the child. Its value may be estimated by watching the gambols of well-informed children, with cheeks in which the rose and lily blend most harmoniously, giving brightness to their laughing, happy-looking eyes, as they throw their pliant bodies and vigorous limbs into the most graceful attitudes whilst bounding over the greensward, like young gazelles, positively intoxicated with the joys of mere physical existence! or watch them pursuing with agility the gay butterfly, or gathering wild flowers; every sense has its full pleasure of enjoyment, and the stock of health thus daily laying up is a treasury of "inexhaustible pleasure."
Unhappily there are but few parents and teachers who have ever formed any definite conception of the importance of proper early training, and that simply because they never understood its importance; nor is it possible that they ever should, until they have some knowledge of the structure and functions of the body which they have to train and develope. We propose therefore, in this chapter, to give some general idea of the structure and functions of the spine, as well as a brief description of some of the curvatures to which it is subject.
The distinctive character of man is the erect posture. No other animal enjoys a physical conformation which will enable him to permanently assume this majestic attitude, although there are several in whom it may be maintained for a short time. The head of the human being is comparatively heavier than the trunk, and this, added to the weight of the viscera in front, would naturally induce a stooping forward, were there no especial means provided for its prevention. The necessary appliances are, however, afforded in the following manner. The spine, on the top of which the head is articulated, is a highly-flexible column, capable of moving in any direction which may be necessary, and during its movements forming a series of elegant curves, so truly described by the ancients as the serpentine line of beauty; these curves also serving to keep the head within a line drawn from the top of the head to the ground, called the centre of gravity. Were it not for this provision, the erect position could not be maintained for even a short period. In erecting a column, the builder will take care to make the base broader than the apex; but the contrary is the case in the human figure. The want of this peculiar elasticity is the reason
