criminate between them. * * * By innumerable attempts which comprise the first exercise of the limbs, the child learns to distinguish distance; thousands of experiments bring the gradual knowledge of surrounding things; and this, by the aid that is tendered to it by the nurse or mother, forms the first portion of the child's education."[1] Now, to aid this, the whole organic structure must be taken into consideration—the limbs, senses, lungs, stomach, and above all, the condition of the spine; for each and all of those organs must be in a perfectly healthy state, and must perform their functions properly, or the brain will not be in a condition to receive and retain the impressions transmitted to it.
Nature is always beneficent, and is ever striving to correct and amend the evils inflicted upon the body by the vicious habits which are almost universally indulged in. One portion of the community neglects the skin, others breathe impure air, others are in the daily habit of taking either too little or too much food and drink, or that which is deleterious. It is the almost universal practice to educate only one hand, to sleep constantly upon one side, stand upon one leg, or bend and keep the
- ↑ "Woman's Educational Mission," p. 16.
