moved, time and toil, perseverance and energy, and self-denial, will of course be requisite. Difficulties will doubtless to some extent obstruct present progress. Prejudice, self-interest, dread of innovation, imme- morial usage and tradition, may postpone success ; but ultimate accpm- plishment of the object cannot he i^r evented. * To show that the partiality felt by manual labor students for the system does not expend itself in words, I will state a few facts. During a vacation in the Oneida Institute in the winter of 1830, when very few of the students were remaining at the Institution, eleven of the number subscribed two hundred and forty dollars to the funds of the institution, no one of them subscribing less than $20. This was done entirely of their own accord, without application from any quarter. They knew the seminary was in great need of funds for the erection of buildings, and they coveted the privilege of testifying their hearty approbation of the system by personal sacrifices. These eleven young men immediately set themselves about earning the money ; some took jobs at quarrying stone in mid- winter, some at cutting wood, one at mason's work, one at threshing grain, one taught school, some went on agencies, and all earned their money and paid it. A few months since, two members of the same institution, who had enjoyed the benefits of the manual labor system for some years, and who wished soon to enter upon their professional studies, left the Institute with their packs upon their backs, and shaped their course for the Lane Seminary, at Cincinnati, Ohio, the nearest theological institution where manual labor was made a requisition, and incorporated into the system. They traveled on foot to Olean, in the state of New- York, at the head of the Allegany river, hired themselves out to work a raft, descended the river three hundred miles to its junction with the Ohio, at Pittsburg, and thence five hundred miles farther to Cincinnati. Upon their arrival, they received each twenty-two dollars for their services as raftsmen. A few months after four other students of the same institution, upon the same errand, traveled the same route, in the same way. A number more expect soon to start for the same destination, and if rafts are to be found they hope to enjoy the privilege of working their passage. 89 A conviction that the present system of education is radically defective, already pervades the community. The evils resulting from a neglect of physical culture begin to be appreciated. The public mind is already casting about for some adequate preventive. Wise, efficient, and immediate action is beginning to be deemed indispen. sable. None feel it more deeply than literary men. Scores and hun- dreds of the instructors in our higher seminaries are not only fully persuaded of the necessity of some remedy for existing evils, but would most cheerfully afford their co-operation to any judicious sys- tem which should receive the sanction of pubUc sentiment. The tes- timony upon this subject which is embodied in the former part of this communication, sets this point at rest. The futility of the objection that the " manual labor system can never become popular with the community," might be easily shown by extracts from a very large number of letters recently received. But as this communication has already swelled to a/size far surpassing my original design, I will introduce only a few brief extracts, for the purpose of showing that public sentiment already sanctions that reform in education which the manual labor system proposes. "I can say truly, that I do not think any man in the United States ia engaged in a business of deeper interest, to the diffusion of knowledge and the welfare of the church at a future day, than one who is deeply engaged in the business which you are advocating. I wish you the highest success, with all my heart, and pray heaven to bless your labors." Professor Stuart, Andover Theol. Sem. "I esteem your object one of incalculable importance for the preservation of our national character and institutions ; for the promotion of genuine repub- licanism among all classes of our citizens ; and for training up vigorous and intrepid agents to carry into effect the various designs and operations of Christian benevolence, in addition to its happy influence upon individual hap- piness and usefulness, i'n promoting health of body, energy of mind, physical and moral courage, and an ardent and devoted piety." Rev. T. H. Gallaudett, Hartford, Conn. " I am persuaded that under such a system, many who would be mere drones in the ' hive of nature,' would become the pride of their friends, and an honor to their country." Chancellor Walworth, Albany. « I do, from my heart, wish you success in your important efforts ; and I cannot doubt; that if we persevere in the cause to which our attention is thus turned, future generations will rise up to bless us, and God Almighty will approve our labors." Rev. Dr. Tyng, Philadelphia, 12 90 "Your committee would remark, that in their judgment, no engine is better calculated to perpetuate our republican institutions, push forward the benevo- lent enterprises of the day, evangelize the nations, and save a ruined world, than a union of manual labor loith study, controlled by prudent regimen." Report of the Committee on Education to the General Assembly of the Cumber- land Presbyterian Church, at Nashville, Tenn. 1832. " The ingrafting of manual labor on our present plan of instruction, I con- sider one most important step in the road of improvement, in this deeply inte- resting subject, and that the promoters of the scheme are conferring a great blessing on mankind." Dr. James C. Bliss, New-York. "I feel persuaded that the kind of literary institutions to which your letter refers, if sufficiently extended and judiciously conducted, throughout our country, would do much to diffuse among us that knowledge, industry, and virtue, which we so much want ; which alone can render a people perma- nently free, prosperous and happy; and without which there is the most appalling ground to apprehend, that the union of the states will be dissolved, anarchy and war succeed to our present peaceful and glorious form of govern- ment, and ultimately military despotism swallow up the whole." Dr. Caldwell, Professor, Med. Dep. Transylvania University. " The object of the present address will be lost, if sober and intelligent minds are not furnished with those reasonings and facts which will enable them to judge of the practicability and necessity of connecting useftd labor wdth study, as an exercise, in literary and sacred seminaries." Cornelius' Address. "The plan of education devised for this school [Oneida Institute,] meets the decided approbation of the committee ; and, if judiciously put in practice, cannot fail, in their opinion, of realizing the high expectations of its liberal bene- factors. By alternating labor with study, physical and intellectual health and vigor are promoted, and habits of application and industry established. Report of the Regents of the University of the state of New-York. " A school upon this principle would every where receive the warm support and encouragement of all the more elevated and better informed portions of the community." Right Rev, Bishop Smith, of Kentucky. " I think it desirable, in a high degree, that all our colleges and academies should be furnished with the means of providing for manual labor among their pupils, in a regular and systematic manner." Professor Goodrich, Yale College. ♦' Manual labor should be incorporated with the discipline of all our literary institutions. No other mode seems to offer equal advantages." Professor Mitchell, Medical College, Ohio. " In one of our colleges an effort to connect manual labor with academical education, though, as I think, hastily undertaken, and managed without a sufficient acquaintance with the subject on the part of those immediately interested in it, has been, though not extensively, yet decidedly successful ; and I have the utmost confidence in its ultimate complete success. I think. 91 moreover, that there is evidently a growing interest in the subject among us: and It IS my firm conviction that a manual labor school, under the care of competent persons, would now succeed in the vicinity of Lexino-ton; to which I may add, that if I had a son old enough, he should go into if, if there were such a school near me, even if it were dearer, (as it would be really cheaper.') than any other mode." j f w Robert J. Breckinridge, Esq. Kentucky. " I am fully in the belief, that if pubhc opinion could be so far impressed with the importance of connecting regular systematic exercise with the edu- cation of youth, that seminaries of learning would become generally estab- lished upon this principle, it would prove one of the greatest improvements of the age." Dr. Brown, late Physician of the New-York Hospital. " Popular opmion is decidedly favorable to this system of education through- out the state of Tennessee, and I may say throughout the western states generally." Matthew Rhea, Esq. Tennessee. " The wealthy and exclusive slave holders in our southern and western states contribute more largely to manual labor institutions than any other, and are the most anxious their sons should be placed at such institutions." Samuel M'Dowell, and George Martin, Esqs. Tennessee. «• The manual labor system is a good cause. May God speed it ! Should my feeble efforts at any time be thought of service, I beg you to call on me, as on one who is ready to engage heart and hand in the noble undertaking." Professor Staughton, Ohio Medical College. * * * u 'We are a republican nation — the tendency of all things is to throw the power into the hands of the people — hence a system of education adapted to meet the wants of the whole community is;of inestimable value. Such is the system which introduces manual labor as an essential part of every course of study. It diminishes the expenses of an education, and thus brings it within the reach of the great mass of the community. ' It tends powerfully to exterminate habits of idleness, and to render those kinds of labor honorable which must of necessity be the employment of the greater part of the commu- nity. It also tends to preserve and increase the corporeal and intellectual vigor of the nation, and is a safeguard against those temptations to which our rapid increase of wealth, and means of luxurious indulgence expose us. In short, it has a tendency to elevate the whole community, to prevent the needless alienation of the difl'erent orders of society from each other, and to secure an elevated national character, based on the full and harmonious deve- lopment of all the powers of man, corporeal and social, intellectual and moral. " Speech of President Beecher, Illinois College. " We would not be enthusiastic ; but we cannot help considering the union of manual labor with study at our institutions of learning, as one of the means which Divine Wisdom has chosen to employ for introducing that happy state of the church and of the world, which the voice of inspiration has taught us to expect in latter days." Trustees of Waterville College. 92 » I consider manual labor institutions as forming a new era in the great plans of instruction, of unmeasured value to our republic." Dr. Slack, late President of the Western University, "As lvalue the interests of religion and science, and the happiness of my fellow men, I earnestly wish that students might be put upon a regular couse of exercise from the first. I rejoice that your association has been formed. That you will find numbers ready to second your exertions, and that the Supreme Disposer will bestow his blessing, I cannot for a moment doubt." Rev, Professor Pond, Bangor Theol. Sem. "According to this plan no innovation whatever upon the common course is contemplated. The only novelty in the institution is that agricultural or mechanical employment is made the duty of every pupil for a few hours each day. And this is only a provision for carrying into effect what all acknow- ledge to be vitally important in seminaries of learning, namely, that the body should be exercised every day, as well as the mind. * * * * It is my purpose, as soon as I find such an institution, founded in a convenient situation, to send one of my own sons, in preference/o sending him to any other school." Rev. Dr. Alexander''s Letter to Professor Monteith. "We must have men differently educated. We must seek them amidst the toils and labors of life. The self-supporting system, he beheved, was the only one which could supply the want. This would give men of nerve and strength, who could labor on, through the whole of life, healthy and cheerful. He desired to express his entire confidence in the institution under present notice." Speech of Right Rev. Bishop Wllvaine. " I wish I had time and means to say more of the interesting and important subject which your society has taken in hand. My best wishes are with you, and my ardent prayer is, that the cause you plead may advance rapidly. That it will advance I have no fears. But that you will find a host of deep rooted Prejudices and habits to contest the field, I doubt not. They must yield, owever, at length, to the engines of truth which you are able to bring into the field, viz : facts and arguments. Let all your soldiers be clad in this panoply, and wield only these weapons, and I cannot but hope that some of us may live long enough to hear the shoutings of victory begun." Professor Hitchcock, Amherst College. "In some of our theological seminaries, a counteraction of this evil is sought in gardening, and other manual labors. This is well. But it should be remembered, that the seeds of disease are sown in the earlier stages of education, and that prevention is better than a remedy. The evil should be forestalled. Nothing will do this so effectually, as the introducing of manual labor, in the incipient stages of classical instruction, into our academies: and that species of exercise should be continued through the whole course. Every one should insist upon it, that our seminaries of learning shall not destroy the body, while they educate the mind — that both parts of the man shall receive their due attention." Speech of Rev. Mr. Anderson, Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M. " Not less than three or four hours vigorous exercise is required, to balance the exhaustion of six or eight hours hard study. Agricultural and mechani- cal employments, combining the means of self-support with healthful exer- 93 cise and increased intellectual progress, is doubtless the true manual labor system ; and though the experiment is not yet perfect, I am confident the world will witness a glorious result, in the mighty host of mighty men, who shall be thus self-educated, and act a conspicuous part in the renovation of the earth. This system should be commenced in childhood — acted upon in the academy, college, and theological seminary, and in aU subsequent periods of life ; and the man who has thus worked his way into the ministry, is both the missionary and the missionary society — he can build, if needful, both his log <:abin and his church, and with his own hands secure his bread until the people learn to appreciate his services. This system has more to do with the actual saving of ministerial life, and in keeping them back from self-immola- tion, than has been understood and acknowledged." Dr. Beecher^s Inaugural Address. The following testimony from a distinguished civilian in favor of the manual labor system, though written with reference to a particular manual labor school, will not be out of place in this communication. " I cannot forbear remarking to you, that I have read with great pleasure, the report of the Oneida Institute of Science and Industry, and highly approve of their plan of education. There is no institution within my knowledge, which, with the same means, has communicated more intellectual, moral and physical instruction than the Oneida Institute. The superior effect of manual labor upon the character of the student, over mere idle exercise, is there stri- kingly illustrated." Seth P. Staples, Esq. New-YorJc. Obstacles to Success. The progress of the manual labor system has been retarded by the operation of a variety of causes. These causes will continue to embarrass its operations, greatly impair its efficiency, and consign it to ultimate defeat, unless a vigilant forecast interpose a preventive. In enumerating the causes which have impeded its progress, I would specify, 1. Misconception of the main design of the system. Some suppose its main object is to diminish the expense of education. Consequently, if the avails 'of three hours labor a day do not go far towards defray, ing the expense of the student, the system is pronounced as " good for nothing." The cry of impracticability is raised; "a failure," " a failure," runs from mouth to mouth ; goods and chattels, fixtures and tools, stock and buildings, are knocked off under the hammer ; the premises vacated to moles and bats ; and the community most benevolently plied with ghostly warnings to beware of a syren, whose song, if heeded, will assuredly lure to ruin. It has already been asserted, and is again repeated that the paramount design of the manual labor system is not to diminish the expense of education. The diminishing of expense is an object, 94 and not an inconsiderable one ; but the grand design of the system, the object which overshadows every other, is to make the student more of a man. It is to enable him to dare and to endure; it is to expand his views, to elevate his aims, to ennoble his purposes; to multiply his resources, augmenting his power of universal accom- plishment, and giving him an onward momentum over every thing but impossibility, as he moves from conquering to conquer; and it aims to accomplish these objects, by exerting upon the body, the mind, the morals, the habits, and the character, those permanent influences which have been traced out in detail, in the former part of this communication. 2. Precipitancy. " What is done in a hurry is ill done." He who is in such haste to leap, that he can spare no time to look, will probably find whenme comes down, that if head and feet change places, the novelty of the experiment, though it may gratify curiosity, is slight security against fractures, and meagi'e compensation for them. Much deliberation, careful inquiry, intelligent anticipation of probable diffi- culties, and a wise provision of means to meet them, should be the pioneers of every manual labor institution. 3. Imperfect knowledge of the details of the system. A thorough acquaintance with the daily practical details of a well conducted manual labor school, is not only desirable, but almost indispensably requisite for those who are to direct the operations of such institutions, not only in the department of labor, but also in that of instruction. 4. Misjudgment in the kind of laior. Some manual labor schools have furnished only those kinds of mechanical labor which require long practice for the acquisition of adequate skill. Hence it is necessary for the student to labor some months before realizing much pecuniary profit. It should be remembered, that it is not the aim of the manual labor system to make students finished mechanics and scientific agri- culturalists.* Three hours labor are required of the student, because * Though there are as yet no schools in this country, where agriculture and the mechanical arts are taught, yet they are manifestly a desideratum. At such schools, those who are expecting to engage in those employments for life, might spend one half the day in intellectual pursuits, and the other half in prosecuting agriculture, horticulture, and the mechanic arts, on scientific principles, under the direction of competent instructors. In that way the farmers and mechanics of the country would not only be greatly elevated in general intelligence, but far more thoroughly furnished for their particular departments of labor. In the selection of a location for an institution upon this plan, the farm should contain, if possible, a variety of soils, from the lightest to the richest alluvial, in order that the students may have before them a practical exhibition of the dif. ferent modes of cultivation adapted to different soils ; the kind and degree of til- lage required by each ; the preparation of composts for furnishing the requisita aaanure. The said farm should also possess water privileges for mechanic shops. 95 he needs that amount for exercise ; and since it is indispensable that such exercise should be taken, it is the dictate of common sense to turn it to the best account, and thus lessen, as much as possible, the expense of education. Agriculture and gardening would be immedu ately profitable. The same may be said of such mechanical employ- ments as require the exercise /)f little skill, and can be performed without much previous practice, such as the making of packing boxes, trunk boxes, flour barrels, brooms, and all those kinds of carpentry, cabinet work, &c. which are plain and simple. 5. Unfavoralle location. Inconveniences of access to a good market for their productions, whether occasioned by distance or difficulties of conveyance, Avill subtract from pecuniary profit in proportion to the degree in which they exist. Besides, the location may be such that the expenses of living will necessarily be great. Board, washing, fuel, tuition, room rent, and contingencies, will make up so large a total, that after the deductions made by labor, education will still be expensive. In the^ selection of a site for a manual labor school, prudent men will carefully weigh all such considerations. 6. Inefficiency on the part of those who manage such institutions. To be well versed in business ; to possess a practical tact ; to under- stand human nature ; to be prompt, active, industrious, persevering, efficient, are requisites indispensable for such a situation. 7. A want of active co-operation on the part of the teachers. The prophet Elisha, president of the first manual labor institution on record, accompanied his students when they went to Jordan to "take thence every man a beam, and make a place where they might dwell." His manual-Iahorism was not mere theory. We find him swinging the axe : " And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither." " Exam- ple is better than precept." To urge eloquently the importance of exercise ; to theorize admirably upon the subject ; to give the manual labor system unqualified commendation, costs little, and can be done "without an if;" but to reduce all this to practice sadly " alters the case:" Why, what would become of my — dignity! ! ! So long as the students in manual labor schools are unsustained by the example of their teachers, so long such schools will lack an important element of efficiency. 8. Leaving labor to he regulated by the caprice of the student, rather than making it a requisition.* Those manual labor schools where the * "The greatest danger to be apprehended, is from a partial introduction of the system. " Total abstinence" is the life of the temperance cause ; so closed doors against the idle is the living principle of this system." Speech of Rev. J. Frost. 06 individual is permitted to labor or lounge as he pleases, create unde« sirable and invidious distinctions among the students. Besides, by- refusing to make exercise the subject of specific requisition, and thus incorporate it as a part of the system of education, they proclaim an indifference to its importance, and practically contradict their own assertions of its paramount necessity.* 9. Promiscuous admission of students. To admit every applicant^ and thus form a motley assemblage, made up of every variety of age, habits, and character, is the height of folly. Some manual labor schools have been filled up mainly with half grown boys, principally from cities ; never accustomed to work ; ignorant of all the modes of labor, and esteeming it drudgery ; lacking utterly that hardihood and those industrious habits which country boys usually possess ; and yet they expect, forsooth, that their labor will go far to defray the expense (Of education ! The history of such schools is from first to lasst a commentary upon the evils of a promiscuous admission of students, where the lessening of expense is an object aimed at. Let manual labor schools be established for city-boys and youth : thousands might be saved from ruin by their influence. But let not parents expect * The following points have been settled beyond controversy: 1. Students need exercise daily. 2. They need a certain amount of exercise. 3. This amount of exercise will not be taken, unless it is a fart of the system of education, and is made a requisition. When the students are required to exercise daily, as well as to study, to recite, declaim, write compositions, debate, &c. then, (if the neces- sary facilities are furnished) will the requisite exercise be regularly taken, hut never till then. Why, then, do the trustees of our literary institutions shrink from making the requisition? Perhaps they reply, "It would be unpopular." Be it so. Is public sentiment always right? Is it befitting that our institutions of learning should lay hold of its skirt, and with sycophantic cringe creep timidly in its rear, wherever it moves ? What ! shall education float passively in the wake of popular feeling, the creature of its caprice, and the slave of its fluctu- ations ? No, its place is on the deck, with its eye on the pole star, and its strong hand on the helm. Education has indeed fallen on evil times, if public senti- ment must be made the test of expediency, and the standard of duty. I ask again, why will not our institutions make daily exercise a requisition ? Bodily exercise for some hours each day was a requisition in the system of Pythagoras, In Persia, in Rome, in the Grecian states, in a word, in every well regulated ancient government, their systems of education made daily bodily exercise a requisition. This system prevailed universally, for ages, and finally went into disuse, only when monasteries were established, and literary men drew on their monkish cowls, divorced themselves from practical life, from usefulness, from realities ; turned book worms, crawled into cloisters, wrapped themselves in theories and hypotheses, wove around their bodies the web of sluggishness and torpor, and much like other worms, stagnated, dozed, and died in them. Such was the worthy parentage of that system of education which refuses to provide for the exercise of the body, and to make that exercise a requisition, as well as mental exercise. Fit progeny ! legitimately begotten ! its home the dark ages, its birth place a convent, its cradle superstition, authority its nurse, aristocracy its advocate, and effeminacy its apologist, while disease stood sponsor, and sloth drawled out its lullaby. 97 that the labor of such lads will materially curtail their expenses, until they shall have acquired business habits and attained more maturity. 10. Inadequate means for unembarrassed operation. Almost every manual labor school in the country has been shorn of its efficiency by want of funds. To such an extent has this cause operated in obstructing the progress of the system by obstacles almost insur- mountable, that the students and teachers of some of these institu- tions, have submitted to protracted privations and suffering, which no consideration would have induced them to undergo, but the deep, seated conviction that tbe manual labor system was connected with the highest interests of the world, and that they were called, in the providence of God, to work out the problem. This fact, with refer- ence to at least one institution, needs not the corroboration of second "hand testimony, nor will it, until the last lesson of experience perishes from memory. Even now, some of the most important manual labor institutions in the country, which have accomplished vastly more for the system than all other causes combined, and upon whose future results the efficiency of the general system greatly depends, are pining under dis- pensations of charity so disproportionate to their necessities as to be little less than actual mockery.* It is the part of humanity rather to leave a starving man to perish without sustenance, than mete it out so meagerly as to prolong the pangs of dissolution, breaking the cords of life one by one, and sacri- ficing the victim over the slow fires of gradual martyrdom. If the establishment of a manual labor school is contemplated in any part of the country, the way should be prepared by an explicit statement of the grounds upon which the system rests its claims. The whole subject should be thoroughly canvassed, and objections and difficulties fairly weighed. Let a deliberate investigation of princi- ples be cordially invited, the whole ground debated inch by inch, and the results of experiment drawn out in detail ; and if there be not, in the practical bearings as well as in the principles of the system — in its facts as well as its philosophy — enough of appeal to reason and to conscience, to patriotism, to philanthropy, and religion, then let it * At the present moment many manual labor schooJs are suffering beyond measure. They greatly need workshops, and other buildings, implements of labor, land, stock, apparatus, libraries, &c. hut they have no funds. The pecu- niary necessities of some institutions, and the excessive embarrassments occa- sioned by them, are so well known to me that I cannot refrain from dwelling on this point in bitterness of soul. 13 98 die hopeless of resurrection. If after full investigation it is decided to establish such an institution, then let funds be procured sufficient for untrammeled operations. If the labor to be performed be agricul- ture and gardening, let the land be purchased, convenient buildings provided, stock, and farming utensils furnished. If it be mechanical, let shops be put up, tools and all necessary materials furnished. Let all these be donations, not stock, invested with the expectation that an annual per centum is to be expressed out of it. When funds are given to other institutions, the gift is not accompanied with the narrow proviso that a certain yearly per centage in money shall be rendered as an eqvivalent. During the last year a venerable literary institution, eminently honorable to the country, whose crowded halls bear testimony to the just and general appreciation of its rare advantages, has received donations to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars, and another of more recent date, but full of healthful promise, to the amount of fifty thousand dollars. The interest accruing from these investments the high minded donors pay over to the human family in the circulating medium of cultivated intellect; a currency which never stagnates, is undiminished by discounts, encounters no protests, has a self-perpetuating charter, bids defiance to vetos, and makes universal mind the safety vault of its golden deposites. This is as it should be, and bespeaks an interest in the subject of education which does not evaporate in breath. Let the same expanded benevolence freely dispense its favors to other departments of the sarne great interest. Let those manual labor schools which are sinking under the embar- rassment of inadequate endowments, and are consequently so fettered in their operations as to be incapable of efficient action, receive enlargement and be relieved of those burdens under which someyof them have long tottered with trembling and in tears. I use no hyperbole. Permit me, gentlemen, in conclusion, to make a single suggestion. It is my deliberate conviction that the injudicious multiplication of manual labor schools will jeopard the system far more than all other causes combined. True, to make the most of a good thing, is the dictate of common sense, and is obvious duty ; but there is a strong tendency in the community to take it for granted that the only way to accomplish this object is by rapid and indefinite multiplication. This is a blemish in our national character which already subjects us to deserved ridicule, at home and abroad. Signal success in any 99 new enterprise has become hardly less than a misfortune. Though it may seem an anomaly, it is nevertheless a fact, that prosperity and calamity are fast becoming synonymes, inasmuch as the one often induces to a course of action so misjudged and inconsiderate that it terminates in the other. To secure, upon a permanent basis, the insti- tutions already in existence, to furnish them with ample means for enlarged and efficient operation, would be the speediest and most effectual method by which to render the blessings of the system co-extensive with the world. Those who look at the system intelligently, who feel its importance, and long to make the whole family of man partakers of its benefits, will surely make this ihcfrst object. One deep respiration gives more vigor than a thousand gaspings. Arm ten full grown men rather than a myriad of Lilliputians. If men would cease to take counsel of self-preference and pride, and no longer regard their own horizon as the boundary of the uni- verse ; if they would seek the general good, uninfluenced by local prepossessions, the manual labor system would be exempt from peril, and its operations rescued from the disheartening embarrassments which now paralyze its energies. How long shall private considera- tions outweigh public utility, and the weal of a world dwindle to nothing under the shade of individual interest? Shall men forever be doomed to narrow views, stifled by petty jealousies, hemmed in by sectional prejudice, and pent up among local rivalries ? Will the shriveled heart of selfishness never dilate into benevolence, and its pulsations beat for the good of the whole 1 When men relinquish the chase of day-dreams and pursue realities, toil will be repose, duty delight, self-denial and sufl^ering "joy unspeakable and full of glory." Then, in the exertion of instrumen. tality, and in the bestowment of means, one desire will swell the heart, and one petition tremble on the lips : " How, shall I make such a dis- tribution as will most effectually elevate man to the blej;sedness of his duties, and to the glory of his destiny, and transform this ruined world into an abode of" righteousness and peace, and joy in theHoly Ghost?" Gentlemen of the Committee — The experience of a year has con- vinced me that the agency to which I was called by your appoint- ment, furnishes a field of usefulness wide as human interests. Nothing could induce me to leave it but the most settled conviction of duty. My heart cleaves to the manual labor system ; and, though I can no 100 longer publicly ^dvocBite it as the agent of your society, I hope soon to plead its cause in the humbler sphere of personal example, while pursuing my professional studies, in a rising institution at the west, in which manual labor is a daily REansiTioN. I now resign into your hands the commission under which I have acted. May He whose aid we invoked together at the commence, ment of our undertaking, and whose presence has sustained us m its toils and its perils, deign to bless abundantly our mutual labors. I am, gentlemen. Respectfully and aifectionately. Your obedient servant, THEODORE D. WELD. New-York, January 10, 1832. APPENDIX. Thk preceding Report contains a mass of testimony upon the importance of exercise. A variety of letters have been recently received from distinguished physicians which exhibit those laws of the constitution which render exercise necessary ; also, the physiological effects produced by exercise, and the modes in which it acts upon the body and the mind. Intelligent minds will not be satisfied with a mere knowledge of the naked fact, that muscular exercise benefits the system, and inactivity injures it. How are these results brought about 1 What is the pro- cess ? What are -the successions of cause and effect ? These are questions which will be propounded by all minds whose aliment is first principles, and whose element is the relations of things.* *Why is not the science of physiology taught in all our colleges? Astro- nomy, natural philosophy, chimistry, mineralogy, geology, and botany, are not neglected. The students are required to become familiar with the properties of the air they breathe, the water they drink, the fire that warms them, and the dust they tread on. They must know something, forsooth, about " spots on the sun," eclipses, " northern lights," meteoric stones, the " milky way," the great bear, the little bear, comets' tails, Saturn's ring, and Jupiter's moons ; they must know all about the variations of the needle, the tides, the trade winds, the Gulf Stream, the phenomena of earthquakes, thunder, volcanic eruptions, why a stone falls down rather than up, and what flattened the poles. All this is very well. But what do our graduates generally know of the structure of their bodies, the functions of the different organs, and their laws of relation ? Just about as much as the Peripatetics did of ideas, when they supposed them little filmy things which floated off from objects, and somehow wormed their way through the senses and finally stuck fast on the pineal gland of the brain, much like barnacles. Modern education conducts the student round the universe ; bids him scale the heights of nature, and drop his fathom line among the deep soundings of her abyss, com- passing the vast, and analyzing the minute ; and yet never conducts him over the boundary of that world of living wonders, which constitutes him man, and is at once the abode of his mind, the instrument of its action, and the subject of its sway. Why, I ask, shall every thing else be studied, while the human frame is passed over as a noteless, forgotten thing — that masterpiece of divine mechanism, pronounced by its author "wonderfially made" and "curiously wrought,*^, a temple fitted up by God and gloriously garnished for the residence of an immortal inhabitant bearing his own image, and a candidate for a "build, ing of God, eternal in the heavens." Thousands of students are now prosecuting a course of study in our higher seminaries, which occupies from six to nine years. Why are not a few months set apart for studying the architecture of this "earthly house of our tabernacle," its simplicity, its beauty, its harmony, its grandeur, its majestic perfection ? \ J 102 [A] Extract of a letter from Dr. John Bell, of Philadelphia, Editor of the Journal of Health. Bf gjj Xn replying to the questions proposed by the Executive Committee of the " Society for Promoting Manual Labor in liiterary Institutions," and to your polite letter accompanying them, I shall not, I fear, be able to lay claim to any great novelty of fact or illustration. I could not, however, be silent on so impor- tant a subject as that on which you request information, without a manifest dere- liction of duty, since I hold it to be the duty of every man of letters to contribute all in his power to avert the evils of bodily infirmity and mental disorder, from •which he must himself have suffered, by neglect in his education of a suitable alternation of physical with moral and intellectual exercise and culture. Your first question, as to "the cause of dyspepsy and other diseases so frequent among students," may, it seems to me, be briefly answered. There is not so much a unit cause, as causes. Of these, some are common to students with other men, such as excess, in eating too much at a time, and at unseasonable hours, drinking stimulating liquors, the use of tobacco in various forms, late hours', indulgence in passion, whether of a very exciting or depressing kind. Peculiar force is given to these causes by the sedentary habits, or rather the habits of bodily indolence of students and literary men in general. * * * * The immediate operation of this indolence, and of its accompaniments just stated, is to impede the freedom of respiration, and thus to prevent that interchange of the blood in the lungs by which this fluid acquires its florid color, and becomes fitted to stimulate and nourish all the organs of the body, including of course those for the performance of the intellectual and moral faculties of the brain. With impeded respiration is associated irregular and enfeebled circulation of the blood, and as a consequence among others, is deficient transpiration, or discharge of vapour from the lungs, and sweat,-vaporous or fluid, from the skin. This latter becomes more liable to eruptions of various kinds, either from the cause above mentioned, or from responding to the irritation of an enfeebled stomach. But not only does disturbed digestion interfere with the free action of the skin and lungs and brain, but it is also a more probable result of the disorders of these organs from other causes. The weakened/condition of the skin, accompanied often by a morbid sensibility of this part, renders the body more liable to atmos- pherical vicissitudes ; and hence colds, catarrhs, and their consequences, and rheumatism ; and hence also inability of the stomach to digest food, which under an opposite state of the skin would not have been productive of any inconvenience. * * * Long and intense study, or painful emotions, by over exciting at first, and debilitating afterwards the brain, operate, by means of the connexion between this latter and the stomach, to prevent healthy and regular digestion, Pt is prope^ here, in farther illustration of the subject, to refer to that law of the animal economy by which a part or organ being stimulated, or irritated, or called into action, receives for the time being a larger quantity of blood into its texture. Hence the advantages and disadvantages of the exercise of a part, according as it is moderate and intermittent, or excessive, and with slight interruption. We see this daily in the fulness and strength of body and limbs in those who are engaged in labor, and at the same time receive sufficient aliment. If particular limbs are called more frequently into active exertion than others, they acquire greater size and strength than these latter. Thus the muscles constituting the calf and bulk of the leg will be more developed in persons who walk much and climb, whilst the arms will be largest in those who pull, push, or hammer in their daily labor. Even one arm, if it be more used than the other, as in the case of the blacksmith, will acquire a proportionately larger size. But let the labor be excessive, and the muscles are irritated and inflamed, and the body and limbs are unfitted for exertion of any kind. This disability may be only temporary ,_ as after a long march, or violent gymnastic effort, or it may be fixed, and pains resembling rheumatism or common inflammation result, where the exertion has been protracted, or renewed without an interval of adequate repose. 103 nln^p' ^T-^^'" '^n ^^°^ 'l'^^^-^ l^^ '^'^ Of external or the locomotive organs alone. It is equally operative in the internal organs, and notably in the bfain During the period of study and mental exertion |eneral]y, the brain is the pS excited; blood flows to it with greater rapidityf and i/'krger quant ty than before 1 here is increase of heat of the part, often a sense of f'ulness in it Pro longed thought, or indulgence in powerful mental emotions, beyond due limits fatigues the brain; and If rest be denied, inflames it; makes it a permanent fTr^r. ^f7,f blood; and the individual is tormented with continued wake, fulness, spectra illusions, hallucinations, delirium, and even confirmed madness. .nJf-^T *^t.f'^°"°t °f blood in tiie body, the greater, other things being equal, is the quantity directed to a part during its period of activity when in exer c,se ; so that a full habit of body, abundant alimentation. promptLd easy dlges.' tion, and the consequent large additions made to the circulating blood bv new chyle, will only serve to increase still more the unpleasant feeling in the brain of ^dlTT . J"! greatly and excessively exercised the organ in the processes alreadj adverted to. To him his love of study and love of eating without ade. quate muscular exercise, are equally dangerous propensities, the full gratification ot which throws him open to apoplexy; or, escaping this, he is liable to suffer trom asthma, diseases of the heart, or excessive obesity and oppression of all the However desirable and even necessary it may be for an organ, such as the Dram, wJiich has been j^ong excited, and made the centre of an afflux of blood, to rest, this alone will not be sufficient to allow of its recovering- its healthy tone, certainly not of its,resuming its customary office. Havmg now replied to the first and third questions proposed by you on behalf ot the H^xecutive Committee, viz. the causes of dyspepsy and other diseases of stu. dents, and the consequent pathological condition of their system, I come event, ually to the second question, whether regular systematic exercise, agricultural or mechanical, has a tendency to counteract these evils ? To this I would reply, decidedly m the affirmative. Full health and pleasurable feelings can only be enjoved on the condition that every organ of the living body shall be duly exer- cised. Students and persons generally engaged in literary and scientific pur- suits, and in fact all those whose minds are long and intently occupied, and who lead a sedentary life, do not conform with this condition, and they suffer accord. It follows from the view already taken of the causes of their diseases, and of the morbid states of their organs, that relief and cure for this numerous class must be obtained, not only by adequate rest, at regular intervals, of their too excited braijis, but by calling other parts into action, and thus equalizing the dis. tribution of blood through the body, in place of allowing it to accumulate unduly in a particular part. This object is admirably accomplished by agricultural and mechanical employment, by which the limbs and muscular system in general are fully exercised, and have an increased quantity of blood determined fnto them, to the relief of the brain and the other internal organs of the chest and abdomen. The vital fluid or blood is also sent with greater rapidity through the lungs, which, more freely expanded, allow of a larger access of air, and produce more complete and rapid conversion of this fluid, before venous and dark, into arterial and red. It is now fitted for giving increased vitality and fiinctional power to all parts of the animal economy, through which it circulates at this time with more rapidity. It also circulates more freely and largely under the skin, impart, ing to this latter a more healthy color, and furnishing abundantly the materials for perspiration. From the skin, as well as from the lungs, there escape, when the body is actively exercised, certain matters, the retention of which iu the sys. tem would prove eminently injurious. The stomach and the entire digestive apparatus participate in the common benefit, derived by all parts of the body from this active and harmonious discharge of its functions ; and in a peculiar degree is the mind cheered and refreshed by the relief given to its material instrument, the brain, as well as by impressions of a more varied kind made on the senses, and especially that of sight. 104 Extract of a letter from Dr. Caldwell, Professor in the Medical Department of Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky. The brain beinff a part of the human system, partakes of all its affections, whether of health or disease, of weal or of wo. That being the case, whatever tends to the welfare of the system generally, by forming good blood, and giving it free and active circulation, cannot fail to benefit the brain in all its qualities. It necessarily raises its tone, and confers on it a higher fitness for both vigorous intellection and healthy emotion. The brain, like other parts of the body, is a vital organic tissue. Like them, therefore, it is nourished and vivified by arterial blood And, other things being equal, the more perfect the blood is, it contri- butes the more to the perfection of the brain. This truth is as firmly established as any other in physiology. Innumerable facts can be adduced m proof of it. But it has been already observed, and I trust made manifest, that the blood is improved in its qualities, and its circulation invigorated by exercise. The brain, therefore, is also improved by it. Whatever adds to the vitality and vigor of that part of the system, as an organic tissue, increases the native strength ot the intellectual faculties, and benefits in an equal degree the susceptibility ot emo- tion. Why should it not ? I may rather ask, how can it be otherwise ? In our present capacity, compounded as we are, of mind and body, intellection and emotion belong to the brain, as their seat and instrument, and depend as essen. tiallv on its organic action, as the movement of a limb does on muscular action. This also is susceptible of proof. Improvement in the health and organic condi- tion of the brain, therefore, increases its fitness for its peculiar functions, as cer- tainlv and on the same grounds, as an improved condition of the muscles gives them an increased fitness for the functions they perform. This is common sense in physiology, and is sustained by evidence which nothing can shake, lo improve every mental faculty, then, nothing else is requisite than an improve, ment in the organic qualities of the brain. The mind is always prepared to do the 1*6 st • But let us lay aside phrenology and physiology, and take as our guide, experi- ence and observation. No one will question their authority ; and they testify to the same effect. Who that has ever been a student, has not felt the salutary influence of exercise on his mind ? Exhausted by intellectual toil, in some new or intricate college exercise, and his faculties rendered so feeble and obtuse, that every thirnr has become obscure to him, and all seems confusion, the votary ot the mases abandons his secluded study for a few hours of exercise in the open air At the end of this term he returns to his toil, but it is toil no longer. _ 1 he task which of late seemed impracticable to him, is now accomplished without difficulty ; and dullness and depression have given place to alacrity. What col. leffe youth, I say, has not experienced something like this in himself, and obser- ved the same in his fellow students ? Not one who has been ardent and perse- verinff in pursuit of knowledge, and accurate in his attention to things around him And what is the cause of such a striking improvement thus produced in the clearnesss and energy of the intellectual faeulties? Exercise, united to relax, ation ; the transferring of action from the brain to tlie muscles. No other reason can be assi cular exercise. * * * * You will not say, that facts are wanting to show, that in every respect, muscular exercise is indispensable to the largest attain' ments and greatest usefulness of the strident. * * * * * « * what right have you to expose that body, which you have given up as a "temple of the Holy Spirit," to the multiplied and frightful evils, which indolence, by which I mean the neglect of muscular exercise, must infiict upon it ? Think of this, before it shall crumble into a heap of ruins, crushing and burying and destroying the intellectual and the moral man. You may think that I employ strong language. How can I help using strong language on such a subject ? I need not repeat my history in your ears. It is already familiar to you. In speaking of the importance of muscular exercise to the student, you know I speak as from the grave. The health and strength I now enjoy, you need not be told, I owe under God to the muscular discipline, to which for eight or ten years, I have conscientiously and constantly subjected myself. With such an experience as I have had, how can I be silent, when I see a beloved friend courting death in the very form, from which, with a great deal of ado, I just escaped ? I cannot, I will not be silent. Take care, then, you are on enchanted ground. To slumber there, is to die I Rouse up, my dear friend, to a provident, wakeful regard to your " house of clay." As long as you keep this in good repair, you may hope to enjoy vigor of mind, and a healthful flow of the affections. You may encounter difficulties, overcome obstacles, bid defiance to the thousand embarrassments which cripple the poor dyspeptic. You may hope to live, to live long, and be usef .1. And I know, that to such a suggestion you cannot be dead. The facts necessary to sustain these appeals are too fully and obviously within your reach, to require specification of me. Re-examine them ; weigh them ; make them the basis of practical conclusions ; and I shall not despair of your dying a better death, than that of the puicide. Yours, affectionately, . BD 6.1. %..^^ :^^: \/ yMii' %.** '% ^°- y^^i>'^ ^'Uii^^'^''- /•a;^'^- <<^^ A DOBdS BROS. ' « -» "^ jA c ° " " ■» UBKAMV BINDINQ v?^^, f O J ''' • c«:VWv o.*" ^O ' / "^^ ^^, ■•* .-CJST. AUGUSTINE ^^^^'^ ?>■ '^> '« .