Essays On Education And Kindred Subjects (Fiscle Part- 11) by Herbert Spencer (best fiction novels to read TXT) 📕

Offspring Of    Other Creatures, And Were Careless Of    Learning How Best To

Rear Their Own Offspring, He Would Have Paralleled Any Of    The   Other

Absurdities He Ascribes To Them.

The Matter Is A Serious One, However. Ludicrous As Is The   Antithesis,

The Fact It Expresses Is Not Less Disastrous. As Remarks A Suggestive

Writer, The   First Requisite To Success In Life Is "To Be A Good Animal;"

And To Be A Nation Of    Good Animals Is The   First Condition To National

Prosperity. Not Only Is It That The   Event Of    A War Often Turns On The

Strength And Hardiness Of    Soldiers; But It Is That The   Contests Of

Commerce Are In Part Determined By The   Bodily Endurance Of    Producers.

Thus Far We Have Found No Reason To Fear Trials Of    Strength With Other

Races In Either Of    These Fields. But There Are Not Wanting Signs That

Our Powers Will Presently Be Taxed To The   Uttermost. The   Competition Of

Modern Life Is So Keen, That Few Can Bear The   Required Application

Without Injury. Already Thousands Break Down Under The   High Pressure

They Are Subject To. If This Pressure Continues To Increase, As It Seems

Likely To Do, It Will Try Severely Even The   Soundest Constitutions.

Hence It Is Becoming Of    Especial Importance That The   Training Of

Children Should Be So Carried On, As Not Only To Fit Them Mentally For

The Struggle Before Them, But Also To Make Them Physically Fit To Bear

Its Excessive Wear And Tear.

Happily The   Matter Is Beginning To Attract Attention. The   Writings Of

Mr. Kingsley Indicate A Reaction Against Over-Culture; Carried Perhaps,

As Reactions Usually Are, Somewhat Too Far. Occasional Letters And

Leaders In The   Newspapers Have Shown An Awakening Interest In Physical

Training. And The   Formation Of    A School, Significantly Nicknamed That Of

"Muscular Christianity," Implies A Growing Opinion That Our Present

Methods Of    Bringing Up Children Do Not Sufficiently Regard The   Welfare

Of The   Body. The   Topic Is Evidently Ripe For Discussion.

To Conform The   Regimen Of    The   Nursery And The   School To The   Established

Truths Of    Modern Science--This Is The   Desideratum. It Is Time That The

Benefits Which Our Sheep And Oxen Are Deriving From The   Investigations

Of The   Laboratory, Should Be Participated In By Our Children. Without

Calling In Question The   Great Importance Of    Horse-Training And

Pig-Feeding, We Would Suggest That, As The   Rearing Of    Well-Grown Men And

Women Is Also Of    Some Moment, These Conclusions Which Theory Indicates

And Practice Indorses, Ought To Be Acted On In The   Last Case As In The

First. Probably Not A Few Will Be Startled--Perhaps Offended--By This

Collocation Of    Ideas. But It Is A Fact Not To Be Disputed, And To Which

We Must Reconcile Ourselves, That Man Is Subject To The   Same Organic

Laws As Inferior Creatures. No Anatomist, No Physiologist, No Chemist,

Will For A Moment Hesitate To Assert, That The   General Principles Which

Are True Of    The   Vital Processes In Animals Are Equally True Of    The   Vital

Processes In Man. And A Candid Admission Of    This Fact Is Not Without Its

Reward: Namely, That The   Generalisations Established By Observation And

Experiment On Brutes, Become Available For Human Guidance. Rudimentary

As Is The   Science Of    Life, It Has Already Attained To Certain

Fundamental Principles Underlying The   Development Of    All Organisms, The

Human Included. That Which Has Now To Be Done, And That Which We Shall

Endeavour In Some Measure To Do, Is To Trace The   Bearings Of    These

Fundamental Principles On The   Physical Training Of    Childhood And Youth.

The Rhythmical Tendency Which Is Traceable In All Departments Of    Social

Life--Which Is Illustrated In The   Access Of    Despotism After Revolution,

Or, Among Ourselves, In The   Alternation Of    Reforming Epochs And

Conservative Epochs--Which, After A Dissolute Age, Brings An Age Of

Asceticism, And Conversely,--Which, In Commerce, Produces The   Recurring

Inflations And Panics--Which Carries The   Devotees Of    Fashion From One

Absurd Extreme To The   Opposite One;--This Rhythmical Tendency Affects

Also Our Table-Habits, And By Implication, The   Dietary Of    The   Young.

After A Period Distinguished By Hard Drinking And Hard Eating, Has Come

A Period Of    Comparative Sobriety, Which, In Teetotalism And

Vegetarianism, Exhibits Extreme Forms Of    Protest Against The   Riotous

Living Of    The   Past. And Along With This Change In The   Regimen Of    Adults,

Has Come A Parallel Change In The   Regimen For Boys And Girls. In Past

Generations The   Belief Was, That The   More A Child Could Be Induced To

Eat, The   Better; And Even Now, Among Farmers And In Remote Districts,

Where Traditional Ideas Most Linger, Parents May Be Found Who Tempt

Their Children Into Repletion. But Among The   Educated Classes, Who

Chiefly Display This Reaction Towards Abstemiousness, There May Be Seen

A Decided Leaning To The   Under-Feeding, Rather Than The   Over-Feeding, Of

Children. Indeed Their Disgust For By-Gone Animalism, Is More Clearly

Shown In The   Treatment Of    Their Offspring Than In The   Treatment Of

Themselves; For While Their Disguised Asceticism Is, In So Far As Their

Personal Conduct Is Concerned, Kept In Check By Their Appetites, It Has

Full Play In Legislating For Juveniles.

That Over-Feeding And Under-Feeding Are Both Bad, Is A Truism. Of    The

Two, However, The   Last Is The   Worst. As Writes A High Authority, "The

Effects Of    Casual Repletion Are Less Prejudicial, And More Easily

Corrected, Than Those Of    Inanition."[1] Besides, Where There Has Been No

Injudicious Interference, Repletion Seldom Occurs. "Excess Is The   Vice

Rather Of    Adults Than Of    The   Young, Who Are Rarely Either Gourmands Or

Epicures, Unless Through The   Fault Of    Those Who Rear Them."[2] This

System Of    Restriction Which Many Parents Think So Necessary, Is Based

Upon Inadequate Observation, And Erroneous Reasoning. There Is An

Over-Legislation In The   Nursery, As Well As An Over-Legislation In The

State; And One Of    The   Most Injurious Forms Of    It Is This Limitation In

The Quantity Of    Food.

"But Are Children To Be Allowed To Surfeit Themselves? Shall They Be

Suffered To Take Their Fill Of    Dainties And Make Themselves Ill, As They

Certainly Will Do?" As Thus Put, The   Question Admits Of    But One Reply.

But As Thus Put, It Assumes The   Point At Issue. We Contend That, As

Appetite Is A Good Guide To All The   Lower Creation--As It Is A Good

Guide To The   Infant--As It Is A Good Guide To The   Invalid--As It Is A

Good Guide To The   Differently-Placed Races Of    Men--And As It Is A Good

Guide For Every Adult Who Leads A Healthful Life; It May Safely Be

Inferred That It Is A Good Guide For Childhood. It Would Be Strange

Indeed Were It Here Alone Untrustworthy.

Perhaps Some Will Read This Reply With Impatience; Being Able, As They

Think, To Cite Facts Totally At Variance With It. It May Appear Absurd

If We Deny The   Relevancy Of    These Facts. And Yet The   Paradox Is Quite

Defensible. The   Truth Is, That The   Instances Of    Excess Which Such

Persons Have In Mind, Are Usually The   _Consequences_ Of    The   Restrictive

System They Seem To Justify. They Are The   Sensual Reactions Caused By An

Ascetic Regimen. They Illustrate On A Small Scale That Commonly-Remarked

Truth, That Those Who During Youth Have Been Subject To The   Most

Rigorous Discipline, Are Apt Afterwards To Rush Into The   Wildest

Extravagances. They Are Analogous To Those Frightful Phenomena, Once Not

Uncommon In Convents, Where Nuns Suddenly Lapsed From The   Extremest

Austerities Into An Almost Demoniac Wickedness. They Simply Exhibit The

Uncontrollable Vehemence Of    Long-Denied Desires. Consider The   Ordinary

Tastes And The   Ordinary Treatment Of    Children. The   Love Of    Sweets Is

Conspicuous And Almost Universal Among Them. Probably Ninety-Nine People

In A Hundred Presume That There Is Nothing More In This Than

Gratification Of    The   Palate; And That, In Common With Other Sensual

Desires, It Should Be Discouraged. The   Physiologist, However, Whose

Discoveries Lead Him To An Ever-Increasing Reverence For The

Arrangements Of    Things, Suspects Something More In This Love Of    Sweets

Than Is Currently Supposed; And Inquiry Confirms The   Suspicion. He Finds

That Sugar Plays An Important Part In The   Vital Processes. Both

Saccharine And Fatty Matters Are Eventually Oxidised In The   Body; And

There Is An Accompanying Evolution Of    Heat. Sugar Is The   Form To Which

Sundry Other Compounds Have To Be Reduced Before They Are Available As

Heat-Making Food; And This _Formation_ Of    Sugar Is Carried On In The

Body. Not Only Is Starch Changed Into Sugar In The   Course Of    Digestion,

But It Has Been Proved By M. Claude Bernard That The   Liver Is A Factory

In Which Other Constituents Of    Food Are Transformed Into Sugar: The   Need

For Sugar Being So Imperative That It Is Even Thus Produced From

Nitrogenous Substances When No Others Are Given. Now, When To The   Fact

That Children Have A Marked Desire For This Valuable Heat-Food, We Join

The Fact That They Have Usually A Marked Dislike To That Food Which

Gives Out The   Greatest Amount Of    Heat During Oxidation (Namely, Fat), We

Have Reason For Thinking That Excess Of    The   One Compensates For Defect

Of The   Other--That The   Organism Demands More Sugar Because It Cannot

Deal With Much Fat. Again, Children Are Fond Of    Vegetable Acids. Fruits

Of All Kinds Are Their Delight; And, In The   Absence Of    Anything Better,

They Will Devour Unripe Gooseberries And The   Sourest Of    Crabs. Now Not

Only Are Vegetable Acids, In Common With Mineral Ones, Very Good Tonics,

And Beneficial As Such When Taken In Moderation; But They Have, When

Administered In Their Natural Forms, Other Advantages. "Ripe Fruit,"

Says Dr. Andrew Combe, "Is More Freely Given On The   Continent Than In

This Country; And, Particularly When The   Bowels Act Imperfectly, It Is

Often Very Useful." See, Then, The   Discord Between The   Instinctive Wants

Of Children And Their Habitual Treatment. Here Are Two Dominant Desires,

Which In All Probability Express Certain Needs Of    The   Child's

Constitution; And Not Only Are They Ignored In The   Nursery-Regimen, But

There Is A General Tendency To Forbid The   Gratification Of    Them.

Bread-And-Milk In The   Morning, Tea And Bread-And-Butter At Night, Or

Some Dietary Equally Insipid, Is Rigidly Adhered To; And Any

Ministration To The   Palate Is Thought Needless, Or Rather, Wrong. What

Is The   Consequence? When, On Fête-Days, There Is Unlimited Access To

Good Things--When A Gift Of    Pocket-Money Brings The   Contents Of    The

Confectioner's Window Within Reach, Or When By Some Accident The   Free

Run Of    A Fruit-Garden Is Obtained; Then The   Long-Denied, And Therefore

Intense, Desires Lead To Great Excesses. There Is An Impromptu Carnival,

Due Partly To Release From Past Restraints, And Partly To The

Consciousness That A Long Lent Will Begin On The   Morrow. And Then, When

The Evils Of    Repletion Display Themselves, It Is Argued That Children

Must Not Be Left To The   Guidance Of    Their Appetites! These Disastrous

Results Of    Artificial Restrictions, Are Themselves Cited As Proving The

Need For Further Restrictions! We Contend, Therefore, That The   Reasoning

Used To Justify This System Of    Interference Is Vicious. We Contend That,

Were Children Allowed Daily To Partake Of    These More Sapid Edibles, For

Which There Is A Physiological Requirement, They Would Rarely Exceed, As

They Now Mostly Do When They Have The   Opportunity: Were Fruit, As Dr.

Combe Recommends, "To Constitute A Part Of    The   Regular Food" (Given, As

He Advises, Not Between Meals, But Along With Them), There Would Be None

Of That Craving Which Prompts The   Devouring Of    Crabs And Sloes. And

Similarly In Other Cases.

Not Only Is It That The