EDUCATION may be divided into two parts, physical and mental. Of the
former, EXERCISES or GYMNASTICS are the most extensive and the earliest
portion.
THEIR EXTENT is learnt by an enumeration of them, viz., Walking,
Running, Leaping, Vaulting, Pole-leaping, Balancing, Skating, Carrying,
Climbing, and Swimming. We have added Throwing the Discus; and, in a
course of British Exercises, we think Rowing, Sailing, Riding, and
Driving, would be very improperly omitted.
The object of these Exercises is to strengthen the muscular system,
by subjecting it to a regular process of training, and to teach the
means of employing it most advantageously. The expediency of their
early acquisition is rendered evident by the first tendency of youth
being directed to them, by the rapid progress made in them, and by the
delight derived from them, at a period when the body is incapable, with
real or solid advantage, of higher acquirements.
Their general utility will be questioned only by those who are not
aware that the health and vigour of all the bodily organs depend on the
proportioned exercise of each. In active exertion, the member exercised
swells with the more frequent and more copious flow of blood, and heat
is developed in it with greater abundance; and if we repeat the same
motions many times after intervals of repose, all the muscles exercised
become permanently developed; a perfection of action ensues in the
member exercised, which it did not previously possess, any deformity
by which it is affected is corrected, and strength and activity are
acquired. That man, therefore, gains the most strength who engages in
muscular exercises that require the application of much power, but
which are sufficiently separated by intervals of repose.
It must be remembered, however, that, in exercising particular muscles
only, the others become weak. The strength of Marshal Saxe was
sufficiently great to stop a chariot drawn at speed by four horses, by
merely seizing the wheel: he bent pieces of silver with his fingers,
made them into boats as he would with paper, and presented them to the
ladies. Count Orloff, a Russian general, broke the shoe of a carriage
horse in the same manner; and there are innumerable examples of similar
feats of extraordinary strength.
Active exercises, at the same time, confer beauty of form; and they
even contribute to impart an elegant air and graceful manners. If the
exercise of a limb be continued for some time, the member swells, a
painful sensation is experienced, which is termed lassitude, and a
difficulty of contraction, which is the result of it. If the motion has
been excessive, and the organic elements in the member have been acted
upon beyond all physiological laws, inflammation would take place, and
its functions be performed with great difficulty, if at all.
Such are the effects of exercise on the locomotive system, to all
the functions of animated beings, so long as they are exercised with
moderation, equality, and at due intervals, working for their own
preservation. Of course, the general effect of active exercises is
marked in proportion to the number of parts that share in the motion,
or are brought into energetic action. In general exercise, the increase
of organic action is not confined solely to the parts which are the
seat of muscular contraction, but is repeated throughout all parts of
the economy, and influences all the functions.
Thus, as to the vital or nutritive system, exercises taken when
digestion is not going on, excite the digestive faculty: taken during
its progress, they disorder that function. The arterial and venous
circulations become more rapid by active exercise, which concludes by
giving greater force to the tissue of the heart. It is the same with
respiration and calorification. The same takes place with regard to
nutrition, a function which exercise increases, not only in the muscles
in movement, as we have just seen, but also in the bones, ligaments,
vessels, and nerves.
By inducing cutaneous exhalation, it promotes the expulsion of
injurious agents, produces a fresh colour in persons who may have
become pale through a sedentary life, and, to a certain extent, renders
the human constitution, by means of habit, proof against the action of
surrounding objects. The local effects of excessive action, or those
which take place in the members themselves, are, as before observed,
inflammation of the muscles, rheumatism, like that arising from cold,
and inflammation of the serous articular membranes. The general effects
of excessive exercise may, in the same manner as all physical and
moral stimulants, exhaust the vital faculties too quickly, communicate
too much rigidity to the fibres, render the vessels varicose, bring
on chronic rheumatism, destroy the freshness of the skin, blight the
flower of youth, and produce old age and death before the time ordained
by nature.
Ancient writers inform us that it was a rare thing to meet with
athletes, who, having signalized themselves from their earliest youth
in gymnastic combats, were of so excellent a constitution as to be
able, when they had reached a more advanced age, to acquire the same
honours on contending for the prize with grown men. Aristotle assures
us, that amongst the conquerors in the Olympic Games, not more than two
or three at the most could be found to whom nature had granted such an
advantage.
In relation to the mental or thinking system, “every movement,”
says Cabanis, “becomes in its turn the principle or occasion of new
impressions, of which the frequent repetition and the varied character
must increase more and more the circle of our judgments, or tend
unceasingly to rectify them. It hence follows that labour, giving to
this word the most general signification, cannot but have an influence
infinitely useful on the habits of the understanding, and consequently
also on those of the will.” This argument is evidently applicable to
varied exercise. On the contrary, “the great division of labour, so
favourable to the perfecting of the arts, contracts more and more the
understanding of workmen.” Exercises, moreover, inspire confidence in
difficult situations, and suggest resources in danger. Their consequent
influence upon the moral conduct of man is such, that, by a courage
which is well founded, because it springs from a perfect knowledge
of his own powers, he is often enabled to render the most important
services to others.
Although the direct effect of exercise is not only to confer
power on the muscular and other organs, but to multiply external
impressions, and to occupy with them all the senses at once; still
minds thus disposed, in general occupy themselves rather with
objects of imagination and sentiment, than with those which demand
more complicated operation. The sense of muscular power impresses
determinations which, carrying man perpetually out of himself, scarcely
permit him to dwell upon impressions transmitted to his brain. The only
action of that organ, during these exercises, seems to be limited to
ordering the movements.
Hence, exercise, especially taken in the open air, amidst new and
varied objects of sight, is not favourable to reflection--to labours
which demand the assemblage and concentration of all the powers of the
mind. It is, on the contrary, in the absence of external impressions,
that we become more capable of seizing many relations, and of
following a long train of purely abstract reasoning. As life spent
chiefly in active muscular exercises would leave in a state of repose
those central organs that are subservient to the moral qualities and
intellectual faculties, I agree with Seneca and Camper, in proscribing
all such exercises, or such degrees of exercise, as would exhaust
the mind, and render man incapable of aptitude in science, polite
literature, and art.
The cultivation of bodily strength, in preference to every thing else,
would establish only the right of the strongest, as it is found to
exist in the origin of society. To cultivate the faculties of the mind
exclusively, would produce only the weakness of sentiment or excess of
passion. There is, for every individual, a means of making all these
dispositions act in harmony; and the due blending of physical and moral
education alone can produce it. Let it be remembered that young persons
will much more easily be withdrawn from the application they ought to
pay to the study of the sciences, by insipid recreations and trifling
games, than by the fatiguing exercises necessary for their developement
and the preservation of their health, which, however, habit soon
renders easy and delightful. To what vices do not a sedentary life and
the practice of gaming give rise?--whilst well-regulated exercises
excite ambition to excel, and energy in the performance of every duty.
The philosophers of antiquity, such as Aristotle and Plato, regarded
gymnastic exercises as of vast importance, and considered a state
defective and badly organized where these exercises were not
instituted. Colleges, called Gymnasia, were therefore established
everywhere, and superintended by distinguished masters. Accordingly,
the illustrious men of the Grecian and Roman republics, even those who
shone in literature and the fine arts, received the same physical
education. The gymnastic exercises which are here recommended are not
intended to produce athletes, but to strengthen the human constitution.
One exercise gives solidity, another address; and we may even say that
the various kinds of exercise are sometimes opposed to each other.
The strongest peasant is far from being the best runner; and the most
vigorous dancer would probably be deficient in strength. There is,
however, a mean to be found in the disposition of every individual to
preserve both skill and strength, and this is what ought to be sought.
For this purpose, it will suffice to practise young persons a few hours
every day, sometimes at one exercise, and sometimes at another.