Motion is the great law of the universe. It is the first instinct of
animal life. When it ceases, life ceases. The degree of life may be
measured by the amount of normal motion. When the life-forces run low,
the natural and most effectual method of invigorating those forces is
found in motion.
The popular education of our children is a lamentable violation of this
law. The young child, left in freedom, keeps its nurse on the _qui vive_
during every waking hour by its uncontrollable activity. The effort
which our school-system makes to crush out this instinct, by compelling
children to sit on hard chairs, bent over desks, motionless six hours a
day, is, considered in its influence upon the vitality of the nation,
the saddest of all possible mistakes.
A radical change in this respect is imperatively demanded by the growing
intelligence of the people. The Germans,--God bless them!--having given
more faithful study to the various problems of human development, have
devised better modes. The Kindergarten, one of the many beautiful
blossoms of the genius of that noble people, is being transplanted to
this country. Wise parents, thank Heaven, and take heart. Miss Peabody's
Kindergarten, in Boston, should be visited by the friends of education.
Nothing at this hour is so much needed in the development of the young
as some system of physical training, which, under competent masters, may
be introduced as a part of the daily drill into all our schools, public
and private. The routine should be so arranged that study and physical
exercise should alternate in periods not longer than half an hour
throughout the day. For example: the school opens at 9 o'clock. The
first half-hour is devoted to study and recitation. Let the second be
given to vigorous training in the gymnasium under a drill-master, and to
music. The third to study and recitation. The fourth to drill, in which
those with weak stomachs form a class by themselves, with special
exercises; those with weak chests another; those with weak spines still
another: all classified and treated according to their several needs.
The fifth half-hour to study and recitation. The sixth to declamation,
singing, or culture of the vocal organs, in general and special ways.
The seventh and eighth half-hours to study, conversation, etc. And again
in the afternoon an alternation of intellectual and physical exercises,
the latter so ordered as to bring into play every muscle, and thus
secure the symmetrical development of the body. Who can doubt that under
this system greater progress would be made in intellectual culture than
at present? The mind would find more effective tools for its work. But,
with an incredulous shake of the head, the people say, "Yes, this is all
very fine, but quite impracticable," If by this they mean that it is not
practicable until the public conscience is better enlightened, I grant
the force of the objection. But if they mean to say, that, with a due
appreciation of physical culture, such a school is an impracticability,
I am confident they are mistaken. The order I suggest could be
introduced in a week in any existing school, did the parents and
teachers so will. I am happy to be able to say that such a school as I
have described, possessing all the best facilities for classical and
scientific instruction, and under the management of eminent educators,
will be opened in an American city within the present year. The school
has been determined upon from the conviction that only in beginning with
the rising generation can the results of physical culture, or the system
combining both physical and intellectual culture, in their natural
relations, be thorough and satisfactory, and that the results of this
experiment would do more than all that can be said or written to arouse
public attention.
Sweetser says,--"Were I required to name the remedy which promises most
aid in the onset of consumption, I should say, daily gentle and
protracted exercise in a mild and equable atmosphere.... Exercise,
moreover, determines the blood to the surface of the body, rendering the
cutaneous functions more active and healthful, and may in this way also
contribute to the advantage of the lungs."
Dr. Parrish says that "vigorous and free exposure to the air is by far
the most efficient remedy in pulmonary consumption."
Dr. Pitcher states that "the consumptive Indians of the Osage tribe have
their symptoms suspended during their semi-annual buffalo-hunts, but
that these soon return on becoming again inactive in their towns."
Dr. Rush informs us that he saw three persons who had been cured of
consumption by the hardships of military life in the Revolutionary War.
The same distinguished authority affirms that "the remedy for
consumption must be sought in those exercises and employments which give
the greatest vigor to the constitution."
Dr. Chambers, physician to St. Mary's Hospital, says,--"If we examine
the history of those who have lived longest with consumption, we shall
not find them to have been those who have lived in-doors, hanging their
lives on their thermometers." He gives the case of a friend of his "who
from his youth has had tubercular disease, but has kept hounds,
contested elections, sat in Parliament, but never allows any one to
doctor his chest."
Lord Bacon asserted that "there was no disease among pupils that
gymnastics and calisthenics could not cure." And Galen declared "him to
be the best physician who was the best teacher of gymnastics." While
Dryden, long ago, sang,--
"The wise for cure on _exercise_ depend."
Consumptives are advised to ride on horseback, to make long journeys in
the saddle. This is doubtless one of the most valuable exercises. There
are numerous well-authenticated instances of cures by its means, even in
the advanced stages of the disease. But many persons cannot avail
themselves of its advantages. In our cities, not one phthisical invalid
in ten, especially among women, can command facilities for daily
horseback-riding, still less can they take long journeys.
Hunting, fishing, and mountain-air are advised. But how can many who
reside in towns and cities, and who most need muscular training, secure
such recreations?
Walking is very generally prescribed, and is doubtless the most
available of the exercises named. But in the case of women, the present
mode of dress seriously interferes with the ease and physiological
benefits of this exercise; and few would exchange the long skirt for the
short one with pantalets or Turkish trousers. And yet this change is
indispensable to the best results.
While I would encourage all out-door exercises and amusements, it is
evident that exercises which can be introduced into every house, which
may be practised by persons of both sexes, all ages and degrees of
strength, and which possess such fascination as shall make them
permanently attractive, are greatly to be desired, to meet wants not
otherwise supplied.
Many exercises have been advised with reference to general health and
strength. I submit a series possessing peculiar virtues for the
consumptive. To him all exercises are not equally profitable. Ten
movements of a sort adapted to his special needs are worth a hundred not
so adapted. He has a narrow chest and drooping shoulders. This
distortion results in displacement of the lungs. And yet he may have
legs and hips comparatively vigorous. Ten movements concentrated upon
those muscles whose deficiency permits the drooping of the shoulders
will be more valuable than a hundred for the legs. There are several
hundred muscles in the human body. In every case of consumption certain
groups of these muscles are defective. Restoration of the lost symmetry
calls for those exercises which will develop the defective groups.
Prescribing a walk for a patient whose legs are already vigorous, but
whose arms and shoulders are contracted and weak, is like prescribing a
medicine because it _is a medicine_, without regard to the nature of the
malady.
A blister applied to the chest relieves pain within. It accomplishes
this by drawing the blood to the surface, and thus subtracting from the
congestion at the point of disease. If the blister were applied to the
foot or leg, it would not sensibly relieve the congestion in the chest.
If, instead of applying a blister, we use exercise as the remedial
measure, and by drawing blood into the muscles we would relieve the
congestion within, the importance of subtracting from the vessels which
bear the blood to the diseased part is not less than in the case of the
blister. For the relief or cure of disease in any of the chest organs a
few well-directed movements of those muscles about the chest which lack
circulation will accomplish more than hours of walking.
The intelligent physician, in prescribing muscular training, will not
say, simply and generally, "I advise you to exercise," but he will
indicate the particular exercises applicable to the case. He will first
thoughtfully ask, "What group of muscles is defective?" When he has
answered this question accurately, he is prepared for a second,--"What
exercises will bring into direct training the defective group?" When
these points are settled, he can direct the training wisely. To
recommend horseback-riding--good as it is--for _all_ consumptives, is
not a whit more discriminating than to prescribe a particular variety of
food for all invalids. The medical man who has a general formula for a
certain class of patients is hardly more thoughtful than the vender of
the "all-healing ointment."
Little or no attention has been given to the vital subject of exercise
as a curative means. In many cases treated by Ling's methods, when
skilfully applied, the results have been so marvellous that medical men
who had not studied the philosophy of the Movement Cure have attributed
the rapid improvement to Animal Magnetism. They could not conceive that
muscular exercise alone could produce such wonderful results.
Symmetry of body and mind is vital to health. Its loss in the mind leads
not unfrequently to insanity,--its loss in the body to numberless
maladies. The great defect in our system of education lies just here.
There is no discrimination between the members of a class, part of which
needs one kind of culture to produce symmetry and health, while another
part needs quite another. The gymnasium, where all perform the same
exercises, may be charged with the same radical defect. In a school for
thorough mental or physical training, pupils must be classified and
trained with reference to their individual needs. This principle
underlies the successful treatment of consumption. He who would
contribute to its cure by exercise--the most efficient of all possible
remedies--must not say to his patients simply, "Exercise, exercise,
exercise," but he must distinctly mark out those exercises which are
precisely adapted to the case of each.
As an additional reason for discrimination in prescribing physical
exercises for consumptives, it may be mentioned that in almost every
patient belonging to this class there are complications with other
diseases each of which requires consideration.