The influence on national life of military training in schools / by T.C. Horsfall.

  • Horsfall, T. C. (Thomas Coglan), 1841-1932.
Date:
[1906]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The influence on national life of military training in schools / by T.C. Horsfall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    10/14 (page 8)
    At the last Congress of the (ierman Society for tlie Promotion of (James, an army surgeon of great exj>erience. Dr. Meisner, gave statistics whicli showed tliat. notwitlLstanding the great increiise in the proportion of the (Jerman population wliicli lives in towns, there has Ihhmi a distinct increase in the ])roj)ortion of the young men who are ]>hysically tit for mili- tary service, although in Berlin there is a serious diminution in the j)roj)ortion of the physically tit. Some of the tJerman school authorities are now taking measures to ensure that all hoys, likely to be benefited by it. shall sj)end a considerable amount of time regularly in the playing of games. For in- stance, the Secondary School Authority in Wuerttemberg has just issued an edict to the eliect that, in addition to the time iu)w given to gymnastics, all boys who do not need exeni])tion, shall ])lay active games for two houi*s a week. In this connection I may mention that in (Jermany far more atten- tion is given than here to ])reventing weakly boys from being injured by over-fatigue in games. Military drill, the subject which we have to consider to- day, should certainly form part of the system of j)hysical training for every boys’ school, and some kinds of drill sliould })e used in every girls’ school also. If there was no war in the world, and it was not necessary to think of the chance of invasion, military drill would still lie a desirable kind of train- ing. The boy possessed of a little intelligence who learns how to form fours, how' to wheel in line and in fours, feels that he and his comrades are no longer a mob of which all the parts are in each other’s way. They have become an orderly body able to bring their united force to In^ar where it is needed. And simple military drill and some kinds of militaiy training may be of very great use for many pur])Oses of school life, (lerman school doctors have now had for a considerable time under observation in large towns a great niimlHU’ of scholars, many of whom have had their eyesight, many their hearing, many their general health, injured by the conditions under which they have worked in schools, and by those affecting their home and other out-of-school life. The (Jerman sc'hool doctors confirm the experience of Knglish observers in saying that life in the country, even if it can only be had for a few hours, or for even shorter periods, at a time, has great power to restore eyesight to normal condition, to train the ear, im])erfectly used in the city, to new power of perceiving and discriminating between sounds, and not only to strengthen j)hysical health by light, pure air and exercise, but also to improve mental and moral health by the store of new whole-