If he has a good stock of reserve
physical power he will get on very well for a while, but all at once he
will come to a stop. How many hundreds of those who stood well when they
entered college get to a certain point and can get no farther, because
they have not the physical basis. They are like athletes who can run a
certain speed, but can never get beyond that. On the other hand, men who
have had a more liberal physical training will go right by them, though
not such good scholars, because they have more of a basis back in the
physical.
When these things are fully appreciated, the whole system of education
will be revolutionized. To build the brain we must build the body. We
must not sacrifice nerve tissue and nerve power in physical training, as
there is danger of doing if gymnastics are not guided by professional
men. But the proper training of the body should produce the highest
intellectual results.
Certain parts of the body bear certain relations to one another. The
office of the stomach is to supply the body with nourishment. The office
of the heart is to pump this nourishment over the body. The office of
the lungs is to feed the heart and stomach with pure blood. All support
one another, and all are dependent on each other. If a boy sits in a
cramped position in school, that interferes with the circulation of the
blood, and that with the nourishment of the brain. You could in this way
trace the cause of many a schoolboy's headache.
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