PHYSICAL EDUCATION: 
 
 ®Ije onlti Solib Jomtbatiou of fttoral anir Intellectual GIul- 
 tnro anir IDetreiopment : 
 
 imitr c i ts£ 
 
 AN FEB 1 7 1937 
 
 ADDRESS n r.~ nm ,, 
 
 DELIVERED BEFORE 
 
 THE LINN JEAN ASSOCIATION 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGE, GETTYSBURG, PA, 
 
 At the Annual Commencement, Sept. 19th, 1851. 
 
 BY WASHINGTON L. ATLEE, M. D., 
 
 Professor of Medical Chemistry in the Medical Department of Pennsylvania College. 
 
 GETTYSBURG: 
 
 PRINTED BY H. C. NEINSTEDT. 
 
 1851. 
 
UNIVERSITY OF 
 ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
 As URB ANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 OAK STREET 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 In exchange 
 Peabody Institute 
 Baltimore 
 
 AL/G 2 1928 
 
 ( OCT 15 1930 
 
 V duplicate 
 
ADDRESS. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Linncean Association : 
 
 Upon accepting the invitation to address you on the present oc- 
 casion, the question naturally presented itself, how I could best 
 fulfil the important duties of such an appointment. Accustomed 
 all my life to the practical and onerous duties of a laborious pro- 
 fession, and engaged at present, unceasingly, in the most active 
 period of a medical life, I find myself having little relish for pur- 
 suits of a different character, and less time to appropriate to their 
 consideration. Having no ambition beyond that of excellence in 
 my chosen profession, I have aimed at nothing beyond, while the 
 effort of many years devoted to that single aim, has so warped my 
 mind, that I find it difficult to turn off the current of thought into 
 a channel entirely new'. 
 
 Hence, in the selection of a subject, my principal motive having 
 been to be useful and instructive, it was requisite not to depart from 
 the path of my ordinary pursuit. I have, therefore, thrown to- 
 gether a few thoughts on physical education, as being the only 
 solid foundation of moral and intellectual culture and development, 
 believing that the very circumstance of my experience in the study 
 and practice of my calling, will necessarily give an authoritative 
 bearing to my exposition of the subject. It is a subject, however, 
 too extensive and abstruse, to be well discussed within the narrow 
 limits of the hour prescribed for a popular lecture, but if I can do 
 no more than impress you with a sense of its value, I shall con- 
 sider that hour most profitably employed. Sir Thomas Brown 
 says, u While 1 study to find out how I am a little world, 1 find 
 myself something more than the great one.” Warburton remarks 
 that, w of all literary exercitations, none are of so immediate con- 
 cern to ourselves as those which let us into a knowledge of our 
 own nature ; for these alone improve the heart, and form the mind 
 to wisdom.” Pope says, u the proper study of mankind is man.” 
 Aud when we turn to the Book of books, we see it written on the 
 
4 
 
 very first page, in the language of God himself, 44 Let us make man 
 in our own image, after our likeness ] ” thus exhibiting the exalted 
 nature of our enquiry, and the intimate and perpetual connection 
 between our physical and spiritual being. 
 
 By physical education I mean that attention to the body which 
 maintains it in a state of the most perfect health, and consequently 
 that which best fits it for all its uses, physical, moral and intellec- 
 tual. Physical education, then, should begin with the first breath 
 of life, and end only with our earthly existence. We come into 
 this world, almost, as it were, mere physical beings, composed of 
 plastic materials, capable of being moulded into nearly any form, 
 and capable of receiving almost any moral and intellectual impress. 
 Utterly passive, the most helpless of all created existences, devoid 
 of almost every attribute of mind, save instinct, and possessing in- 
 stinct even in a low degree, v/e enter life claiming and requiring 
 peculiar care and sympathy. Destitute as we are at this period, 
 we yet possess faculties and powers, which, rightly directed, are 
 capable of inconceivable results. We taste, we feel, we see, we 
 hear, and every impression made by external things upon our del- 
 icate senses, assists in the development of our reason, and lays the 
 foundation of our ideas ; and thus the realities and facts 44 of the 
 world we inhabit are gradually reflected from within us, and an 
 ideal universe is created, amid the marvels of which the rational 
 spirit expatiates forever.” Hours, days, years roll on before ma- 
 ture development is attained in physical organization, and it is not 
 until then that the mind acquires its greatest vigor. In proportion 
 as we improve in the condition of our corporeal functions, we 
 strengthen in intellectual powers, and the progressive growth of 
 the body, and its maintenance in a state of high health, is essen- 
 tial to the perfect ripening of the mind — showing an intimate and 
 necessary relation between both. In all stages of bodily develop- 
 ment, which follow a regular progression to maturity, we observe 
 that the physical is, comparatively, the index to the mental. In- 
 fancy, childhood, adolescence, manhood, are severally marked by 
 obvious distinctions, while these defined stages of life maintain, in 
 both, a direct and most remarkable correspondence. This fact il- 
 lustrates most happily, in a general way, what I desire here to de- 
 monstrate more particularly — that the state of the mind is in im- 
 mediate relation with the present condition of the body — that 
 health of body is essential to the fullest manifestation of mental 
 

 5 
 
 * 
 
 power — that every change in the state of the body is a change in 
 the experience of the intellectual faculties, and consequently, that 
 we should, as to a positive religious obligation, attend to the prop- 
 er condition of the body, in order to invigorate the mind, and 
 elevate it to the highest degree of power of which it is capable in 
 its finite existence. “ The simple idea of a being placed by Al- 
 mighty wisdom, within a body, in order to employ it for intelli- 
 gence and enjoyment, would appear to require that the organization 
 and functions of that body should be so exactly adjusted to the 
 being using them, and so perfectly coordinate with the conditions 
 of external nature, that no disorder might by possibility occur, and 
 no pain be experienced, but rather that every perception should be 
 pleasure, and every action happiness. 
 
 The highest condition of man on earth, therefore, is maintained 
 only in a state of perfect health — health of body and of mind, or, 
 as Horace long since expressed it, 1 mens sana in corpore sano 5 — 
 the man spiritual being intimately associated, in all manifestations, 
 with the man physical. Let me, therefore, ask your attention for 
 a few moments, to the organization of the body, and to the neces- 
 sary conditions of its health. 
 
 The human body is a complex machine, composed of numerous 
 elements, imbued with a vital principle, and the habitation of an 
 immortal spiritual existence. If we take this living machine, and 
 subject its gross or animal portions to the crucible of the chemist, 
 it will undergo rapid disintegration, and be reduced to gaseous 
 matter and ashes, the organic compounds being volatilized by heat, 
 the inorganic or mineral matters constituting the residuum. If we 
 carefully collect and test these results, they will be found to con- 
 sist of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, 
 fluorine, chlorine, silicon, sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, 
 iron, and occasionally manganese. These, although constituting 
 less than a fourth part, numerically, of the known elements, also 
 compose the great bulk of the inorganic world, and a few of them 
 are active agents, always at work, in modifying the constitution 
 and aspect of both organic and inorganic nature. Both animate 
 and inanimate matter, therefore, claims these elements by common 
 inheritance. Widely different as living is from dead matter, when 
 viewed in the mass, the vitalized element yet varies in no sensible 
 respect from the inorganic, and indeed living matter of one body 
 must be previously divested of life before it can enter into the 
 
c 
 
 constitution of living matter in another body. It is impossible, 
 therefore, to distinguish the elements of living from those of dead 
 matter, and perhaps the only difference, if any, is, that besides be- 
 ing governed by the laws which operate on matter in general, the 
 living particles are such by virtue of being perpetually in motion ; 
 so soon as this ceases they come exclusively under the influence 
 of the non-vital forces, and virtually take the characteristics of 
 dead matter. The elements composing the human body all come 
 from without — none are generated, or changed, or destroyed with- 
 in it — they enter it through appropriate channels from the inanimate 
 world, are impressed with the breath of life within it, pass on 
 through and to the tissues as living molecules, and after subserving 
 all the purposes of the life-giving and life-sustaining principle, 
 again become effete, are thrown off through certain outlets into the 
 external world, there, though not changed, to be re-fitted for the 
 purpose of again taking the same round in organic life. Thus — 
 
 “ O’er the wreck, emerging from the storm, 
 
 Immortal Nature lifts her changeful form, 
 
 Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame, 
 
 And soars and shines, another and the same.” 
 
 In one sense, therefore, the human body may be considered 
 merely as an organized medium, through which certain elements 
 of nature are destined to pass, and in their passage maintaining the 
 play of the vital functions, and undergoing chemical changes es- 
 sential to the integrity of the organism. The transit of these ele- 
 ments is proved by the faet that the weight of the same body now, 
 compared with its weight a year hence, may remain unchanged, 
 notwithstanding several hundred pounds of aliment have entered it 
 during that period. 
 
 If the weight of material passing through the body be so greatly 
 in excess over that of the body itself, it would be a matter of in- 
 teresting enquiry to investigate the purposes these numerous ele- 
 ments subserve, not only in the animal organization, but also in the 
 whole economy of surrounding nature. This law of excess is 
 not only maintained in the adult, but is also manifest during the 
 period of development and growth from the earliest point of or- 
 ganic life up to full maturity, and ceases only with vital existence. 
 
 When it is considered that the starting point, or punctum saliens 
 of the human body is a diminutive germ, only to be seen by a good 
 microscope of high power, and hundreds of which can rest on the 
 
point of the finest needle, it is not difficult to be convinced that 
 the materials which enter into the formation of that body, through- 
 out all its stages, from the primitive germ up to the magnitude of 
 man, must come from exterior sources. We find these in the air, 
 in the water, in the earth, and in organic nature, and to know our- 
 selves aright it is requisite for us to study these sources of our 
 organization. 
 
 The air we breathe, whether viewed as a mechanical or chemi- 
 cal combination, is mainly composed of oxygen and nitrogen, 
 containing also varying proportions of carbon, in the form of car- 
 bonic acid, and hydrogen, in the form of water and ammonia, and 
 is the recipient likewise of all other volatilized products from the 
 earth’s surface. These, you will observe, are all elements already 
 named as belonging to the human body, and, as we shall soon see, 
 have an important relation to its welfare. This air, likewise, pos- 
 sesses physical properties, and is combined with ever-changing 
 quantities of heat, electricity and light, whose hygienic influences 
 are incalculably great. 
 
 The water we drink, and without which the organism could not 
 be maintained, consists of oxygen and hydrogen, both elements of 
 the human body. As a vehicle of heat, with which it is always 
 associated, it bears important relations to the animal economy. 
 
 In the earth we find all the elements that are contained in the 
 air and in the water, besides many others — indeed, all the elements 
 yet discovered, exist within its bosom. Those, however, which it 
 contributes to the human body, either directly or indirectly, are 
 phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, fluorine, silicon, sodium, calcium, 
 potassium, magnesium, iron and manganese. It is also associated 
 with the imponderable bodies in such a way as to have a bearing 
 upon the health of the human body. 
 
 Organic nature, vegetable and animal, contain principally the 
 same elements as does the human body, and its intimate connection 
 with our organization is seen in the fact of its being the grand 
 source of nutriment. 
 
 Here then are air, water, earth and organic matter, constituting 
 the whole of terrestrial creation, and consequently embracing the 
 elements of the human organism, and it is the appropriation, ag- 
 gregation, and arrangement of these elements that give to man his 
 peculiar constitution and physical form. Like the formative pro- 
 cess in the solid rock, atom is superimposed upon atom, until the 
 
8 
 
 infinitessimal invisible point of living matter, acting as a nucleus 
 in drawing to itself the nutrient elements around, and with a pow- 
 er of incorporating them with its own substance, and of combining 
 them into the proximate principles that may serve as the materials 
 for its development, it gradually increases in size, until it is unfold- 
 ed into the beautiful configuration of the human form. Still, thus 
 viewed, man, soulless man, man physical, stands as the solid rock, 
 as the primitive statue of day fashioned by the Hand of the Al- 
 mighty. But there is breathed into its nostrils a u breath of life,” 
 which, quickening every fibril, causes the crimson fountain to gush 
 through every avenue, and man becomes a living being. The vital 
 principle, animating these elements, is imbued with the Spirit of 
 God, which becomes a more important nucleus in attraeting ele- 
 ments of a less gross material, some characterizing animal nature 
 in general, but others mysteriously connected alone with humani- 
 ty. Like the elements of physical organization, those of the spir- 
 itual come from without. We now have presented to us man 
 physical, man vital, man spiritual. He now stands forth as the 
 Lord of creation, beautifully and wonderfully made, an atom in his 
 origin, which, by exterior and innate influences, has progressed 
 into the perfect man, the human form divine. 
 
 Man, therefore, as he stands on earth, is essentially a compound 
 of flesh and spirit, and as the spirit, at least so far as our senses 
 are concerned, has no manifestation, save in connexion with mat- 
 ter, the human body, during life, must be considered as the proper 
 temple of the soul, and consequently must be maintained in per- 
 fect order to accommodate its previous tenant, and to enable it to 
 carry out all the noble purposes designed by the creator. Let us, 
 then, examine into the requirements necessary to give strength, 
 health and vigor to the bodily organs and powers, as essential to 
 the perfect manifestation of mind. 
 
 The blood, which is alive, in circulating through the living body, 
 is the vehicle of life to every atom of our organization. Every 
 particle of every bone, muscle, membrane, nerve and vessel, and 
 every drop of the various fluids of the body, must have pre-exist- 
 ed within this fountain of life. It must, therefore, necessarily sub- 
 serve all the purposes of nutrition, and furnish materials to the 
 secreting organs, and after yielding up the elements necessary to 
 these objects, it again becomes charged with the effete molecules 
 arising from the degeneration of the tissues, and conveying them 
 
9 
 
 to the several outlets of the system, the organs of excretion throw 
 them off into the exterior world. Hence arises a constant necessi- 
 ty for fresh supplies, which are furnished through the functions of 
 digestion and absorption. Yet the blood, although a living fluid, 
 has no power to move itself, or to alter the quantity and quality of 
 its own ingredients. Its circulation is dependent upon two princi- 
 pal forces, located at the two extremes of the vessels, the one pro- 
 pelling, and the other drawing the circulating fluid, while its vari- 
 ations in quantity and quality are wholly owing to other agents 
 always in operation. One of the most active of these agents is 
 the oxygen of the air, inspired by the lungs, and which being ab- 
 sorbed by the blood, is carried by it to the distant tissues, and act- 
 ing on their elements, produces innumerable and recognizable 
 changes throughout the entire body. Respiration, therefore, the 
 first and last act of separate existence, is a function of great mo- 
 ment to the maintenance of health. By it the blood and air are 
 both made to meet in the air cells of the lungs, intercepted only 
 by a thin membrane, which does not interfere with the physical 
 and chemical action of these fluids upon each other. It is worthy 
 of remark, too, that the circulation of the blood through the lungs 
 is of the most simple kind, the vessels being free from valves, 
 unaffected by atmospheric pressure, and uninfluenced by muscular 
 contractions. It is, also, worthy of remark that the blood, flow- 
 ing from the heart to the lungs, i$ unfit for nutrition until it meets 
 with the air taken in by respiration. By their contact the compo- 
 sition of both becomes changed. The air is warmed, the propor- 
 tion of carbonic acid and watery vapor is increased, and that of 
 oxygen diminished. Consequently heat, carbonic acid, and water 
 escape from the lungs, while oxygen is taken in. With regard to 
 the blood its most obvious change, in passing through the lungs, 
 is in color, changing from a dark crimson to a bright scarlet, from 
 venous to arterial blood, from a poisonous to a nutrient fluid. This 
 change in color is important merely as an indication of essential 
 alterations in its composition, such as an increase in its tempera- 
 ture, its more rapid and firm coagulation, its accumulation of oxy- 
 gen, and its loss of carbonic acid and of nitrogen. The oxygen 
 extracted from the air is carried by the arterial blood from thelung3 
 back to the heart, and thence to the various parts of the body, and 
 thus is brought into direct contact and intimate relation with the 
 elementary molecules of the tissues. With these elements it may 
 9 
 
10 
 
 co-operate in the process of nutrition, in the production of animal 
 heat, and in the removal of disintegrated and effete matter. A large 
 proportion of these worn-out elements consists of carbon and hy- 
 drogen, which take the form of carbonic acid and water, by uniting 
 with the oxygen, and being absorbed into the venous blood, are 
 conveyed by it to the heart, and thence propelled to the lungs, to 
 be discharged again into the atmosphere. When the process of 
 respiration is stopped, the circulation of blood through the lungs 
 is retarded, carbonic acid accumulates in the blood and the tissues, 
 and asphyxia and death are the necessary consequences. 
 
 The extrication of carbonic acid, and the absorption of oxygen, 
 are not less essential to the continuance of life in the production 
 of animal heat, and the maintenance of a uniform temperature cf 
 the body, both of which are intimately associated with the process 
 of respiration, and certain chemical processes going on in the 
 system, modified to a certain extent by the influence of the nervous 
 system. 1 mentioned that the oxygen inspired is most probably 
 combined in the systemic capillaries, or minute vessels, with the 
 carbon and hydrogen of disintegrated and absorbed tissues, and I 
 may add, with certain elements of food which have not been con- 
 verted into tissues. In these processes heat must be continually 
 produced in the animal body, on the very same principle that it is 
 generated by the burning of a candle or the combustion of our 
 fires. And since the heat thus arising will be extricated wherever 
 the blood is carried, every part of the body will be heated equally, 
 or so nearly equally, that the rapidity of the circulation will quick- 
 ly remove any diversities of temperature. 
 
 As the supply of blood depends upon digestion and absorption, 
 so a necessary relation, in the maintenance of perfect health, must 
 exist between the oxygen inspired, and the quality and quantity of 
 the food taken into the stomach. In the northern regions, and in 
 the cold seasons of more southern climes, the quantity of food 
 consumed is greater, and its quality more carbonaceous, than in 
 opposite conditions of climate and seasons, because larger quanti- 
 ties of oxygen are breathed from the cold dense air, and more heat 
 is required to be evolved to supply the body with that of which it 
 is robbed by the external cold. Digestion, therefore, has for its 
 object the preparation of our food, rendering it capable of absorp- 
 tion into the blood, and fitting it for the formation and repair of 
 the tissues, and, in common with the respiratory function, also for 
 
11 
 
 the production of animal heat. The use of food, therefore, having 
 these two objects, the various articles of diet have been divided in- 
 to two great classes, corresponding with these objects, viz : — nitro- 
 genous and non-nitrogenous foods* The former is converted into 
 the albumen or fibrine of the blood, and subsequently assimilated 
 by the tissues, and hence called also nutritive or plastic principles ; 
 and the latter being employed in the production of heat., is called 
 calorifacient , and, having this power in consequence of the process 
 of respiration, also respiratory food. This classification differs 
 from the more easy division into animal and vegetable, and is pre- 
 ferred to it in being more philosophical, as it is applicable to either 
 divisions of organic nature, the nutritive and respiratory principles 
 existing in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. These prin- 
 ciples being identical, the human body may be supported upon a 
 diet exclusively vegetable, or exclusively animal, but the structure 
 of the teeth and of other parts, as well as observation and experi- 
 ence, seem to indicate that man is intended to be omniverous. — 
 Animals fed upon grass and herbs exclusively, form flesh and blood 
 in every respect like those belonging to the carnivora, which live 
 only on animal matter, a circumstance strongly corroborative of 
 the fact that vegetables and animals contain alimentary principles 
 identically the same. Experiment and analysis, however, also 
 prove that albumen, caseine, and fibrine, which constitute the pro- 
 teinaceous compounds, and which are the principal materials in 
 animal food, exist also in vegetables, and hence vegetables can 
 contribute to the formation of blood and tissue. 
 
 Of the elements before noticed as constituting the human body, 
 four of them, oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, are called 
 essential , and yet organic compounds, composed only of these el- 
 ements, cannot be nutritious. They require the presence of the 
 incidental elements, phosphorus, sulphur, iron, &.C., and also of 
 compounds which are naturally combined with them. Neither 
 can life be maintained by the exclusive use of either of the alimen- 
 tary principles, a mixture of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous sub- 
 stances, with the inorganic principles contained in them being 
 essential. 
 
 The food, after having been introduced into the stomach and 
 alimentary passages, undergoes certain changes, and is then absorb- 
 ed into the circulating system, to be distributed by the blood to 
 every part of the living body, and after contributing to the wants 
 
of the system, again disappears from it. Now it is a remarkable 
 fact that the body maintains, through a series of years, the same 
 features, size, form, and even weight, although, during all this pe- 
 riod, its several portions are continually changing — every particle 
 decaying and being removed, and again replaced by the deposit of 
 new ones, which, in turn, also die and pass away. This does not 
 apply merely to the geneiai similarity of the entire body, but every 
 part and organ, as much as the whole, exactly maintains its form 
 and composition in the issue of the changes continually taking 
 place among its particles. 
 
 In order to accomplish the process of nutrition perfectly, the 
 most important conditions, in addition to good air and diet, are a 
 proper state and composition of the blood, a regular supply of it, 
 a certain influence of the nervous system, and a natural state of the 
 parts to be nourished. If any one of these conditions be absent 
 or defective, the process is liable to be disarranged, and the various 
 diseases arising from impaired nutrition appear to be due to their 
 failure, more than to the imperfection of the process itself. 
 
 We now come to a point in the physical organization, more im- 
 mediately associated with the mind, viz: the brain. The brain and 
 nervous system are governed by the same laws of nutrition as oth- 
 er parts of the body, and like them, have their functions impaired 
 from similar causes. The mind acting through the functions of 
 the brain, the manifestions of the former must correspond with the 
 conditions of the latter. When the brain is in a state of perfect 
 health, the mind perceives and retains sensations ; performs acts of 
 will ; holds impressions of sensible things, and revives them in 
 subjective sensations and ideas ; and it manifests itself in its higher 
 emotions and feelings, and in its faculties of judgment, understand- 
 ing, memory, reflection, induction, imagination, &c., the mind act- 
 ing thus in and through this organ in all operations having immedi- 
 ate relation to external and sensible things. This view of the 
 action of the mind, perfectly harmonizes with its other and higher 
 faculties, by which it has attained, or may attain, to knowledge su- 
 perior to the senses. I mean the conscience and the pure reason , 
 which are reached through other channels than the organs of sense, 
 and exercised independently of the brain. 
 
 Although the brain is the organ of the mind, there still may be 
 supposed to exist an immaterial principle, independent of organic 
 structure, yet incapable of external manifestation, or of external 
 
13 
 
 impressions, save through the medium of the brain and nervous 
 system. These organs may be injured or diseased, and this prin- 
 ciple would remain unchanged, although its acts, as connected with 
 them, might be hindered or disturbed, and yet it might well be 
 supposed that the size of these organs, and the power with which 
 the several faculties of this principle are manifested, would bear a 
 direct relation to each other. 
 
 Abundant as is the evidence that the brain is the organ of those 
 parts of the mind which are concerned with the things of sense, its 
 connexion with those powers that are occupied with things above 
 the senses, is much more obscure and doubtful. “’The reason or 
 spirit of man which has knowledge of divine truths, and the con- 
 science, with its natural discernment of moral right and wrong, 
 cannot be proved to have any connection with the brain. Jn the 
 complex life we live, they are, indeed, often exercised in questions 
 in which the intellect or some other lower mental faculty is also 
 concerned ; and in all such cases, men’s actions are determined as 
 good or bad, according to the degree in which they are guided by 
 the higher or by the lower faculties. But the reason and the con- 
 science must be exercised independently of the brain, when they 
 are engaged in the contemplation of things which have not been 
 learned through the senses, or through any intellectual considera- 
 tion of sensible things. All that a man feels in himself, and can 
 observe in others, of the subjects in which his reason and his con- 
 science are most naturally engaged ; of the mode in which they 
 are exercised, and the disturbance to which they are liable by the 
 perceptions or ideas of sensible things; of the manner and sources 
 of their instruction; of their natural superiority and supremacy 
 over all the other faculties of the mind ; and of his consciousness 
 of responsibility for their use ; all teach him that these faculties 
 are wholly different, not in degree only, nor as different members 
 of one order, but in kind and very nature from all else of which 
 he is composed; all, if rightly considered, must incline him to re- 
 ceive and hold fast the clearer truth which Revelation has given of 
 the nature and destinies of the spirit to which these, his highest 
 faculties, belong.” 
 
 I have thus presented a general view of the structure and func- 
 tions of the human body, avoiding technical language as much as 
 possible, in order that the intimate relation between intellect and 
 organization might be readily comprehended. I cannot pretend, in 
 
a limited discourse like this, to illustrate in detail the immense in- 
 fluence exercised by the mere physical condition over the develop- 
 ment and power of the mind. If I can, by a few general proposi- 
 tions, impress upon you the importance of this relation and sym- 
 pathy, and can persuade you to give to the subject close ai d 
 thoughtful consideration, it is all I aim at. 
 
 The maintenance of a proper balance between the several por- 
 tions of the human body, and between the body and external na- 
 ture, is essential to the existence of high health — health of body 
 and of mind. Every organ has its appropriate function, and the 
 exercise of that function, within certain limits, maintains that organ 
 in a state of health, and so far it contributes towards the welfare of 
 the whole structqre. But if over-exercised, that organ in the same 
 proportion, is injured, and the general system sympathises with the 
 derangement. It is a law of nature that exercise must alternate 
 with repose. The stomach is intended for the reception and diges- 
 tion of food, and yet it would be fatal to be always cramming food 
 into it. The muscles are appointed for every movement of .the 
 body, and yet the most powerful frame would sink under uninter- 
 rupted action. The brain is the organ of the mind, but an over- 
 strained brain is unfit for intellectual manifestations. And thus if 
 is with every organ, and with the aggregate of organs as exempli- 
 fied in the whole man. Activity and repose must succeed each 
 other. Both are essential to perfect health. 
 
 The physiological exposition of the human body, just made to 
 you, renders it sufficiently evident that the healthful play of its 
 organs must mainly depend upon agents exterior to and surround- 
 ing it, and that consequently the study of these agents is equally 
 as important and vital. It may be said without hyperbole, that the 
 life of man is dependent upon that of a blade of grass., for the in- 
 fluence of vegetation upon the air is essential to the support of 
 animal existence. The air we inspire must be pure, to maintain 
 healthful action, and yet the respiratory process is one of the great 
 causes of the deterioration of air. Hence a portion of confined 
 air, originally pure, may thus, by a vital process, be soon converted 
 to an actual poison to the human system. This result cannot oc- 
 cur in the open air, as every tender leaf rapidly consumes this 
 poison, converts it to its own substance, and returns in exchange a 
 proportionate quantity of the life-sustaining element. The import- 
 ance, therefore, of exercise in the open air, the necessity of thor- 
 
ough venli'ation in our buildings, and especially in our sleeping 
 apartments, and a watchful regard to architectural arrangements for 
 that purpose, become obvious. Air is an indispensable condition 
 of human life, not only in its constituent parts, but also in its phy- 
 sical properties, influencing all the vital functions. A healthy per- 
 son exercising in pure air, increases the vigor of his circulation, 
 every organ is excited to healthful action, the vital air is more 
 abundantly supplied to the blood, and the brain is thus invigorated 
 by its appropriate stimulus. tt Light, warmth, and life, are thus 
 transmitted to the nerves ; the soul is put into a suitable relation 
 to the elements of this glorious world ; all the senses are rendered 
 fitter for their proper service ; the mind becomes alert, and the 
 measure of earthly — that is to say, animal — happiness is full.” — 
 Exercise in the open air also implies exposure to light, the influence 
 of which is also necessary to the development, form and health of 
 organized bodies. When deprived of this vivifying stimulus, both 
 animals and plants become weak and depraved in their organization. 
 Dark habitations, narrow streets, little windows, and every thing 
 that excludes light from our dwelling places, are faults in archi- 
 tecture, contravening the laws of health. w Action, life, feeling, 
 thought, are all associated with light.” 
 
 I have said that exercise must alternate with repose. Repose of 
 the body favors the action of the mind. Intense thought and re- 
 flection shut out the world, and restrain the motions of the body, 
 and however favorable to imagination slight exercise may be, yet 
 the mind cannot be concentrated in the midst of violent agitations 
 of the body. Still, in our schemes of education, we should be 
 careful that they embody sunshine and breeze, nerve and muscle, 
 as well as books; that mental application should be regularly in- 
 terchanged with exercise in the open air, and entire exemption front 
 study, lest the body become enfeebled and diseased, and the mind 
 distorted in all its faculties. The proper object of education should 
 be to develop the powers of both body and mind, and to adjust 
 their equilibrium by appropriate exercises, which expand both mind 
 and body into full beauty and strength. 
 
 “ Education applies to the whole man, not to a part only of his 
 nature. It takes in the whole character, the whole life. We are 
 complex, not simple beings. Complexity of structure is that which 
 distinguishes man ; the disembodied spirits above him, the animals 
 below him, have not so various a being as his. Man’s life is man- 
 
16 
 
 ifold ; he has a bodily organization, a mental frame, a moral con- 
 stitution ; he has senses, and intelligence, and a soul. They must 
 all be educated, and educated contemporaneously and harmoniously. 
 He who trains the physical frame, must remember that it is not a 
 brute that he is teaching to move with freedom and grace. He 
 whose office it is to inform and discipline the intellect, must re- 
 member that mysterious connections bind the faculties which are 
 under his care to a frail body, and vet more mysterious sympathies 
 draw those faculties towards an Infinite object. While he who 
 attempts to assist the soul in its progress towards perfection, should 
 remember that neither asceticism, nor inward contemplation alone, 
 can give to the spiritual exercises of such a being as man the char- 
 acter which, for his own good, they should bear. To educate one, 
 is to consult for his whole capacity, and his whole advantage, — to 
 teach him and to help him to become what he was meant to be by 
 his creator.” 
 
 From what was stated respecting the nutrition of the body, it 
 will be understood that there are other organs besides the lungs 
 and limbs; and other agents besides air and light, which have to 
 assist in maintaining the proper balance of the functions of the hu- 
 man body. It has been observed that “the study of the stomach 
 is the study of morality,” and that “the food has a higher bearing 
 on the mind than on the physical frame of man.” “The comfort 
 and efficiency of intellect, nay, the moral perception, manliness, 
 and virtue of the mind depend greatly on our use of aliment; and 
 in the very means by which we sustain the strength of the body, 
 or most directly disorder its functions, we, at the same time, either 
 fortify or disable the brain, so that we shall be qualified to use our 
 faculties with advantage, or else, amid the confusion of our sensa- 
 tions, be rendered incapable of rational attention.” Habitual mod- 
 eration in eating and drinking, as it best contributes to the health 
 and development of the body, is essential to the proper manifesta- 
 tion of intellect. Gluttony and starvation are equally injurious to 
 both mind and body. A happy medium maintains the blood in its 
 best condition for the purposes of the mind while intently acting 
 on the biain. Neither is sameness of diet congenial to the devel- 
 opment and support of the mental faculties, particularly when as- 
 sociated with too restricted a mode of life. It has been observed 
 by a phylosophical writer, that probably as the intellect of man 
 cannot be fully developed without free intercourse with every va- 
 
riety of mind, nor that of society without international commerce, 
 so neither can the body attain and preserve its best state without 
 occasional change in the kind of food, such as the diversities of 
 climate and of season are intended to produce. Abstemiousness 
 and occasional fasting, when not too prolonged or conjoined with 
 much muscular exertion, are also favorable to mental effort, and 
 invigorate both mind and body, besides being a better remedy than 
 medicine when the circulation is oppressed, either by disease or 
 repletion. 
 
 Every thing that excites or depresses the nerve-power, disturbs, 
 to that extent, the equilibrium between mind and body, and inter- 
 feres with perfect health. All stimulants, intoxicating agents, and 
 narcotics, which include fermented liquors and tobacco, habitually 
 and unnecessarily used, must, therefore, prove injurious, by acting 
 directly on the brain, on the ganglionic system of nerves, on the 
 spinal cord, or on the nervous system generally. All these sub- 
 stances have been proved by analysis to contain more carbon than 
 hydrogen, and hence, also, seem to interfere with the proper vitali- 
 zation of the blood by respiration, and, as a consequence, impair 
 the tone of both body and mind. 
 
 But I am admonished by the time I have already occupied, that 
 I must bring this address to a close. It is impossible to embrace 
 precise details in a subject so extensive, and in a period of time so 
 limited. 1 have merely endeavored to lay down some prominent 
 data, and impress them upon your attention in such a way as to 
 induce you to ascertain their final results by the study of Anatomy, 
 Chemistry, Physiology and Hygiene, in order to a right management 
 of your physical and mental being. And, is there any thing more 
 worthy of study than youi own nature, the acquisition of that 
 knowledge tvhich comprehends the highest condition of man, and. 
 enables him to fulfill, under Divine guidance, his exalted and holy 
 destinies ? 
 
 Health and strength are necessary elements of worldly prosper- 
 ity, and are intimately associated with intellectual development and 
 power. They are the foundation of all labor, and thus appear as 
 the only real capital of a country. As the temporal prospects of a 
 family may be affected by the physical disability of its members, 
 so the condition of a state or nation may be influenced by the de- 
 caying powers of its citizens. Dr. Howe, in his report on idiocy^ 
 to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, aptly remarks that “the 
 health and vigor of the body may be compared to a man’s capital ; 
 
3 0 
 
 12 105909771 
 
 26 
 
 it is a trust fun'd given to him by the Creator, of which he may ex- 
 pend the interest in the natural enjoyments of life, but he cannot 
 encroach in the least on the principal, without real loss. Every 
 debauch, every excess, every undue indulgence, is at the expense 
 of this capital. A rich man may throw away cents or dollars, and 
 not feel it, — but he is really poorer for it ; and a young man with 
 a large capital of health, may daily throw away part of it, and still 
 feel strong ; but every over-stimulant to the nerves, every overload 
 to the stomach, is a cent or a dollar taken from his capital ; feel it, 
 or not feel it, he is poorer for it.” 
 
 If, then, the intellectual faculties and the exercise of the soul, 
 depend so much upon the state of the organization, and, in attend- 
 ing to external impressions, be influenced by the condition of the 
 senses and their connections, and these again by the state of the 
 blood and the nervous power, physical education assumes an im- 
 portance which appeals strongly to the political economist, the 
 statesman, the philanthropist. “The vigorous growth of the body, 
 its strength and its activity, its powers of endurance, and its length 
 of life, on the one hand; and dwarfishness, sluggishness, infirmity 
 and premature death, on the other, are all the subjects of unchange- 
 able laws. These laws are ordained of God ; but the knowledge 
 of them is left to our diligence, and the observance of them to our 
 free agency. These laws are very few; they are so simple that 
 all can understand them, and so beautiful that the pleasure of con- * 
 templating them, even independent of their utility, is a tenfold re- 
 ward for all the labor of their acquisition.” They apply to every 
 stage and condition of life, from its earliest dawn, up through child- 
 hood, youth, and manhood, and down through old age and decrep- 
 itude, to the grave itself. They embrace the relations which the 
 human body has with the atmosphere — its barometric, its thermom- 
 etric, its hygromelric conditions ; with animal and vegetable efflu- 
 via and miasmata ; with electricity, light, sound ; with food — its 
 quality and quantity, and periods and modes of eating and drink- 
 ing, and of abstinence and fasting; with exercise and rest; with 
 vigilance and sleep ; with clothing ; with the sensations, affections 
 and passions ; and indeed with every thing that may either induce 
 or avert disease. “ When the religious man reflects, that our bod- 
 ies are God’s workmanship, he sees that the laws impressed upon 
 them can be no less than God’s laws. If these laws, then, are 
 God’s laws, we are bound to recognize and obey them. V^e arc 
 bound to obey a law which God has impressed upon the body, on 
 the same principle that we are bound to obey* a law which- I$f has 
 impressed upon the soul.”