children for ages, as is instanced by the example we have of the preservation among the children of certain games of ball played by children in the time of Homer. "Blindman's Buff" has come down from the time of Henry the Eighth. "Hide and Seek" is mentioned by Pollux and an account of the same game is found in an ancient sun myth told by the Pueblo Indians. At the same time a study of the free play of kindergarten children at recess and at noon reveals the fact that the traditional game does not appeal to them at that age. For a year careful observations were made on the free play of the kindergarten children in the city of Santa Cruz. No suggestions were made to the children as to what they should play at recess and the free play was not interfered with unless it became positively dangerous. During, this time the plays were almost entirely spontaneous. They asked for "Hide and Seek" and played it once or twice, "Blindman's Buff" they played several times, "Drop the Handker chief," once or twice, but these are all of the traditional games in which they have shown an interest. Observations made for five months on the play of the children in the kindergarten connected with the Department of Education at Stanford University revealed but one traditional game in which those children indulged, and it was not played more than four times during the term. What makes the little ones care so much more for the spontaneous than for the traditional game? What is it the spontaneous play possesses that the traditional game lacks? Is it physical exercise? No. Is it the dramatic element? Not necessarily. Is it opportunity for self-prominence or leadership? No. In none of these things does the charm of the spontaneous play for the young child lie, but rather in the flexibility and in the relation to the environment of the child permitted where no set form is insisted upon. In the traditional game very often the form has not been altered for hundreds of years. The child must play the same game over indefinitely in the same way, or else the objection comes, "O Philip, you are not playing right." In the spontaneous play on the other hand, while a certain amount of set form grows up under the children's own hands and is imposed by them from moment to moment, at the same time this set form is changed to conform to the varying moods of the children. The lesson. May we not draw a lesson from this as to the character of the games of kindergarten children when on the ring. The kindergarten should not impose upon them from without the form of playing the game, as many of our kin dergartners do, but should let the children evolve it themselves. As it takes shape in the children's hands she should let them crystallize it as much as they desire, but should be on the lookout for every new suggestion from the children as to a possible variation in the manner of playing, lest it become purely mechanical. A further reason why some of the traditional plays fail to hold the young child is because they are out of his environment in space and time. The words of "Here came three dukes a riding," mean nothing to the little child and he has not yet arrived at a point where he prefers a meaningless routine to a play instinct with suggestion from his own environment. Out of thirty-five different dramatic plays of the Santa Cruz children occurring during a period of six weeks, we find but three, "Dragon," "Wild Bear," and "Indians," of which they did not have the direct suggestion in the life around them. Ought not this to come home to the kindergartners who are such devotees of Froebel that in in endeavoring to preserve his spiritual thought they dare not swerve one iota from the form in which he has presented it and go on giving the children such games as the "Charcoal Burner" and the "Wolf and the Boar"? Prof. Barnes has well put this problem when he says, "It was a strange thing to see at the Kindergartner Congress in Chicago this summer, 1893, an international body of kindergartners seriously discussing the question whether Froebel's plays should be modified in our kin dergartens of to-day. Put the question in the concrete and it becomes absurd. Should a child who has never seen snow, living among the palms and orange trees of Los Angeles, be confined in the kindergarten to the plays developed by Froebel among the winter snows and pineclad hills of Germany? Let the teacher use the best material she can find, no matter what the source. If she has Froebel's spirit she has a true child-garden, no matter whether she uses a single word of his or not. Summary. To summarize, I should like to emphasize the great importance of physical exercise for young children, to show that in the kindergarten games there is opportunity for much active ex ertion, especially in the form of large swinging movements; and to point out, by means of a study of the elements found in children's free play, certain lines along which our kindergarten games need to be developed in order to exert their strongest holding power upon the child. Stanford, Cal. GINEVRA SISSON, Leland Stanford University. Physical Culture a Necessity in Public Schools HERE is no question before the educators at the present time which is of more vital importance to the present generation, and generations to follow, than the subject of physical culture, and the best means of introducing it into the public schools. The moral and intellectual natures of chil dren have always been regarded as proper subjects for training and development by those in authority, in order that the state shall receive a fitting return for its investment. But I regret to say, except in a very few instances, the physical system has been left to take care of itself. The principal and most substantial element which enters into the state as well as national progress, is sound mental development. The indispensable complement of sound mental development is a vigorous physical constitution. A sound mind is the product of, and requires the sustenance of, a sound physical body. A weak and undeveloped body cannot supply the vital energy demanded by an active nervous system. Importance to posterity. Since the health of the mind and body is essential to a well balanced organization, and physical conditions are often transmitted by generation, how important it is that those who would perpetuate their names, and would have children to honorably represent them, should consider themselves anatomically and physiologically beforehand. "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit;" neither can a weak and sickly man or woman bring forth strong and healthy children. Careful training subsequent to birth may greatly modify inherited tendencies to consumption, heart, or other organic troubles, but it is a question if all traces of them can be obliterated. Relation to intellect and morality. The training and development of the physical system is certainly a subject which demands as much attention as is given to the moral and intellectual. It should be placed co-ordinately with that of the intellect, and should form an important part in all school training. For oftentimes, as is well known, educational means and appliances defeat their own purposes. If we are to judge by the poor specimens of manhood that are graduated by our ken down in health, and with ambition de institutions of learning, many of whom are brostroyed, we are at least justified in making the inference that the processes leading to such results are radically wrong. Physical culture in schools. The schedule of studies in our public school system should include physical culture for both sexes. This is a question, as I have before intimated, not merely of individual, but of state and national importance. Weak and unhealthy children are not likely to grow up into strong and self-supporting men and women, and the latter are absolutely necessary for the nation's welfare. The time has arrived when physical education should no longer be looked upon as a whim of unpractical enthusiasts and hobbyriders, but as an indispensable element in every school curriculum. Apparatus is not indispensable. There is no necessity for making the work complicated, or dependent on expensive or cumbersome apparatus. Most of the muscles of the body can be exercised by very simple movements which are easily learned and readily executed. Not, however, that apparatus is of small value in physical culture work. It is of great value, and, in some cases, of absolute necessity. What I wish to bring out is that while apparatus assists in the work and gives to it the diversity which renders it interesting as well as instructive, there are few movements with apparatus which cannot be duplicated by free movements, i. c., without apparatus. This subject is by no means new; but its grave importance, when considered with reference to society and posterity, and the phenomena of physical degeneracy cropping out here and there, I deem of sufficient importance for bringing it before parents and teachers at every possible opportunity. In considering the wide universe of matter, both organic and inorganic, we recognize certain laws and principles, which govern it in all its parts and relations. As in nature at large, so in the human family, fixed principles exist. The observance of these principles secures harmony of organization, physical health, mental vigor, happiness. To disregard these principles means premature decay in body and mind, irregularity, physical infirmity, and misery. These principles, or laws, which relate to human existence and well-being, are well known to most thinking men and women, and command their approval, if they do not always command their obedience. It is evident, however, in our public schools, that with all our progress in the arts and sciences, and in general intelligence, we have omitted from our curriculum that study having for its object the systematic training of the body. It is no more possible for the body to become a good working machine without culture, or training, than it is for the mind to become intellectually expert without the culture and training, which we call education. We do not expect to find expert or great thinkers in men or women who have not had the advantage of mental culture. We then ought not to expect sound bodies in our boys and girls who have not had the advantage of regular systematic culture, particularly in those who are encouraged to be prim, subdued, and to suppress the natural outburst of animal spirits. It is not difficult to imagine the results if the mind were neglected to the same extent that the body is. One needs no further proof of the necessity of physical training than to go into schoolrooms and see the number of pale children, with poking heads, hollow chests, and crooked backs. backs. These tell too plainly the story of the sowing of the seeds of a multitude of diseases, which in after life must ripen; creatures to be pitied, with but little strength to meet the battle of life, and less capacity to enjoy its great pleasures. Physical education. Physical education is a subject which receives much superficial attention. But it is one on which most parents have only vague and indefinite views. It does occur, however, to a few parents, that the child ought to take exercise, and with this in mind, he is sent to a gymnasium. But in few cases is any attention paid to the child's particular needs, and in many instances he is left to follow his own inclinations, or is taught a series of movements, which are by no means physical culture. This is about as wise as to expect good results by ordering the child, should it be in need of medicine, to enter a drug store and swallow a dose of the first mixture it saw. For in either case it would be almost certain to inflict upon itself severe and ofttimes lasting injury, simply because ignorant of the principles involved in the use of exercises or medicines. Or, again, what would be thought of a school teacher who, because a child was apt and capable, and for its years well advanced, left it to its own resources and inclination? Yet it is often said: "All exercise should be voluntary, and left entirely to a child's own choice, inclination, and disposition." No such license is given him in his studies. Children are few and far between who would from choice and inclination take up mathematics or physics as a study. In the same way the agencies of health-his diet and his hours of rest and study-need to be supervised, and none of these is more important to his welfare, present or future, than proper exercise. Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, in one of his excellent works, shows conclusively how greatly exercise influences bodily change, and says: "Above all, educational wants are limited in kind and degree, and the physical man, woman, and child are what the growing state needs most. This is because nature must have a good foundation to start with, or man's mental, moral, spiritual, physical, and social being will be as naught. If you give nature but half a chance and apply exercise judiciously to her needs, she will, with little trouble and without detriment, so adjust her springs of action that a most healthy physique will follow. "On the other hand, if you apply exercise wrongly to nature, her laws will remain the same, and instead of being able to change her laws, one will find that the laws change the person who tries to take exercise by burning the candle at both ends and trouble will positively ensue which will leave the body weak ened forever." No matter how intellectual the calibre, or how sensitive the fibre, material health lies at the root of it all. If physical culture were esteemed by us as important as it was with the ncients, and practiced as habitually as by them, there is no doubt but that public health would be raised, and new fields of enjoyment would open out to the multitude who are now always wondering what ails them, and in doubt what on earth they can find to do. Why physical culture is not taught in schools. That physical culture has not been a part of our regular work in our public schools arises, in most cases, from no neglect or carelessness on the part of the earnest-minded trustees or boards of education, but simply because it never occurred to them as a subject to be taught, or directed, or supervised. This, of course, is a great mistake, for the greatest care should be exercised in the management of all children and young people, by a competent instructor, let it be man or woman. This subject cannot be successfully self-taught. The process of training must be gradual, and so graduated as to meet the pupil's particular needs and partic ular state of development. Common physical defects. The following are the physical defects, hereditary or acquired, that are commonly found in every school. All acquired and many hereditary deformities can be remedied in the majority of cases by a systematic physical culture during the first twelve years of school life, but they are exceedingly hard to remedy when the pupil arrives at university age. this defect is that the head is drawn forward more often than backwards, consequently the muscles that are used in the forward movement are developed more than the muscles that are used in the backward movement, and the result is the head is drawn too far forward. This defect is more common than any other. (2.) Round Shoulders, Flat Chests, and Stooping. These are usually found together, and the chief cause of these defects is rapid growth, together with the fact that the arms in use are drawn forward more than backwards. Were the muscles that produce the backward movements equally exercised, the continuous stooping which is accountable for so many evils of malformation would be avoided. That the muscles are weak in the upper back, allowing the shoulders to be drawn forward and down, is the primary cause of round shoulders and flat chests, as well as of the hollows which are so common under the collar bone. Therefore it is as useless to tell a girl or boy with these defects, "not to stoop," as to tell him not to cough when he has a cold, or limp when he is lame. The responsibility of correcting these defects should rest with the instructor in physical culture; and I am positive that a thoroughlytrained, conscientious director or supervisor would be glad to take this responsibility, for it is work of this kind which is the real bodybuilding, and the only true physical culture. (3.) Pigeon Breast.-There are two varie ties. It may be primary or secondary. The former is due to the bone-softening through local or general rickets. The latter is acquired and caused by scoliosis, and other curvatures sis of the inter-costal muscles, after whooping. of the spine. It may be caused also by paralycough, for instance, or pleurisy. It is called pigeon breast because of the undue prominence of the breast bone, and is accompanied usually by flatness of the ribs of the upper region of the chest. (4.) Loss of Lumbar Curve, and Lateral Curvature of the Spine.-These defects, or deformities, are the results in many cases of the incorrect manner of sitting, and the pernicious habit of standing on one foot. To further illustrate that physical education is a necessity in our public schools, and to show the prevalence of these defects, deformities, or whatever you may be pleased to call them, (1.) Head Drooping Forward.-The cause of among us, I make use of the results of the ex aminations taken under my supervision, in a representative girls' school in San Francisco. It was found that of the number examined thirty-three per cent were suffering from curvatures of the spine, one-third of whom had entirely lost the lumbar curve, thus producing a corresponding deformity of the chest and shoulders. Fifty per cent required special work for flat or hollow chests, or pigeon breasts, while only seventeen per cent could be permitted to take regular exercise without special work. Many of these deformities were not serious, but nevertheless they existed, and had they not been taken during the growing period, would have certainly resulted seriously. Let us look at the result of a flattened or otherwise deformed chest. The chest is a cage containing the life-giving organs and anything which interferes with its development must have an effect on their development. One can trace, almost step by step, the cause of ill health, especially of our girls, and particularly the girls of this school I have just spoken of. The school numbers from one hundred to one hundred twenty-five girl pupils regularly. I am pleased to know the difference is very noticeable between those who do take the work and those who do not, both in their physical condition and in their school work. Their chief excuse given for not taking the work is not that it is a matter of expense, but that they "haven't time." Now any boy or girl, man or woman, who does not take time for exercise will probably have to make time to be ill. (5.) Hips Too Far Forward. The result of this defect is a protruding abdomen and an exaggerated lumbar curve, which is as much a deformity as a curvature of the spine, the latter being not always acquired, while the former is. The result of standing in this position is that all the weight is thrown on the lower part of the back, causing innumerable backaches; the muscles of the abdomen are not used, and as a natural consequence fat collects, causing obesity by using the spine as a support in place of abdominal muscles. I lay particular stress on this standing position, as it is really the most difficult fault to correct that we find in our students at the University of California. This faulty position of standing, combined with improper breathing, does more to cause the disorders peculiar to women than all else combined. To illustrate: In proper position the stomach is supported by the muscles, and with the chest high, throat open, chin drawn in, the body poised forward, resting on the ball of the foot -in this position, when a deep breath is taken, the abdomen must sink in. This simple but allimportant exercise can be practiced with benefit by all. Many deformities are internal. I have spoken so far only with reference to causes that produce curvatures of the spine, flat chest and deformities which are externally vis ible; but there is a most important phase of this subject, of which very little is said or written, and which might be classed as internal deformities. Dr. Kellogg, of Battle Creek, Michigan, some six years ago, made a careful study of this subject, and soon noted a very distinct relation between displaced conditions of the internal or gans and the external form of the body. "In order to make my observations more exact," says Dr. Kellogg, in a paper read before the National Educational Association at Buffalo, N. Y., July 9, 1896, "I devised an instrument by which a profile of the entire body could be quickly made, and began to make tracings of my patients in connection with the physical examination, with reference to the location of the principal viscera of the trunk." "Although I have found these deformities," he continues, "in men and women, they have been of very much more frequent occurrence in women, a fact which I have attributed to the unhealthful features of the conventional mode of dress, and to the weaker physical development of women. Nevertheless I have found displacements of the viscera associated with certain external deformities in a large number of both men and women who had never injured themselves by constriction of the waist, in which cases I have, I believe, been able to trace them directly to improper attitudes in sitting." The physical injury which a person receives from an incorrect sitting posture is of far greater consequence than the mere ugliness of the appearance. Incorrect sitting may result either from defects in the seat, or from negligence on the part of the pupil. A seat that is too broad naturally results in posterior curvatures, for the reason no support can be ob tained from the back of the seat unless the |