tional system; it places the conduct of the coaches, trainers, and athletes under a responsible head; it gives a responsible authority for teaching or disciplining. On the other hand, it makes the administration of the department of physical education the most difficult in a college. Most directors rebel at the idea of being brought into a position where they can be held responsible for the success or defeat of inter-institutional teams. This defect, however, can be remedied by committees associated with the director.

A responsible headship, with adequate capacities and powers, is the only solution of the athletic problem. In small institutions it would be wiser to put in a man weak in technical athletic skill, but with ideals and large educational and administrative powers than one with talents reversed. Furthermore, in small institutions where the department is small, the director may have to be the coach, gymnastic instructor, manager, and all. If his vision concerning the educational work is clear and his courage sufficient, his work will be a

success.

Space prohibits consideration of details in organization for management, instruction, care of plant, etc., but these items are of minor importance.

6. Associations.-Organization for the administration of athletics does not end with the organization within the college or high school. One institution is seriously affected by the standards of administration in rival institutions. High standards can be maintained by proper authorities, in spite of such influences but doing so creates local dissatisfaction. The remedy is inter-institutional organization. Uniformity of practice can come only in this way. Progress so far has been slow because we have had no national philosophy of athletics.

Regulations there must be to make contests fair. Each natural group, such as college, secondary-school, or grammar-school students, or club members, or different classes, coming together in contests, should be associated in organizations to solve common problems and should agree upon uniform practices that will be fair to all. The formulation of regulations based on principles involving the development of educational athletics requires maturity, experience, and educational vision; they can be formulated only by adults, educators, social workers, and men of affairs who think in terms of social forces.

Again, district associations are not sufficient. These need to be formed into national organizations. Districts overlap and the standards of different districts are seldom uniform. This fosters criticism and provincialism. National uniform standards accepted by all will give confidence and establish athletics on a dignified basis.

On organized play the national conscience is astir. If wisdom comes from association for the exchange of experiences and the discussion of problems, there will arise organizations outside of educational institutions for each group naturally drawn together thru social affiliations. For the highest usefulness, these groups must be unified into national organizations.

Then, a further step in organization is needed. Each of these national. organizations represent a ganglion in the nervous system of an athletic evolu

tion. Each receives impulses from its distal elements; each co-ordinates the work of these elements. Now, these separate ganglia must be co-ordinated by a brain. The "brain" should be a national council of educational or amateur athletic associations. Such a body composed of representative men and women from all the various national organizations, would serve a function of great usefulness in re-creating play as a factor in a vigorous national life.

Inasmuch as hygiene is but a phase of personal and social morals, and inasmuch as physical education is but a part of general education, and the playground movement but a phase of each, all these social efforts should be promoted with mutual consideration. Each has its distinct function, each overlaps the work of the other; each is but a part of the wider social endeavor to make human life saner and better worth the living.

The elimination then of all athletic evils and the realization of educational athletics, are simply questions of proper administrative policies and adequate organization.

THE RELATION OF MUSIC TO PHYSICAL EDUCATION MARTHA J. JOHNSON, DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

Popular as the use of music is with gymnastic exercise in almost every school and college thruout the entire country, it is still a mooted question among educators whether or not we are doing right in allowing it. The Germans use music to a degree; the Swedes very much less; and we almost entirely. It certainly lends interest to the work and is a great help with the discipline. But from a physiological standpoint are we really justified in so doing?

Much can be gained from physical education, but the two important purposes are:

1. Stimulation of the nutritive processes of the body-circulation, respiration, and digestion. Muscular contraction draws the blood to the part of the body brought into action. The stronger the contraction, the greater the blood supply and naturally the better the nutrition and muscular tone.

2. The correction of poor posture. But this is dependent in a large degree upon the nutrition of the body. Weak muscles are bound to cause drooping head, contracted chest, and protruding abdomen. The poor postures we see especially among school children of the higher grades are not due so much to careless habits as we suppose, but rather to poor nutrition. The sedentary life into which a student is forced more or less cannot help but have a weakening effect upon the body unless counteracted by some kind of physical exercise. Hence to correct erroneous posture it is necessary first to increase the nutrition and build up the general tone of the body.

That music has a strong effect upon bodily movement is an undisputed fact. In Georgia, where a gang of negroes were unloading provisions from a steamer, it was impossible to get anything accomplished; the men were absolutely lazy— not an uncommon trait among the African race. When the overseer was

almost discouraged he happily thought of trying the effect of music. The services of a fiddler were procured and under his influence the negroes were stimulated to activity and the work progressed with alacrity. The effect of music upon muscular contraction has been definitely established.

First, that the strength of muscular contraction is greatly increased by any sound made simultaneously with the movement. This may be either an accompaniment of instrumental or vocal music, clapping, stamping, or shouting. Second, the strength of contraction increases with the intensity of the sound.

Third, it increases with the height of the pitch-the higher the pitch the stronger the contraction.

Fourth, muscular contraction is affected by the character of the music. Anything written in the major is stimulating; in the minor depressing. Fifth, the point of fatigue is greatly postponed.

Sixth, the steadiness of contraction varies. "This last," Jacob Bolin says, "is an experimental proof that music diverts the attention from the work at hand." In other words he claims that good form is lost in the effort to get the time.

It is a psychic law that the mind can focus its attention upon but one thing at a time, and most certainly good form of execution is the foundation of all physical training, or perhaps better, it is the goal toward which we struggle, for indeed there is no royal road to good posture. But how is it to be attained if there is no strength of body or muscle?

A weak man cannot do the work of a strong man and no more can a flaccid muscle be expected to compete with a strong and healthy one. Therefore, every means that is possible must be used to help build up the muscular tone of the body. As has been proven, music acts as a powerful stimulant, strengthening the muscular contraction. Therefore the blood supply to that part of the body brought into action is correspondingly increased. By repeated efforts it is possible thus in a shorter time than it could be accomplished without the aid of the outside stimulant to strengthen and build up the tone of the body. Hence any exercise which will greatly increase the blood supply and thus the nutrition of the body, is a good one and any outside agent which will aid in stimulating muscular contraction is to be desired and used.

However, as has been stated before, the mind is capable of focusing its attention upon but one thing at a time. With the use of music the time element is made of first importance and the form of execution must necessarily suffer, unless by previous practice the movement has become automatic. When, however, the muscular tone of the body has been so strengthened that it is possible to demand precision and correct form, then all stress must be laid upon the posture. Anything that will divert the attention from the proper execution of the exercise is a hindrance to the progress of the work and should not be employed. At this point in the development posture must not be given second place.

After the correct form has been thoroly mastered, in fact when it has become second nature, then music is again useful. It is a stimulus to the movement and adds interest to the work.

So there are three stages in the development of physical education in which music plays an important part, both as a help and a hindrance.

The first is when it is necessary to build up the general tone of the body. It is the preparatory stage when music by its powerful effect upon the stimulation of the muscular contraction is an absolute necessity. In every school where physical education is a part of the daily curriculum, and of course that ought to be every school in the country, a piano should be in each classroom; in the primary department at least. Where this is not practicable during exercise, time should be kept in some manner, either by clapping or stamping or beating on the desk with a ruler. The idea of allowing half of the class to sing while the remainder exercise is an exceedingly poor one. It is a waste of time and energy. Every child in the class should receive the benefit of the physical work each day. To permit the children to count in unison is an excellent plan especially in the lower grades.

The second stage is the backbone of all physical training-the correction of posture. Here, as has been previously stated, the whole attention must be upon the form of execution, consequently music is an absolute hindrance.

The last is the finishing stage when perfect control has been reached. Then music once more becomes a necessity and at last we realize the poetry of motion, the absolute control of the mind over the body. Therefore an intelligent use of music with physical education is to be desired. But like everything else it can be abused and its continuance thruout the entire course is exceedingly harmful.

WHAT CAN PHYSICAL TRAINING DO FOR THE TEACHER? HARRY M. SHAFER, PRINCIPAL, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, CHENEY, WASH. The ideals and purposes of any age have found their application and their attempt at realization in the practices and teachings of the schools of that period. The schools have been a reflection of the tendencies of the age.

Has there existed admiration for beauty of form, for ease and agility of motion, and for those forms of expression which are physical, education has been directed into activities which have resulted in the development of a highly perfected physical being. Has the hero of the time been the one in possession of mental acumen, and forensic power, the schools have exhausted their energies in varied forms of mental gymnastics. Has the man of the hour been he who held the mastery over the classics, the curriculum has consisted of the Greek verb and the Latin noun.

In educational ideals of our own times the law still holds. Not only do the incentives which impel each nation reveal themselves in their systems of education, but the rank of that nation among the peoples of the earth can be

determined, to a great extent, by a study of its schools. Yea more, the practices in vogue in any country along lines of school hygiene reveal the efficiency, or lack of it, in the educational system of that country. Almost in direct proportion to a clear understanding and application of laws pertaining to satisfactory physical development is general intelligence and social strength.

The unusually high per cent. of illiteracy and the decadent condition of the people of Spain are matters of common information. The general lack of appreciation of physical training values and the too frequent complete neglect of health conditions in the schoolroom and the close connection of these with the degraded state of many of the people are not matters of such common information. In describing the situation a recent Spanish writer in a current magazine of the country says:1

The schools of Spain are inadequate and unsanitary, the teachers are poorly paid, and not always capable, and about half the people are illiterate. Yet nobody troubles about this deplorable state of things; and an excellent law which was passed half a century ago to inforce a kind of compulsory education is a dead letter.

Some of the rural schools have had to be closed because the only opening in the building thru which the fresh air could come was overlooking a burial ground. Other schools were simply the antechambers of town prisons, thru which prisoners were conducted. Others, again, are separated only by a wall from the hospital. In Malaga, twenty-seven schools have the drains opening on the playground, or court, close to the classroom; of 429 schools in other provinces, 400 are without water; a large number of the schools in Spain are without lavatories, and even that condition is better than that of some where the lack of sanitary arrangements can scarcely be described.

Some schools in a province mentioned by the writer have no opening but the door, which naturally has to be closed during the prevalence of certain winds and when it rains. Quite a number of these hovels have no boards on the floor, and the children stand on the bare earth. Add to all this the fact that the little ones are cooped up, in very many instances in a manner which allows them to have only one-fifth of the cubic space considered necessary in other countries.

The number of teachers is absurdly inadequate; Spain has rather fewer than 30,000, whereas New York alone has more than 39,000. The pay of the teacher is distinctly small; a large percentage do not receive more than $100 per annum, and the maximum, except in some of the Madrid schools, is $400! It is hardly to be wondered at that the teaching is not good. Spain falls below the standard even of Italy. The pay and the social position of the teachers must be improved; when this is done, Spain will have more of them, and they will insist upon improving the condition of the schools.

The result of this lamentable condition of elementary education is that 60 per cent. of the people in several provinces are illiterate, while in those provinces which may be termed better-educated we find 40 per cent. of illiterates!

The annual expenditure for education is very low, beinga bout $5,600,000, which is less than little Belgium devotes each year to the enlightenment of her people. This sum is not increasing from year to year, but is practically stationary.

The children do not remain at school so long as in other countries; the consequence is that while in other lands the number of those unable to read and write has rapidly diminished during the past thirty years or so, in Spain the diminution is very slow.

Quite in contrast are the attitude and conditions of other countries. Those countries which have been alive to the causal influence of physical training, 1" Slow Progress of Education in Spain," Review of Reviews, June, 1907.