Sir James Crichton Browne.

The value of physical education does not now require to be vindicated. It is generally lecognised that "to be a good animal" is one of the first requisites to success in life. ... As health is essential to education, and exercise is essential to health, exercise has come to be regarded as essential to education, and hence schools are furnished with gymnasia and playgrounds, and children of all ages are encouraged to take part in outdoor sports. But the view hitherto taken of exercise in relation to education has been far too narrow. The idea has been, and as far as it went it was a correct idea, that exercise is useful in education because it sustains and improves bodily health by expanding the lungs, quickening the circulation, shaking the viscera, and promoting growth in the muscles and bones. But we now know that, besides doing all these things, exercise may be made to contribute to brain growth and to the symmetrical development of the mental faculties.