Dr. Nathan Allen of
Lowell remarks in his essay upon _Physical_ _Degeneracy_, page 16; "No
kind of exercise or work whatever is so well calculated to improve the
constitution and health of females as domestic labor. By its lightness,
repetition, and variety, it is peculiarly adapted to call into wholesome
exercise all the muscles and organs of the body, producing an exuberance
of health, vigor of frame, power of endurance, and elasticity of
spirits; and to all these advantages are to be added the best possible
domestic habits, and a sure and enduring foundation for the highest
moral and intellectual culture."

Pupils often remark a decided improvement in their health under the
combined influences of moderate and systematic mental labor, judicious
exercise, both out of doors and within, and regular hours for eating and
sleeping. It should not be forgotten, however, that among any three
hundred girls, there will be many slight ailments in the course of a
year, if not some cases of serious illness. Being at best inexperienced,
as well as excitable and impulsive, girls are liable to expose their
health in a thousand ways, notwithstanding all that careful mothers or
teachers can do. Mere physical robustness is of far less account in
carrying one through an extended course of study than prudence and good
sense. Many a girl possessing these traits, though naturally delicate,
has not only completed the Holyoke course with honor, but has found
herself all the better able to meet the duties of more laborious years,
on account of the systematic habits and practical efficiency acquired
here. It is much better not to begin the course earlier than eighteen,
on account of the greater maturity then to be expected, not only of the
physical constitution, but also of the judgment, on which the
preservation of health so largely depends.

The following statistics show the comparative longevity of graduates
from Mount Holyoke Seminary, and from a number of colleges for young
men. In each case they include a period of thirty years, closing
generally with 1867, or within a year or two of that date. They were
originally compiled early in 1868, and embraced all the classes which
had then graduated at Mount Holyoke. The war mortality is excluded in
every case where it was separately stated in the college Triennial, as
indicated below.

GRADUATED. DECEASED. RATE PER CENT.

Mount Holyoke Seminary 1,213 126