The principal components of the body will naturally indicate and classify the topics for discussion in dealing with the subject of physical education. The body may be roughly described as an organisation of bones and muscles, permeated by blood, covered with skin, and containing a breathing and digestive apparatus. The chief process by which life is maintained, and health and strength developed, is the _receiving of food_. That over-feeding and under-feeding are both bad is a truism. Of the two, however, the latter is the worse. Not only are there _a priori_ reasons for trusting the appetites, but there is no other guidance worthy of the name. Instead of measuring your food by an artificial standard, eat your fill. Have less faith in human opinion, and more confidence in nature. The current idea is, that diet should not only be restricted, but comparatively low; but the verdict of leading physicians and distinguished physiologists is exactly the opposite. The grounds for this conclusion are obvious. Compare different kinds of people, or the same people when differently fed, and you will find overwhelming evidence that the degree of energy essentially depends upon the nutritiveness of the food. Between the ill fed African and the well fed European there is a contrast which no one can fail to notice. Moreover, it is a fact, established by numerous experiments, that there is scarcely one article of diet which supplies all the elements necessary for carrying on the vital processes; and hence, in order to good bodily training, mixture and variety are highly important. The proper beverage for the physical constitution has been warmly discussed of late, and many have, much to their own advantage, and that of society at large, pronounced in favour of water; and although it may not be easy to refute the argument for the moderate use of stimulating liquors, produced from the fruits of the earth by the process of fermentation, in the earlier stages of life water is undoubtedly the best drink at meals for the purpose of quenching thirst.