education on somewhat similar lines to that
embodied in these interesting rules cannot be imparted to the youth of
this and other European countries. It would certainly tend, I think,
in the direction of good manners which are, I fear, sadly lacking in
many of the pupils who have undergone a course of School Board
instruction in England.

A question that may arise in regard to the details of Japanese
education is how far and in what degree do the pertinacity and zeal of
the youth of Japan for knowledge affect their physique. We know that
_mens sana in corpore sano_ is the ideal at which every one concerned
with the education of young people of both sexes ought to strive.
There is no doubt whatever that too close an attention to study of any
kind, too constant an exercise of the mental faculties, unless it is
accompanied by a corresponding exercise of the body, very often has an
injurious effect upon the human frame. Count Okuma, in referring to
this matter, has pointed out that the great difficulty of the
difference between the written and spoken languages is a very serious
tax upon the pupils in all the schools, necessitating, as it does, the
duplicating of their work. So much time, he considers, has to be spent
by them in study on account of this duplicating that it is quite
impossible for students to have sufficient physical exercise, while if
it were decided to devote more time to exercise, the years allotted to
education would have to be lengthened--a fact which must involve a
serious loss in regard to the work of the nation. I do not take quite
such a pessimistic view of the lack of physical education of the youth
of Japan. In the first place, gymnastics form part, an important part,
of the course of instruction in all schools throughout the country,
and in the next place the young people of Japan, so far as I have been
able to arrive at an opinion in the matter, are almost if not quite as
enthusiastic in regard to various forms of outdoor sport as are those
of this country. The buoyancy and enthusiasm of youth are, indeed,
very much the same all over the world. It is only when youth comes to
what are very often erroneously described as years of discretion that
artificiality begins to assert itself. Base-ball, lawn-tennis,
bicycling, and rowing are all extensively patronised by the young men
of Japan, and cricket has of recent years come considerably into
vogue. The students of the Imperial University have not on