may happen: either the load is excessive, and the extensors of the spine support it with difficulty. The vertebræ then yield to the pressure, and the curves of the spine are exaggerated. A round back is the result.

It is not the same when the load is not too heavy, and it is, as is usually the case, balanced on the top of the head. The vertebral column does not then perform a work of strength, but a work of precision, and the porter has to give to the vertebral column a direction which agrees perfectly with that of the weight. The axis of the body must then become vertical, and there must be no deviation of figure, under pain of displacement of the burthen.

We can find no better orthopaedic exercise for a child with a vicious carriage than the carrying of light burthens on the head. If there are no changes in the vertebræ, if the deviation of the spine to be prevented or remedied is due solely to defective harmony in the action of the muscles of the back, this balancing exercise will be the best that can be found to remedy the nascent deformity.

Numerous observers have pointed out the elegance and regularity of figure in country-women who carry vessels of water on their heads; and how on the contrary there is deformity in those parts of the country in which the pitcher is carried on the shoulder.

The women of Teneriffe, according to a traveller who visited that island, are remarkable for the elegance of their figures; their skill is also surprising in balancing on their heads different light objects.

PART VI.

THE OFFICE OF THE BRAIN IN

EXERCISE.

WORK OF

OVERWORK IN SCHOOLS MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXERCISE EXCITO-MOTOR WORK LATENT STIMULATION-THE WORK OF CO-ORDINATION IN EXERCISE-AUTOMATISM IN EXERCISE.

66

CHAPTER I.

"OVERWORK IN SCHOOLS."

The Scholastic Regimen-Report of the French Academy of Medicine. Mental Overwork" and Sedentary Life-Proposed Remedies; A more Simple course of Study, and more Physical Exercise-How these Reforms must be applied. Their Mutual Dependence-Difficulty of Simplifying the Course of Study. Dangers of more Physical Exercise without Diminution of Mental Work-Are Bodily Exercises Recreation for the Brain -Unrecognised Importance of care in the Choice of all Exercise for the Needs of Cerebral Hygiene.

A HYGIENIC question of the greatest interest has for some years attracted the attention of the public and the profession. We are alarmed by the dangers of excessive work of children in schools and academies, and the highest authorities have pointed out the sad results of mental overwork.

The French Academy of Medicine, officially invited to give counsel both on the extent of the evil and on the nature of the remedies to be applied, came, after an animated discussion, to the following conclusions :

"Without concerning itself with the course of study, of which however it desires a simplification, the Academy insists specially on the following points: "A longer time of sleep for the younger children: for all the scholars a shorter time in class and preparation, that is a shorter time spent in sedentary occupations, and a proportionate increase of the time for recreation and exercise.

"The imperious necessity of making all the scholars perform daily exercises of physical training proportional to their age (walking, running, leaping, formations,

developments, regular and prescribed movements, gymnastics with apparatus, fencing, games of strength, etc.)"* The French Academy of Medicine points out in the existing scholastic regimen two different faults: excessive mental work, for it desires a more simple course of study -and insufficient muscular exercise, for it advises increased attention to physical exercise.

But if we consider the actual terms of the resolutions, the learned assembly does not appear to consider the two proposed reforms as of equal urgency. It insists on the "imperious necessity" of "a shorter time spent in sedentary occupations," while it rather vaguely expresses a "desire" to see a more simple course of study, without giving any definite counsel about the mental work of the scholars.

It seems that the members of the learned assembly have especially wished to decide with their full authority on the question of sedentary life, which is more directly within the province of medicine, and have preferred to leave to other judges the care of deciding whether the children really perform excessive mental work.

We may then hope that a new enquiry, directed by specialists, will allow us to form a judgment on this question of mental overwork with as much clearness as the French Academy of Medicine has decided in the matter of physical exercise.

But many months have already elapsed since the publication of the Academy's report, and no step has been taken, no enquiry has been officially ordered. The question of mental overwork after having, quite rightly, excited everybody, seems to be passing into oblivion. It is surrounded by silence, as if everything had been said.

Must we then consider the report of the Academy of Medicine as a sufficient guide? If it were, we should be tempted immediately to apply the reform which it declares to be most urgent, and to greatly increase the amount of bodily exercise, while reserving for a later reform the diminution of mental work, which is not so

* Comptes rendus de l'Acadé:nie de Médecine. July 15, 1887.