A System of Physical Education, Theoretical and Practical (extract)

SECTION II. EXERCISES OF PROGRESSION. TIIE exercises of this section are for the purpose of giving accuracy and preci ion to the movements of the body, rather than of endowing it with great muscular strength ; an<l have for their object the enahlin()" it to preserve its equilibrium under ·pecial difficultie of po ition, and to pass with ca e and rapidity from one locality to another, rather than to over~ come great resistance. If the learner were to ask, 'Why do I find it more difficult to stand upright than to sit, and more difficult to sit than to lie flat on my hack~~ the answer might be, 'Because in the first~named position there is considerable difficulty in preserving the equilibrium of the body, in the second, very little, and in the last, none at all.' If the question were carried further, 'What is meant by preserving the equi~ librium of the body, and why is it more difficult in the first- named position than in the second, and why in either of these more difficult than in the third~' the answ r is equally ready, though not so conci e. By the universal law of at- traction, every material object has a tendency to attract to its centre every other such object. But as thi · attractive