Biological thought, athletics and the formation of a 'man of character': 1830-1900
Title:
Biological thought, athletics and the formation of a 'man of character': 1830-1900
Author:
Park, Roberta J.
Appeared in:
The international journal of the history of sport
Paging:
Volume 24 (2007) nr. 12 pages 1543-1569
Year:
2007-12
Contents:
Belief that by strengthening his body a man could strengthen his 'will' permeated nineteenth-century writing. Boston physician John Jeffries's 1833 article 'Physical Culture, the Result of Moral Obligation', which drew upon John Sinclair's The Code of Health and Longevity (1807) and more extensively the Bible, declared: 'The powers of the body should be cultivated because of its connection with the mind'. This was considered to be an individual responsibility; callisthenics and simple games provided the means. Americans soon were becoming concerned that their pace of life was too frenetic and that there was too little participation in the kinds of vigorous sports that were gaining popularity in Britain. In 1861 Thomas Wentworth Higginson called for the creation of an 'American' system of physical education that would be scientifically superior to what was occurring in England and Germany. Although personal responsibility remained important, increasingly the individual was seen as part of a larger social whole. By the 1890s Americans had embraced sports - football, a violent team game, was especially popular. For those who supported the burgeoning programmes, athletic sports were one of the surest ways to develop 'a man of character'. Those who criticized the excesses that quickly arose often thought otherwise. The findings of biological science, often more as rhetoric than reality, were combined in a variety of ways with traditional attitudes regarding health. The observation that because body, brain, and mind are related to 'the study of mental phenomena in their corporal relations … becomes the business of the physiologist', which appeared in the 1881 American edition of British biologist Thomas Huxley and American physician William Youman's The Elements of Physiology and Hygiene, is illustrative of statements that increasingly appeared. Although matters of function assumed greater attention, mesomorphic form, especially in an athletic contest, continued to be highly regarded as a prime indicator of manhood.
Journal description