tages and pleasures of any art without personal experience of it. None but those who study eminent authors can understand the pleasures derivable from them, and none but accomplished musicians can imbibe true pleasure from music. And so with exercise; its pleasures and advantages can only be appreciated by those who have undergone it. I will place before you an instructive instance in point. On the subject of swimming there are numberless treatises written in the English language, but three or four excepted, the rest do not appear to have been written by practical swimmers. One ignoramus started a theory that if a man dived with closed eyes, he could not open them under water; another supports the theory, and gravely asserts as its reason that the pressure of water prevents the lids from opening. Now, any common diver will say that there is no difficulty in shutting or opening the eyes under water. This will convince you of what little value such opinions are, and I leave it to you to take them for what they are worth.

It is very easy to understand what is exercise. Exercise is the movement of the different parts of our body. Nature has presented us with various gifts-such as legs to walk, hands to work, eyes to see, the mind to think, &c., and complete health is attainable only when all the parts are brought into play according to certain fixed laws of Nature. If any limbs or organs are overworked suddenly, they become weak, and such as do not get sufficient work become idle and diseased. Nature, again, is so just that she nourishes the active parts more than the idle ones; thus the parts to which we do not give sufficient work soon become weak for want of nutrition. Many people keep up the practice of walking, and their legs are consequently strong; but if they have to lift up a weight their hands decline to do so, as the hands, being not put regularly to work, become weak and incapable. An oculist calculates that if a man's eyes were closed for a period of twelve years-that is, not a ray of light being allowed to enter them during the time-the man would not be able to see, although no apparent injury to the eyes could be noticed. When a man can do a thing well, by reason of doing it every day, we say it is simply by practice. As, for instance, if a man takes a long walk every day, he will experience no difficulty when, if some day he may be required to go a long distance. We attribute this to practice; but what is practice? Practice really means the development of such parts of the body and the mind as are required for performing a certain act. This development is the result of doing the thing little by little every day. So that what a man cannot do at first he may be able to do at last, by doing it bit by bit every day; for this necessarily strengthens the parts required for the per

formance of such an act. We have read in ancient history, that when Milo commenced the practice of lifting weights, he made his first experiment with a new-born calf, and, having succeeded in lifting it, he continued the process every day for a long time, till the calf had grown into a bull; for as the weight of the animal increased every day, the strength required for lifting it also developed in Milo. Allowing for exaggeration, the story explains how things that seem impossible at first may be accomplished by exercising little by little; as, at last, the crossing of the English Channel was accomplished by Webb, which was considered impracticable before he did it.

Those who live in villages, and cultivate fields, enjoy life in accordance with the laws of nature, and are consequently free from many of the complaints to which the city people are liable. In a city we cannot live as we ought to do. The temptations of a city life, family difficulties, and the constant desk-work for the sake of bread, may be pointed out as some of the prominent reasons for such a state of things.

At one time considerable attention was paid to physical culture among our people, so much so, that some eminent gymnasts abused their strength to such an extent as to bring their career to a speedy and disgraceful end. This turned the tide of popular thought against gymnastics. But, if we enquire into the cause of such a state of things, we shall trace it to the fact that, in the last generation, those who took too much physical culture neglected mental education altogether. At present we encourage the latter at the cost of the former, and sooner or later must a time come when the baneful effects will be noticed; in fact, some signs are apparent even now. The most proper way of leading a healthy, and consequently a happy, life, is to train the body and the mind together, so that the whole human frame may be put to work, properly nourished and vigorous. It is with the object of securing this happy combination that in Europe gymnasiums are attached to schools, and gymkhanas and boats are provided for the business people to spend their morning and evening hours of leisure.

Various objections are urged against exercise, such as corpulence, old age, weak health, &c. But it is the duty of every man, from the time he sees the light of day, to the time that he shuts his eyes for ever, to put to work all the parts of his body. We mark this natural tendency in a new-born babe. If we place it on a bed in a waking state, it will continually move its limbs; and the moment a child takes to walking, it does not like to be at rest. Now, if the child can do a fair amount of work in proportion to its size, why should grown-up people fail to do the same justice to their limbs? At this place, it is neces

sary to mention that some parents, and particularly mothers, from a mistaken love for their children, and a fear of the injury they would receive by a fall, prevent them from moving about in the house. "Lest dear Jimmy should graze his skin by a fall," the fond mother makes him sit by her side the whole day. But she should know that a child suffers tenfold more from lack of movement of the limbs than it would by the casual loss of two drops of blood, consequent upon a fall. This mistaken love proves detrimental to the future well-being of the child. Children of poor people not being cared for in this way, enjoy all the better health.

Against many of the exercises it is urged that they lead to diseases, such as heart-disease. But are non-gymnastic people free from such complaints? However, granting, for the sake of argument, that men who undergo exercise become liable to many complaints, is it not more from the abuse of exercise than the right use of it that such results follow? It is no wonder if evil comes out of overdoing a thing, to gratify vanity or a desire to excel others. We know that at times schoolboys compete with each other in drinking large quantities of water, and swallow gallons on such occasions. From the disadvantages resulting thereby will anyone infer that water drinking is a bad habit? Why should exercise, then, be blamed, if an overdose of it leads to diseases? The question then arises as to where the line should be drawn, to distinguish moderate exercise from excessive. How long one should exercise in a gymnasium, or swim in a bath, is a question the reply to which everyone should find out for himself, as the length of time which may be too much in one case may be too little in another. The proper rule is, that exercise should be continued till fatigue sets in, and it should be stopped before the frame gets exhausted; for exercise without a little fatigue does not develop the body, while great fatigue breaks it down. Now, in the absence of the knowledge of such a rule, some people read books for instructions, and if they meet with some text on the subject by a practical writer, they stick to the hints contained therein. Many English writers on swimming recommend us not to keep in water for more than ten minutes. Probably, in cold countries like England, a longer stay in water than ten minutes may be injurious; but not so in tropical countries. In Bombay, during summer, little children swim for fifteen minutes with impunity. The same law applies to the training of the mind. The mind should be put to task a little without fatiguing it; for without work the mind will not improve, and a great burden breaks it down. Some parents, who are anxious to push their children in education, should keep this law before them.

I will here ask the attention of the proprietors of private schools, who take up boys after school hours with the noble (?) object of making them go through the matriculation examination. If boys, after working the whole day in schools, do not get time for play and exercise, it is no wonder if they should turn out weak-minded, and lay the foundation of a miserable life in the future. "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," is a saying well known to us all; but, to appreciate it properly, we must examine carefully the health of our school-boys. At one time, a friend of mine, while discussing the Factory Act, told me that in Bombay there was a greater necessity for a School Act than for the Factory Act; for, while the latter protected little children from excessive physical work, why should not an Act protect little children from mental overwork? As the parents of children that go to school are more sensible and more able to look after their offspring, there is no necessity for a School Act; but the above illustration shows how disgusted parents are at the amount of mental work which their children have to undergo, being consequently spared no time for play and exercise. The mind, in its natural state, resembles a raw, uncut diamond. As the value of the latter depends on the cultivator and the burnisher, so the cleverness of the mind depends on those who have its care in early age. As the diamond loses its value in the hands of a stupid artisan, so does the tender brain suffer for ever in the hands of foolish parents and heartless teachers. When once this precious jewel is overworked, it loses all its strength, and does not admit of improvement. (To be continued.)

EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE WEST.

VII.-LOAN EXHIBITION OF WOMEN'S INDUSTRIES, BRISTOL.

We have already referred to the fact that, in the spring of this year, a Loan Exhibition of Women's Industries was held at Bristol, in connection with which Lectures on various interesting and practical subjects were delivered. We give this month extracts from the Report of the Committee for the Exhibition, from which it appears that the undertaking proved a successful one. As industries suited to women are under consideration now in India, we feel sure that this attempt to collect specimens at one place of all the kinds of work in which women have shown excellence will interest many of our readers.

It seems that the need had been strongly felt at Bristol of technical teaching for girls, and the Exhibition was partly an outcome of that feeling. It was thought likely to be useful as raising the standard of estimation of women's performances, and as showing how technical training in other places had tended to develop ability. "The idea was taken up eagerly in so many directions, that the first suggestion of two or three rooms for a week or two quickly expanded into taking a large house for a month or two, friends being happily found willing to guarantee the sum estimated as needful. The Committee were fortunate in procuring premises so central and suitable as the Queen's Villa, in which the Exhibition was opened, on February 26th, with a Conversazione, at which Mr. Weston, the President, and the High Sheriff, Mr. John Harvey, gave opening addresses. It closed with another Conversazione, on April 28th, when Mr. Alan Greenwell, the Chairman of Committee, gave a closing address. Between these two dates the admissions by ticket have been over 12,000, not including season ticket-holders, nor the schools, of which several (including the Red Maids and the Preventive Mission) visited the Exhibition, also several parties of working women, who were conducted over it by members of the Committee or other ladies. When the Committee recollect how they used to ask each other, in the early days of the undertaking, whether they might calculate on 1,000 visitors, it will be seen that the results have exceeded anticipations.

"With such moderate resources of time, strength, and funds as they possessed, it was never attempted to make anything like an exhaustive display in any one direction, but rather to suggest as many varieties of work as possible. Thus, though some important industries are barely indicated, and some rising industries represented by perhaps one small specimen, while others have come too late to their knowledge or could not be obtained in time, they hope that the total, as enumerated in the annexed table, may be found to show a wide variety of lines along which women may seek remunerative occupation. But if this enumeration points to wealth of possible scope, yet the list of technical classes from which work for exhibition could be obtained points to much poverty of instruction. Such good work from Dumbarton, from the School of Wood Carving, from the Lambeth and Staffordshire Potteries, from the Chromo- Lithographic Studio, from the Law Copying and Plan Tracing Offices in London; but where are there any such means of instruction in all the West of England? The work from Messrs. Price's, Redcliff, was a bright exception. Therefore, as was pointed out by Mr. Greenwell, in his speech at the closing Conversazione, the promoters of this Exhibition desire to see in Bristol more