Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11), Herbert Spencer [historical books to read .txt] 📗

Not That Mental

Activity Which Is Spontaneous And Enjoyable Does The   Mischief; But That

Which Is Persevered In After A Hot Or Aching Head Commands Desistance.

Not That Bodily Exertion Which Is Pleasant Or Indifferent, Does Injury;

But That Which Is Continued When Exhaustion Forbids. It Is True That, In

Those Who Have Long Led Unhealthy Lives, The   Sensations Are Not

Trustworthy Guides. People Who Have For Years Been Almost Constantly

In-Doors, Who Have Exercised Their Brains Very Much And Their Bodies

Scarcely At All, Who In Eating Have Obeyed Their Clocks Without

Consulting Their Stomachs, May Very Likely Be Misled By Their Vitiated

Feelings. But Their Abnormal State Is Itself The   Result Of    Transgressing

Their Feelings. Had They From Childhood Never Disobeyed What We May Term

The Physical Conscience, It Would Not Have Been Seared, But Would Have

Remained A Faithful Monitor.

 

 

 

Among The   Sensations Serving For Our Guidance Are Those Of    Heat And

Cold; And A Clothing For Children Which Does Not Carefully Consult These

Sensations, Is To Be Condemned. The   Common Notion About "Hardening" Is A

Grievous Delusion. Not A Few Children Are "Hardened" Out Of    The   World;

And Those Who Survive, Permanently Suffer Either In Growth Or

Constitution. "Their Delicate Appearance Furnishes Ample Indication Of

The Mischief Thus Produced, And Their Frequent Attacks Of    Illness Might

Prove A Warning Even To Unreflecting Parents," Says Dr. Combe. The

Reasoning On Which This Hardening-Theory Rests Is Extremely Superficial.

Wealthy Parents, Seeing Little Peasant Boys And Girls Playing About In

The Open Air Only Half-Clothed, And Joining With This Fact The   General

Healthiness Of    Labouring People, Draw The   Unwarrantable Conclusion That

The Healthiness Is The   Result Of    The   Exposure, And Resolve To Keep Their

Own Offspring Scantily Covered! It Is Forgotten That These Urchins Who

Gambol Upon Village-Greens Are In Many Respects Favourably

Circumstanced--That Their Lives Are Spent In Almost Perpetual Play; That

They Are All Day Breathing Fresh Air; And That Their Systems Are Not

Disturbed By Over-Taxed Brains. For Aught That Appears To The   Contrary,

Their Good Health May Be Maintained, Not In Consequence Of, But In Spite

Of, Their Deficient Clothing. This Alternative Conclusion We Believe To

Be The   True One; And That An Inevitable Detriment Results From The   Loss

Of Animal Heat To Which They Are Subject.

 

 

Part 1 Chapter 4 (Physical Education) Pg 56

 

For When, The   Constitution Being Sound Enough To Bear It, Exposure Does

Produce Hardness, It Does So At The   Expense Of    Growth. This Truth Is

Displayed Alike In Animals And In Man. Shetland Ponies Bear Greater

Inclemencies Than The   Horses Of    The   South, But Are Dwarfed. Highland

Sheep And Cattle, Living In A Colder Climate, Are Stunted In Comparison

With English Breeds. In Both The   Arctic And Antarctic Regions The   Human

Race Falls Much Below Its Ordinary Height: The   Laplander And Esquimaux

Are Very Short; And The   Terra Del Fuegians, Who Go Naked In A Wintry

Land, Are Described By Darwin As So Stunted And Hideous, That "One Can

Hardly Make One's-Self Believe They Are Fellow-Creatures."

 

 

 

Science Explains This Dwarfishness Produced By Great Abstraction Of

Heat; Showing That, Food And Other Things Being Equal, It Unavoidably

Results. For, As Before Pointed Out, To Make Up For That Cooling By

Radiation Which The   Body Is Ever Undergoing, There Must Be A Constant

Oxidation Of    Certain Matters Forming Part Of    The   Food. And In Proportion

As The   Thermal Loss Is Great, Must The   Quantity Of    These Matters

Required For Oxidation Be Great. But The   Power Of    The   Digestive Organs

Is Limited. Consequently, When They Have To Prepare A Large Quantity Of

This Material Needful For Maintaining The   Temperature, They Can Prepare

But A Small Quantity Of    The   Material Which Goes To Build Up The   Frame.

Excessive Expenditure For Fuel Entails Diminished Means For Other

Purposes. Wherefore There Necessarily Results A Body Small In Size, Or

Inferior In Texture, Or Both.

 

 

 

Hence The   Great Importance Of    Clothing. As Liebig Says:--"Our Clothing

Is, In Reference To The   Temperature Of    The   Body, Merely An Equivalent

For A Certain Amount Of    Food." By Diminishing The   Loss Of    Heat, It

Diminishes The   Amount Of    Fuel Needful For Maintaining The   Heat; And When

The Stomach Has Less To Do In Preparing Fuel, It Can Do More In

Preparing Other Materials. This Deduction Is Confirmed By The   Experience

Of Those Who Manage Animals. Cold Can Be Borne By Animals Only At An

Expense Of    Fat, Or Muscle, Or Growth, As The   Case May Be. "If Fattening

Cattle Are Exposed To A Low Temperature, Either Their Progress Must Be

Retarded, Or A Great Additional Expenditure Of    Food Incurred."[5] Mr.

Apperley Insists Strongly That, To Bring Hunters Into Good Condition, It

Is Necessary That The   Stable Should Be Kept Warm. And Among Those Who

Rear Racers, It Is An Established Doctrine That Exposure Is To Be

Avoided.

 

 

 

The Scientific Truth Thus Illustrated By Ethnology, And Recognised By

Agriculturists And Sportsmen, Applies With Double Force To Children. In

Proportion To Their Smallness And The   Rapidity Of    Their Growth Is The

Injury From Cold Great. In France, New-Born Infants Often Die In Winter

From Being Carried To The   Office Of    The   _Maire_ For Registration. "M.

Quetelet Has Pointed Out, That In Belgium Two Infants Die In January For

One That Dies In July." And In Russia The   Infant Mortality Is Something

Enormous. Even When Near Maturity, The   Undeveloped Frame Is

Comparatively Unable To Bear Exposure: As Witness The   Quickness With

Which Young Soldiers Succumb In A Trying Campaign. The   _Rationale_ Is

Obvious. We Have Already Adverted To The   Fact That, In Consequence Of

The Varying Relation Between Surface And Bulk, A Child Loses A

Relatively Larger Amount Of    Heat Than An Adult; And Here We Must Point

Out That The   Disadvantage Under Which The   Child Thus Labours Is Very

Great. Lehmann Says:--"If The   Carbonic Acid Excreted By Children Or

Young Animals Is Calculated For An Equal Bodily Weight, It Results That

Children Produce Nearly Twice As Much Acid As Adults." Now The   Quantity

Of Carbonic Acid Given Off Varies With Tolerable Accuracy As The

Quantity Of    Heat Produced. And Thus We See That In Children The   System,

Even When Not Placed At A Disadvantage, Is Called Upon To Provide Nearly

Double The   Proportion Of    Material For Generating Heat.

 

 

 

See, Then, The   Extreme Folly Of    Clothing The   Young Scantily. What

Father, Full-Grown Though He Is, Losing Heat Less Rapidly As He Does,

And Having No Physiological Necessity But To Supply The   Waste Of    Each

Day--What Father, We Ask, Would Think It Salutary To Go About With Bare

Legs, Bare Arms, And Bare Neck? Yet This Tax On The   System, From Which

He Would Shrink, He Inflicts On His Little Ones, Who Are So Much Less

Able To Bear It! Or, If He Does Not Inflict It, Sees It Inflicted

Without Protest. Let Him Remember That Every Ounce Of    Nutriment

Needlessly Expended For The   Maintenance Of    Temperature, Is So Much

Deducted From The   Nutriment Going To Build Up The   Frame; And That Even

When Colds, Congestions, Or Other Consequent Disorders Are Escaped,

Diminished Growth Or Less Perfect Structure Is Inevitable.

 

 

 

"The Rule Is, Therefore, Not To Dress In An Invariable Way In All Cases,

But To Put On Clothing In Kind And Quantity _Sufficient In The

Individual Case To Protect The   Body Effectually From An Abiding

Sensation Of    Cold, However Slight_." This Rule, The   Importance Of    Which

Dr. Combe Indicates By The   Italics, Is One In Which Men Of    Science And

Practitioners Agree. We Have Met With None Competent To Form A Judgment

On The   Matter, Who Do Not Strongly Condemn The   Exposure Of    Children's

Limbs. If There Is One Point Above Others In Which "Pestilent Custom"

Should Be Ignored, It Is This.

 

 

 

Lamentable, Indeed, Is It To See Mothers Seriously Damaging The

Constitutions Of    Their Children Out Of    Compliance With An Irrational

Fashion. It Is Bad Enough That They Should Themselves Conform To Every

Folly Which Our Gallic Neighbours Please To Initiate; But That They

Should Clothe Their Children In Any Mountebank Dress Which _Le Petit

Courrier Des Dames_ Indicates, Regardless Of    Its Insufficiency And

Unfitness, Is Monstrous. Discomfort, More Or Less Great, Is Inflicted;

Frequent Disorders Are Entailed; Growth Is Checked Or Stamina

Undermined; Premature Death Not Uncommonly Caused; And All Because It Is

Thought Needful To Make Frocks Of    A Size And Material Dictated By French

Caprice. Not Only Is It That For The   Sake Of    Conformity, Mothers Thus

Punish And Injure Their Little Ones By Scantiness Of    Covering; But It Is

That From An Allied Motive They Impose A Style Of    Dress Which Forbids

Healthful Activity. To Please The   Eye, Colours And Fabrics Are Chosen

Totally Unfit To Bear That Rough Usage Which Unrestrained Play Involves;

And Then To Prevent Damage The   Unrestrained Play Is Interdicted. "Get Up

This Moment: You Will Soil Your Clean Frock," Is The   Mandate Issued To

Some Urchin Creeping About On The   Floor. "Come Back: You Will Dirty Your

Stockings," Calls Out The   Governess To One Of    Her Charges, Who Has Left

The Footpath To Scramble Up A Bank. Thus Is The   Evil Doubled. That They

May Come Up To Their Mamma's Standard Of    Prettiness, And Be Admired By

Her Visitors, Children Must Have Habiliments Deficient In Quantity And

Unfit In Texture; And That These Easily-Damaged Habiliments May Be Kept

Clean And Uninjured, The   Restless Activity So Natural And Needful For

Part 1 Chapter 4 (Physical Education) Pg 57

The Young Is Restrained. The   Exercise Which Becomes Doubly Requisite

When The   Clothing Is Insufficient, Is Cut Short, Lest It Should Deface

The Clothing. Would That The   Terrible Cruelty Of    This System Could Be

Seen By Those Who Maintain It! We Do Not Hesitate To Say That, Through

Enfeebled Health, Defective Energies, And Consequent Non-Success In

Life, Thousands Are Annually Doomed To Unhappiness By This Unscrupulous

Regard For Appearances: Even When They Are Not, By Early Death,

Literally Sacrificed To The   Moloch Of    Maternal Vanity. We Are Reluctant

To Counsel Strong Measures, But Really The   Evils Are So Great As To

Justify, Or Even To Demand, A Peremptory Interference On The   Part Of

Fathers.

 

 

 

Our Conclusions Are, Then--That, While The   Clothing Of    Children Should

Never Be In Such Excess As To Create Oppressive Warmth, It Should Always

Be Sufficient To Prevent Any General Feeling Of    Cold;[6] That, Instead

Of The   Flimsy Cotton, Linen, Or Mixed Fabrics Commonly Used, It Should

Be Made Of    Some Good Non-Conductor, Such As Coarse Woollen Cloth; That

It Should Be So Strong As To Receive Little Damage From The   Hard Wear

And Tear Which Childish Sports Will Give It; And That Its Colours Should

Be Such As Will Not Soon Suffer From Use And Exposure.

 

To The   Importance Of    Bodily Exercise Most People Are In Some Degree

Awake. Perhaps Less Needs Saying On This Requisite Of    Physical Education

Than On Most Others: At Any Rate, In So Far As Boys Are Concerned.

Public Schools And Private Schools Alike Furnish Tolerably Adequate

Play-Grounds; And There Is Usually A Fair Share Of    Time For Out-Door

Games, And A Recognition Of    Them As Needful. In This, If In No Other

Direction, It Seems Admitted That The   Promptings Of    Boyish Instinct May

Advantageously Be Followed; And, Indeed, In The   Modern Practice Of

Breaking The   Prolonged Morning's And Afternoon's Lessons By A Few

Minutes' Open-Air Recreation, We See An Increasing Tendency To Conform

School-Regulations To The   Bodily Sensations Of    The   Pupils. Here, Then,

Little Needs Be Said In The   Way Of    Expostulation Or Suggestion.

 

 

 

But We Have Been Obliged