gymnasium in Tubengin, and was under JAHN in the centra! institution of Berlin. Dr LIEBER speaks English well, and teaches also swimming and fencing.

We have seen full and satisfactory certificates of the scientific and moral qualifications of these gentlemen.-EDITOR.

THE ANIMAL MECHANISM AND ECONOMY.

To the Ed. of the Med. Intelligencer. MY DEAR SIR,-In compliance with your request, I will endeavor to furnish you with a brief account of my humble attempts to introduce Gymnastic Exercises into the Monitorial School; and perhaps not the least gratifying circumstance in my relation will be the fact, that my attempt takes date from the delivery of one of your Lectures on Physical Education, early in the spring of 1825. I had long before noticed the feeble health of many of my pupils, and encouraged them to take more exercise, but they wanted means and example, and little or nothing was effected. The very day after the delivery of your first lecture, I procured two or three bars, and as many pullies, and after I had explained the manner of using them to the best advantage, my pupils needed no further encouragement to action. The recess was no longer a stupid, inactive season; all were busy and animated. My chief difficulty was in the selection of proper exercises for females. You know the prevailing notions of female delicacy and propriety are at variance with every attempt to render females less feeble and helpless, and the bugbears of rudeness, romping, &c. are sure to stare every such attempt in the face. I read all the books I could find, but met with very little applicable to the instruction of females. It seemed as if the sex had been thought unworthy of any effort to improve their physical powers. But the beneficial effects of what I had already introduced, led me to persevere, and I have finally succeeded in contriving apparatus and exercises enough to

keep all employed in play hours. Besides the ordinary exercises of raising the arms and feet, and extending them in various directions, we have various methods of hanging and swinging by the arms, tilting, raising weights, jumping forward, marching, running, enduring, &c. &c. I have no longer any anxiety about procuring suitable exercises, or in sufficient variety, for my pupils; and I believe the few parents whose more prim education led them to shudder at my innovation, have surrendered their prejudices.

As to the effect of the exercises on the character and conduct of the pupils, it may be recorded for the encouragement of others, that many weak and feeble children have at least doubled their strength, and now disdain the little indulgences which were then thought necessary to them. Some very dull children have become more animated, and some over sprightly ones have found an innocent way of letting off their exuberant spirits; the discipline of the school has not been impaired, nor has my participation in the exercises of the children lessened their respect for me or my orders. I do not pretend that every dull child has been completely excited, nor that every wild one has been tamed, nor every vicious one reformed, but I do believe that no child has been made worse than she would have become without the exercises, while many, very many, have been essentially benefited. I would not conceal the fact that many hands have been blistered, and perhaps a little hardened by the exercises, but I have yet to learn that the perfection of female beauty consists in a soft, small, and almost useless hand, any more than in the cramped, diminutive, deformed, and useless feet of the Chinese ladies. But some of the old school say, why not let the children walk much, and exercise themselves in useful household labors. I should recommend both these methods of exercise, but

do not think they would be a complete substitute for gymnastics, though a very useful aid to them. But the fact is, the children of the present day are not thus employed at home, but on the contrary are engaged in the healthdestroying business of committing books to memory, and filling the mind with indigestible food, that it may be a suitable companion for its dyspeptic envelope. I hope the day is not far distant when gymnasiums for women will be as common as churches in Boston, and when our young men, in selecting the mothers of their future offspring, will make it one condition of the covenant that they be healthy, strong, capable of enduring fatigue, encountering danger, and helping themselves, and those who will naturally, and of right, look to them for assistance. Very respectfully,

Your friend and servant,

WILLIAM B. FOWLE.

Boston, October, 1826.

There is nothing new to us in the contents of this letter, though there may be to others; for we have often seen the teacher's ingenuity in devising, putting up and using the apparatus in his miniature gymnasium; and have been permitted to share in the exercises of the place, till the little happy pupils were quite willing to admit us to be of their number.

In relation to these exercises as applicable to females, there are some questions which deserve consideration. Can they be rendered appropriate, becoming, and useful? That a sufficient number of these exercises can be selected and adapted to the character, station, and wants of girls and women, is the unanimous opinion of those individuals on the Continent, in England, and in America, who are best acquainted with the subject; and in all these countries trials are now going on which will, in due time, make this opinion the common conviction of every inquiring and enlightened mind.

Women in general, from their relations and duties, need the preserving and in

We are so well pleased with this letter that we hasten to lay it before our read-vigorating movements of the gymnasium, ers without abridgment or alteration; and are disposed to rejoice a little on the soccasion, even at the risk of being called vain. We value it mainly, in the first place, because it is the first account we have seen of gymnastics having been successfully practised in any school for girls, in any part of the United States: and secondly, because it is the first direct evidence we have had that the feeble, though persevering efforts, we have from time to time made, to bring into notice and favor the long missing, though fundamental branch of education, have produced any good effect. We trust the period is not now very remote when we shall be able to speak of gymnastic training, both male and female, as a matter of experience, instead of being altogether dependent on foreign testimony for all we are to believe, know and feel on the subject. It will be grateful to appeal to our own senses, muscles and nerves, in place of relying on more distant and less trustworthy witnesses.

more than, men, and when they shall have realized their vivifying effects, will be as much attached to them. In reference to this subject, the question is frequently asked, “are not walking, riding, and an attention to domestic concerns and duties, quite as good for health, and more useful and suitable for women, than the queer motions and gesticulations of the gymnasium?". To answer briefly, we say no, they are not! Who is right? Let facts decide; and to ascertain where the facts, in the case, are to be found, let this quere be first disposed of. What has been done for the last half century in the American Union, to render our women what they are capable of being made, healthy, efficient, and happy beings? We mean happy, so far as the physical state and condition of every daughter and son of Eve, is an essential ingredient of happiness. Let every mother and daughter, as well as father and son, who feels an interest in this question, and who is capable of making an observation, go

abroad into society, if they have strength enough to leave home, and decide the point for themselves. But why should we need an elaborate argument, with all the aids and adjuncts of analogy, example, and illustration, to prove what the history of every populous place, and almost every family, will show to be true? Six years ago, Colonel AMOROS, on opening his course of physical, gymnastic and moral instruction, in Paris, said in a discourse pronounced at the time, that "Gymnastics have not yet been well defined, because they have not yet been examined from the true point of view. I will endeavor to explain what I mean, by giving a definition of the word. Gymnastics is the science of our movements, with their relations to our senses, intelligence, sentiments and manners,-and the unfolding of our faculties. This art embraces the practice of all those exercises which tend to make us more courageous, intrepid, strong, industrious, adroit, swift, and supple, and which dispose us to render signal services to the State and to humanity. Beneficence and utility are the leading objects of this science; the practice of all the social virtues, of all the most difficult and generous sacrifices,-its means. Health, the prolongation of life, an improvement of the human species; an augmentation of public and private force and riches,-are its positive results. If this definition is exact and complete, then we have established a sure basis for the route we should pursue, and have traced the circle of our operations. It is thus at least that I have viewed gymnastics since the first day that I introduced them into Spain, and it is thus that I have established them in France, and that I present to your notice all the elements that are before you. If gymnastics is the analytical science of our motions, it is important that we should know how to make them, and be made acquainted with the admirable springs with which nature has endowed us, and the advantages we are capable of deriving from our wonderful faculties.

"Would you run like the deer, climb like the ape, wrestle like the bear, in fine perform all your operations like the animals, without being able to give any account of them? The gift of speech, the power of thought, the supremacy of talents,-have they all been given to us to Proud of be neglected and forgotten? studying the dead and living languages, of knowing events which took place three

thousand or three millions of miles from

us, or which occurred six thousand years ago, we willingly remain ignorant of what is constantly passing within, and of what touches us without, on every side; and a system of this sort is called education; and possessing this, it is thought we possess the summit of human attainments. What arrogance! Explain to me then how you press the hand of a beloved child, or of a tender parent who has given and preserved your life. Does not the mode of this simple but expressive contraction deserve to be understood? No, we are condemned by our perverse education to be ignorant of the cause of this effort. We hardly perceive the feebleness of our instruction, or the want of faculties which have never been brought into action.

"I have attempted to fill this immense chasm,-to impart to my pupils some useful lessons in physiology, and to draw the greatest possible advantages from the happy dispositions of the French youth; to superintend the formation of their character and habits, inseparable from the education of the physical powers ;-and to improve the precious hours which are too often wasted, or misspent."

M. Amoros thus closes his address :"Mothers, observe what Montaigne, Rousseau and the king advise you :— 'Make your children strong, active, industrious, intelligent, selfpossessed, and you will thus do more for them, than if you were to amass for their use all the perishable wealth of Cresus.' Man has no other value than his own power, his acquired talents. In an instant he may cease to be a proprietor, he may no longer be a duke or a prince. He may be

accustomed functions, have organized another Medical College in which all but two of the former faculty take part, and the remaining vacancies are filled by gentlemen of distinguished fame and acknowledged ability,

All the means of instruction to be derived from an extensive cabinet of Anatomical and Surgical preparations, and a full supply of subjects for dissection; from valuable collections of Natural History, Botany, Mineralogy, and Chemical Apparatus, will be amply afforded in this College to the votaries of Medicine and Surgery.

OFFICERS OF THE COLLEGE.

DAVID HOSACK, M. D. F.R.S., President.

SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, M. D. L. L. D. Vice-President.

PETER S. TOWNSEND, M.D., Registrar.

Medica.

VALENTINE MOTT, M. D., Professor of
Surgery.

JOHN W. FRANCIS, M. D., Professor
of Obstetries and Forensic Medicine.
JOHN D. GODMAN, M. D., Professor of
Anatomy and Physiology.

The Professor of Chemistry will be announced within the ensuing month.

The several Courses of Instruction will commence on the first Monday in November ensuing. Arrangements are made for conferring the degree of Doctor of Medicine in the usual manner. The reciprocity of an ad eundem standing is also established between this College and the University of Pennsylvania. The former pupils of the Professors will be admitted as heretofore, and the Medical officers of the United States' Army and Navy are invited on the same footing as graduates.

Published by Order,

DAVID HOSACK, M. D., President. PETER S. TOWNSEND, M. D. Regist. David L. Rogers, M. D. will give Lectures and Demonstrations in Operative Surgery under the Professor.

UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF
NEW-YORK,

COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
HE Trustees have the satisfaction to
announce that the Honorable the

THE

Regents of the University have filled the vacant Professorships in this Institution, and that the College will be opened on the first Monday of November next, by an Address from the President. The respective courses of Lectures in the following order, viz.

JOHN AUGUSTINE SMITH, M. D. on Anatomy and Physiology.

ALEXANDER H. STEVENS, M. D. on

the Principles and Practice of Surgery. JAMES F. DANA, M. D. on Chemistry. JOSEPH M. SMITH, M. D. on the Theory and Practice of Physic and Clinical Medicine. EDWARD DELAFIELD, M. D. on Obstelrics and the Diseases of Women and Children.

JOHN B. BECK, M. D. on Materia Medica and Botany.

The Trustees are assured that the several courses of instruction will be full and

complete, and that the means of illustration will be ample.

ed Lectures in this Institution, are notified The students who have already attendthat the changes which have taken them of any privileges or facilities heretoplace in the College will not deprive fore enjoyed.

In conformity with the ordinances of versity, and the Laws of the State of the Honorable the Regents, of the UniNew-York, every Student is required to attend two full courses of all the Lectures delivered in the College, before he can be admitted as a candidate for the Doctortended Lectures in this College prior to attended one entire course of Lectures the Session of 1822-3, or shall have delivered in some incorporated Medical School or University.

ate;

unless said Student shall have at

The candidate must also have studied tioner of Medicine, and have arrived at three years with some respectable practithe age of 21 years.

In announcing the new organization of the College and its first session in Novemthat the high expectations of the Profesber next, the Board of Trustees believe sion and the Public will be fully realized, and sustained by the distinguished reputation and talents of the several Gentlemen who have been appointed to fill the respective professorships.

By order of the Board of Trustees,

JOHN WATTS, Jr. M. D., Pres. NICOLL H. DERING,M. D., Regist.

Published weekly, by John Cotton, at 184, Washingnton-St. corner of Franklin-St., to whom all communications must be addressed (post-paid).-Price two dollars per annum, if paid in advance, but, if not paid within three months, two dollars and a half will be required, and, this will, in no case, be deviated from.-Advertisements,$ 1 a square.