y a competent
physician, and a course of systematic physical training is prescribed.
Any organic defect or incipient disease is discovered, and, if
possible, corrected. Physical training has become an integral part of
a good college course. Exercise is largely compulsory, because
studious and ambitious students are likely to sacrifice physical for
intellectual training.

A well-equipped gymnasium is essential for the most thorough physical
culture. Bath-rooms, with facilities for plunge and shower baths, are
an important adjunct in promoting that healthy condition of the skin
which follows from frequent bathing. An athletic field for outdoor
sports is, likewise, a valuable accessory to develop a lithe and
active body.

The master of the gymnasium is generally a vigorous and enthusiastic
instructor, who is able to conduct skillfully daily gymnastic class
work, and relieve monotony and evoke interest by introducing a variety
of exercises for the different college classes. He is also the
hygienic adviser in all matters relating to study and recreation. The
students are taught that regular exercise, sufficient sleep, personal
cleanliness, and proper diet will correct most of the so-called
pernicious effects of over-study.

Outdoor sports, under proper restrictions, promote health and foster
mental qualities. Foot-ball and base-ball have gained an undue
prominence in some colleges. It is questionable whether they are the
most desirable forms of exercise for physical development, since only
a very small portion of the students at any one time can engage in
them.

The evil features of inter-collegiate games, especially as practiced,
offset their advantages. The undue excitement and spirit of rivalry
fostered is foreign to the true idea of an earnest student life. The
college is no monastery to make the student a recluse, but it should
be a place of solitude, a modern cloister, where the student may be
kept in partial isolation and away from the turbulent stream of public
life and distracting social influences. The student may keep in the
midst of the current of actual modern thought and life without
sacrificing the quiet seclusion which is an essential requirement for
the best scholarship.

These inter-collegiate games have been attended with temptations
perilous to character. Abundant testimony is not wanting to show that
their tendency has been toward rowdyism, gambling, debauchery, and
other disgraceful conduct. Som