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day; for, at all ages, health must be worked for; and health and bodily exercise cannot be separated from one another. And such exercise must not be restricted to the quiet and partial muscular movements required in the act of walking; although this is not to be neglected, inasmuch as change of air, exposure to the direct rays of the sun, and to an unbreathed and undeteriorated atmosphere, is necessary. But, in addition to this, such exercise must be made use of, as calls into action the muscles of the arms, shoulders, back, &c., as is the case in the games and sports of boyhood, or in the use of the skipping-rope, battle-door and shuttle-cock, and other less rough means of effecting the same end, had recourse to in the girl's play-ground or school-room. How often and strongly should it be said to all concerned in this great question-all the muscles of the body must be called into regular use, if muscular exercise is to be as useful to the health and well-being of the general system, as it is capable of being. At the same time, the importance of making this great means of health a sport and enjoyment, and by no means a task or a troublesome duty,-a relaxation of mind, and not a tedious addition to the scholastic forms and prescribed ordinances,-may be, in some instances, justifiably adverted to. Can anything be much more unreasonable, or less likely to fulfil its purpose, than to see the hours of play and of relaxation of mind, which might be passed in gleeful and active games, as cricket and the like, spent in making lads of unequal strength strive to accomplish the same violent

DANCING, AS AN EXERCISE.

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gymnastic efforts, with all the set and regulate d formalities, and the same struggle for reward or distinction, and fear of disgrace, that animates the school hours? Can anything be less likely to form active and strong women in after-life, than the staid and frigid processions of boarding-school misses, that are encountered so often in the public streets?

A few words may be offered in this place, in favour of dancing, as an exercise, and as a school-room recreation. Exercising so many muscles otherwise little used, exercising them fully and duly, and without violence,-exercising them to the cheering influence of music,-exercising them in forms of grace and beauty,-dancing may be made an important and valuable part of the physical education, and as such should be spoken of and promoted by the powerful voice of the medical public. The balanced action of the opposing muscles, the active use of the different articulations, the extensive and varied action of the spinal muscles, effected by dancing,—and the degree to which the mental excitement produced by it enables the exercise to be made use of without undue fatigue,—are strong reasons for so decided and favourable an opinion; and this, without obtrusive interference with opinions as to the propriety or otherwise of carrying the practice of dancing to an excess in the after-life, and making it the plea for late hours, &c. Let people think as they will of public balls, or even of private balls: with the conscientious opinions of others it is not my wish nor

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intention to interfere: but to dancing in the school

room, or among the members of the family circle, few will object; and it is not too much to say, that, if dancing could be made a daily-not nightly-exercise, among the people of all classes, the healthiness and the expectation of life, as well as its happiness, would be increased.

The importance of exercising duly and regularly all the muscles of the body, cannot be too much or too strongly insisted on. It may be said emphatically, that workmen at laborious trades are generally unhealthy. This must, of course, in great part be attributed to the tainted and impure atmosphere, which they are still so often doomed to breathe; but there is no doubt that much of it is owing to the muscles being so very partially exercised. In most such trades, the muscles of the arms are almost exclusively made use of, those of the lower limbs being little exercised. The labour may be great, and even unduly fatiguing, but all the muscles are not adequately used; and even although a man may have to wield a hammer weighing twenty or thirty pounds during several hours of every day, that will probably not be sufficient for the requirements of the economy and the maintenance of health. For this, such other exercise must be used, as calls the lower limbs into action; and it may be needless to add, that, in order to correct, as far as may be, the effect of the impure or confined air of the workshop, such exercise should be taken in the open air.

It may be sometimes wisely remembered, that

WALKING.

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exercise usually does most good, if the situation in which it is taken is elevated, and if the air is dry, and rather cold than warm. The sufficiently obvious explanations of this,-from a dry air containing a larger percentage of oxygen, from its causing a larger combustion of carbon,-from its carrying off more readily the vapours exhaled from the lungs and skin,-from its stimulant effect on the vessels of the lining membrane of the air-passages, and on those of the skin,—are so many reasons, why this rule, although general, and as such useful, is not without many and important exceptions. Such an air would be manifestly objectionable in such cases as would be unduly stimulated by it; in such cases as could not resist the effect of the abstract dryness of air of an elevated district, or would suffer from the increased pulmonary effort involved in the extra consumption of carbon. Cases of general and great debility, from whatever cause, and many cases of phthisis, are among the evident illustrations of the conditions of system, in which an elevated district of country might be wisely objected to.

Of all kinds of exercise, walking is that which is the most universally attainable, and at the same time the best. Calling so many muscles into action, and especially those of the lower extremities, of which the circulation is apt to be more languidly and imperfectly performed, from the degree of resistance presented by the force of gravity to the return of the blood to the heart,-calling, moreover, so much of the moving apparatus of the body into reciprocal and

balanced action, flexor and extensor muscles being correspondingly exercised,-walking is undoubtedly the best of all exercises for the purposes of health; independently of its secondary and by no means little useful effect, of carrying the respiratory organs into the freer and purer air, and exposing the system to the extraordinary, and (at least in the colder and temperate countries of the earth) the healthful influence, of the direct rays of the sun.

The degree of the exercise must, of course, vary with the age, condition, and habits, of the individual; but the degree of exercise that is in most cases serviceable, is generally much underrated. Two miles a day is the minimum distance, which a person of moderate health and strength ought to walk. If the powers of the system increase, or are stronger to begin with, the minimum ought to be four miles. The object should be, in most cases, to walk the four miles in an hour; and the invalid, beginning perhaps by walking a mile, or a mile and a half, in an hour, might gradually increase his rate of walking, until he had accomplished this end. Quick walking calls more muscles into action than slow walking does, and is therefore better. The muscles of the back and trunk, neck and arms, are comparatively very little used in slow walking. A person can hardly walk quickly, without using them to a very considerable degree. It is a maxim so sound and important as to deserve frequent repetition, that the greater the number of the muscles used, the more advantageous will be the exercise.

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