The twenty-fifth annual report of the Professor of Physical Education and Hygiene to the Board of Trustees of Amherst College, June 29, 1886

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"llry body is as •nuch God's, as my soul iB."-George Ebers.
The Twenty-fifth Annual Report
01<' TIIE
PROFESSOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND HYGIENE·,
TO TIIE
Board of Trustees of Amherst College,
JUNE 29, 1886.
GENTLKIIIEN :-
The apothegm uttered by Presi<lent Stearns at the laying of the
corner stone of the old Barrett gymnnsium, October 13, 1859, bas
been the underlying thought in the management and development of
this department through its entire existence. It is tliis : " That it
may lielp to save lives, to promote health, strength, usefulness and
happiness, aud to develop among our students, by the completeness
of their education, a larger and nobler manhood, we have always
prayed, and ever will pray."
When physical cul~ure was first inaugurated here, it was at the
beginning of our civil war, and it was then tl10ught that obedience to
orders, strict attention and military precision enforced upon college
students was a radical want, and a thing to be pressed in this depart­ment.
So it was considered iu other colleges and the attempt made
to carry it out in some other institutions besides Amherst, in
some of which it has met with notable failures. And it has seemed
to be proved here that military precision aud methods cannot with
profit to the students be carried out except there be a military author­ity
at the bead of the institution.
A Another idea prominent in the early stages of this department was iliii .. , that the powerful and athletic man was the man to be admired and
imitated by the mass of students. Or it was thought that the best
scholar sho1,1ld aim also to be the best athlete and muscle man .
. ; The working of our department seems more and more to show that
the special high training of the muscles is not that at which the aver­age
college student should aim, for no man who wants broad culture
in the best manhood should aim exclusively for the highest success
while here, in any one of the college departments, the literary, scien-c
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