Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 46.djvu/164

152 enough to respond to the stimulus of well-directed exercise in this gratifying and substantial manner.

The training of the nervous system, which is the immediate result of a systematic practice of gymnastics, is recognized as one of the greatest benefits of such exercise. It is known to physiologists that every group of muscles is controlled by certain nerve centers in the brain, and it is believed that in cases where the life and habits of the individual do not call out the activity of all the muscles, the brain areas which govern those muscles to that extent fail of development. In certain lower animals, for instance, that have been born blind, it is found that the visual area in the brain has wasted away; there being no occupation for its energy. Nature has permitted it to disappear.

As illustrating the value of physical training in stimulating brain function, we have a series of observations made by Dr. Wey, Medical Director of the Elmira Reformatory, showing how dullards who took the lowest standard in scholarship, and in morals as well, became by simple but regular physical drill first more attentive, then more intelligent as to orders, less awkward (i. e., with better co-ordination of the body), and gradually, as the stimulation of the will and energy proceeded, actually better scholars, rising in some cases from the third to the first grade, and improving not only in physical appearance but in moral character. These results were entirely attributed to the awakening of mental energy through the reflex stimulation of muscular exercise.

To these benefits we may oppose the only objections we have known. The first is on the score of danger. As a matter of fact, there is little or no testimony to put upon this side that does not equally apply to many forms of exercise practiced by women, walking included. The theory that girls should not run or climb is long since exploded. Sick girls should not run or climb until they are well, but every physician knows that there would be fewer sick girls if running and climbing had always been part of a girl's early life.

Girls who have organic disease are not fit subjects for a gymnasium—there being a very few exceptions to this rule. Girls with serious spinal curvature require special exercises in the physician's office. Almost all other girls can only be benefited in a well-ordered gymnasium if they obey the rules and follow the advice offered. Any harm that can come from the so-called feats of the gymnasium arises mainly from the possibility that the pupil will not have prepared herself sufficiently for the exercises by previous preliminary training. Oversight and prescription on the part of the director obviate these difficulties. It should be understood that the special value in many of these exercises lies in their educational influence upon the nervous system. They call for a