Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/69

AMU advantages of air, exercise, 8cc. they are highly conducive to health. On this account, they are particu- larly serviceable to such persons as are subject to nervous and hypo- chondriacal complaints, and to all those who lead a confined or se- dentary life, Private amusements, on die contrary, are principally em- ployed with a view to consume time, and frequently require more application than either study or bu- siness. Those amusements which afford the most violent exercise, and ought, therefore, to be pursued only by the healthy and robust, are hunting, shooting, cricket-playing, hand-ball, and similar games. When these are undertaken with the ne- cessary adaptation to the strength of the. individual, they promote per- spiration and other secretions, ex- pand the lungs, and give firmness and agility to the whole frame. — See Gaming, and Theatre. With respect to the amusements of children, we shall here only re- mark, that they may be compared to the labours and pursuits of adults ; and that their influence, as well on health, as on the future inclina- tions and desires of the individual, is much greater, and more perma- nent, than is generally supposed. Hence we would advise parents and guardians to encourage no games, or play-things, which have a tendency to impair the constitu- tion, or deprave the. morals, of their offspring : of this nature are, im- proper and unnatural postures or gesticulations of the body ; wanton jumping up and down high places} forcible exertions of muscular power, by lifting great weights and carrying ponderous bodies ; the partial exercise of one arm or leg ; sedentary plays of long duration j the standing for hours on their legs ; ANC Us musical wind-instruments; toys manufactured by common potters, or, made of plaister of Paris ; drink- ing- vessels of lead, pewter, white iron, bell-metal, or earthen-ware imperfectly burnt and glazed ; play- things coloured or painted with noxious metallic preparations, such as verdigrease, orpiment, minium, as well as those devices and similar trifles produced by the confectioner, &c. See. — On this interesting sub- ject, which cannot fail to engage the attention of every judicious pa- rent, we presume to refer die reader to a work lately published, from the German of Dr. Stkuve, entitled " A Familiar Treatise on tlie Physical Education of Chil- dren ;" with three Introductory Lectures, and Notes, by the Edi- tor of this Encyclopaedia. Amygdalus. See Almond. Anagallis arveTisLsli. See Scar- let PlMPSRNELL. Ananas. See Pine- Apple. Anchusa sempervirens L. See Evergreen Aekanet. ANCIENT LANGUAGES are those which are no longer spoken by a living people, such as the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin : they generally form a part of the edu- cation of those students who are intended for the learned professions. The utility of employing so much of the time of children at schools, in classical pursuits, and the study of the dead languages, has been much questioned : upon this sub- ject:, a humorous writer thus ex- presses himself: " Who can pa- tiently endure to see persons so studiously going back two thousand years, in search of thai perfection which lies so plainly still before them ? To see men of sense and learning spending their whole time and attention about ^Eolic Digam- mas,