At the
same time, the overworking of the brain and nerves, and the "cramming"
system of study, resulted in a deficiency of mental development which
is very marked. It is now a subject of general observation that young
women, at this day, are decidedly inferior in mental power to those
of an earlier period, notwithstanding their increased advantages. For
the mind, crowded with undigested matter, is debilitated the same as
is the body by over-feeding,
Recent scientific investigations give the philosophy of these results.
For example, Professor Houghton, of Trinity College, Dublin, gives as
one item of protracted experiments in animal chemistry, that two hours
of severe study abstracts as much vital strength as is demanded by a
whole day of manual labor. The reports of the Massachusetts Board of
Education add other facts that, in this connection, should be deeply
pondered. For example, in one public school of eighty-five pupils only
fifty-four had refreshing sleep; fifty-nine had headaches or constant
weariness, and only fifteen were perfectly well. In this school it was
found, and similar facts are common in all our public and high schools,
that, in addition to six school-hours, thirty-one studied three hours
and a half; thirty-five, four hours; and twelve, from four to seven
hours.
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