THE PHYSICAL TRAINING OF THE WELL-TO-DO CLASSES IN ENGLAND.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR:1
SIR,-Mr. Horsfall has raised an interesting controversy, and one that I have heard keenly debated among British school- masters. As a whilom member of a German Burschenschaft, I should be inclined to disagree with Mr. Horsfall. and believe that the physical development of well-to-de classes in England was at least as good as that of Germans in tee corresponding rank of life. In the case, however, of the working classes I should say that the superiority lay with Germans rather than with Englishmen. Although Mr. Horsfall has not included our public-scLe31 boys and boys at the German gymnasia as constituting a section of the community whom it is desirable to compare, I have written to a friend who is a Professor at a South German Beal-gymnasium, and asked him to obtain for me photographs that may be compared with those taken of Etdn boys of the same age. Since we have no gymnasium at Eton, and the physical development of our boys is entirely due to rowing, cricket, football, and athletics, it will, I think, be interesting to see whether the German system of carefully supervised gymnastics produces better results than ours. I shall have much pleasure in sending the photographs to the editor of the journal mentioned in your editorial note to Mr. Horafall's letter in last week's issue. Photographs are, however, at the best but misleading tests. Actual statistics of weight, height, chest, and cranial capacity, and various other anthropometric details, can alone decide the question.
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