Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 26.djvu/512

496 tends to its greater perfection. Therefore, if in consequence of proper physical training men can do more work, live longer, and transmit to their offspring a share of this improved condition, women also should be so trained that they can do more work, live longer, and contribute to the higher possibilities of their offspring by supplementing instead of thwarting the promise which has been presupposed in the higher development of the male parent.

The question of the varieties and degree of exercise adapted to young women, and the many theories unsupported by observation which have been advanced, have done much to discourage the efforts and hinder the progress of those who have been honestly endeavoring to establish a reform from which definite results might be determined. The growing recognition of the necessity for thorough work in this direction is the lever which must in time remove all obstacles that have thus far stood in our way.

Professor D. A. Sargent, M. D., of Harvard College, a gentleman who has much practical experience in these matters, writes with regard to his observations in many of our female colleges and seminaries, "They all feel the demand for improvement in this direction, but for the most part their efforts are lame and impotent." He does not attribute this to lack of ability to come up to the required standards, but says that a need of encouragement and of suitable equipments exists.

Although I have been refused any statistical information, upon the plea that it was too early to make a summary of results, I know that in a few of the colleges for women the work of the drill-room is done with precision, and, what is better, enthusiasm. The late physician of one of these writes: "I am inclined to regard properly-conducted gymnastic exercises as decidedly beneficial to female students. There has been in some instances less headache, in others marked improvement where various disturbances to health had existed. I look for benefit to all students who practice regularly and faithfully. It strengthens more sets of muscles than walking or rowing; the latter takes them into the open air. They need both, in order to do the best work."

A lady, lately connected with a famous English college, writes that gymnastic exercises were employed, but were not so popular as walking, horseback-riding, and tennis. She adds, "Walks of fifteen or twenty miles were not so unusual as to excite remark," and mentions two friends who "did" thirty miles in a day without fatigue. "Indeed, one of them spent the entire evening afterward in dancing."

These facts certainly indicate that women are not by nature lacking in physical resources. The question, then, arises, What are the best methods of developing these resources?

It is a well-known fact that in women the vital grasp, tenacity of life, if we may so term it, is stronger than it is in man. This is perhaps a necessary provision, because of the added fact that through the