vising special exercises for special ailments and deformities,— exercises that would not tax the brain nor weary and wear one portion of the body to the detriment of other portions. Aware of the important part the soul-force performs in exciting, sustaining, and directing muscular activity, and how difficult and inefficient muscular contraction becomes when the mind which directs it is languid, or absorbed by other ideas, and that for true and benefical exercise there must be harmony of action between the moving power and the part to be moved, or, in other words, harmony of action between soul and body (hence the name psycho-physical), we sought for exercises that would create the most amusement and the greatest amount of mirthfulness; and so, from childhood's romps and plays we gathered some, others from work, idealized and beautified, and from the graceful movements of inanimate things,-everything to give varied and exhilarating exercise, and to excite cheerfulness and joyousness of spirit.

The great superiority of active sports as a means of exercise over mere measured movements is evident. Every kind of play interests and excites the spirit, as well as occupies the body; and by thus placing the muscles in the best position for wholesome and beneficial exertion, enables them to act without fatigue, for a length of time which, if occupied in mere measured movements, or in walking for exercise, would utterly exhaust their powers. The elastic spring, bright eye, and cheerful glow of beings thus excited form a perfect contrast to the spiritless and inanimate aspect of many of our boarding-school processions, and the result in point of health and activity is not less different. It must not, however, be supposed that a walk simply for the sake of exercise can never be beneficial. If a person be thoroughly satisfied that exercise is requisite, and is desirous to obey the call which demands it, he is from that very circumstance in a fit state for deriving benefit from it, because

the desire of soul is then in perfect harmony with the muscular action.

The effect of exercise upon the organs or muscles employed is very remarkable and should be understood. When any living part is called into activity, the process of waste and renovation, which are incessantly going on in every part of the body, proceeds with greater rapidity, and in due proportion to each other. To meet this condition the vessels and nerves become excited to higher action, and the supply of arterial or nutritive blood and of nervous energy becomes greater. When the active exercise ceases, the excitement thus given to the vital function subsides, and the vessels and nerves return at length to their original state. If the exercises be resumed frequently, and at moderate intervals, the increased action of the bloodvessels and nerves becomes more permanent, and does not sink to the same low degree as formerly; nutrition rather exceeds waste, and the part gains consequently in vigor and activity. But if the exercise be resumed too often, or be carried too far, so as to fatigue and exhaust the vital powers of the part, as is often the case in heavy manual labor, or in gymnastic exercises where heavy apparatus is employed, the results become reversed; waste then exceeds nutrition, and a loss of volume and of power takes place, accompanied with a painful sense of weariness, fatigue, and exhaustion. When, on the other hand, exercise is altogether refrained from, the vital functions decay from the want of their requisite stimulus ; little blood is sent to the part, and nutrition and strength fail in equal proportion. When muscular employment is neglected, the body becomes weak, dull, and unfit for powerful efforts, and all the functions languish.

When exercise is taken regularly and in due proportion, a grateful sense of activity and happiness prevails, and we feel ourselves fit for every duty, both mental and bodily. It fol

lows, therefore, first, that, to be beneficial, exercises ought always to be proportioned to the strength and constitution, and not carried beyond the point, easily discoverable by experience, at which waste begins to exceed nutrition, and exhaustion to take the place of strength; secondly, that it ought to be regularly resumed after a sufficient interval of rest, in order to insure the permanence of the healthy impulse given to the vital powers of the muscular system; and, lastly, that it is of the utmost importance to join with it a mental and soul stimulus.