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.

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    tlu*v from it. and of its good intliiiMice tm their a])j>etite and liealtli. Ihit (rermaiiy and Switzerland, through their great good foiluiie in Imving had tt) l)ear almost intolerable misfortunes at the beginning of the nineteenth century, learnt the les.M)n. which is .siill living in the minds of many of their best ])eo|)le, that the highesi value of ])hysical training lies in its l>eing one of the means which are absolutely necessary to enable a country to gain some of the iu)blest objects for which a nation can strive. When, in the days of Prussia's liumiliation, (iutsMuths. and, after him, Jahn, wixh the aid of Stein and his great colleagues, sought to bring all the youth of the country under the intluence of their new methods of physical training, though the immediate objects which each lad was taught to work for were |)hysical health, strength, strong nerve, and high courage, all young (iermans were taught to regard these things as only means to an end. d'he end which each lad luici to work foi- was, not his own good })hy:jical and moral condition, but the driving out of the liated tyrant.the gain of liberty, of self-control, for the father- land. And so it has been in Switzerland also. Kach Swiss lad who has been helped to gain strength and health by ihe system of physical training applied to all Swiss schools, has been taught that the gain to himself must be used by him as a means to an end—^^ihe secure indejamdence and libeiTy of his countly. The lesson that good liealth and strength are not the highest results which good physical training can give is still taught in (Jermany. Dr. Koch, speaking at a con- ference held last yeai‘ in Frankfurt-am-Main, said : “ Increased bodily strength and health are not the most important gain which our youth can owe to their physical e.xercises. I)ut training for inde])endence of will and action, for frt'cdom of judgment, and for the powei-of decisit)n: and these tjualities an* to be used for the service of one’s country. Surely we Knglish, of all social classes, iu*ed t he introtluclion in that sj)irit into all oui' schools of a comprehei^.sivt* system of i)hysical training. Fvery Fnglish boy ought to Ik* so trained as to be able, should occasion ari.se. to help to rept‘1 a foreign invader: but while it is tpiite right to let a foreign invader be kt‘pt before childrt'n's minds as tuu* of the enemies whom they may have to meet, he should be treatt'd partly as a type of t he foes whom t h(‘V will cert aiidy have to fact*. 'Phey should often 1)(* remin(h*d that tin* training which will enable them to i(*pel a possibh* invasion, is int(*nd(*d also to (*nablt* them to servt* theircountry by lH*ingstrong, healtby,industrious, hone.st, hap])V citizens, abh* and willing to drivt* ont fi’om their counti v