Platypus

3757

Playgrounds

matoda, which are mostly external parasites;
and (3) the Cestoda, which are internal para-
sites, Structurally they illustrate the pro-
gressive degeneration associated with para-
sitism.

Platypus. See Ornithorhynchus.

Plautus, Titus Maccius (c. 254 to 184
B.C.), comic poet of ancient Rome, was a
native of Sarsina in Umbria. In early life he
was a servant to actors. His plays appear not
to have been published during his life-time,
but to have been left in the hands of the
actors, who probably both interpolated and
omitted passages to suit them for the stage.
Of the twenty-one plays legitimately assigned
to him all but one are extant. They are
mostly imitations from the Greek Plautus.
He is witty and humorous, his characters are
life-like, and his plots on the whole satis-
factory. His Latin is particularly pure and
vigorous. Several modern writers have copied
him closely. Shakespeare's Comedy of Er-
rors is based on the Mencechmi, and Moliere's
L'Avare on the Aidularia; Dryden, Addison,
and Lessing are among his imitators.

Play, originally free or brisk movement or
action; hence amusement, recreation, a game
or, more broadly, any activity carried on
with no definite object in view other than
personal satisfaction. Children have engaged
in play from the earliest times of which any
record exists, and many of the games of to-
day have their counterpart among the peo-
ples of ancient times. From the point of view
of play, childhood is generally divided into
three periods. The first period, which lasts
until about the sixth year of age, is the im-
itative stage. In it the child does everything
that he sees his elders do. He loves to run
and jump and climb, but his play is seldom
organized into a real game. The second period
,is from the age of six to twelve or thirteen,
the period of the elementary school, and is
the stage of individual competition, as wit-
ness the game of tag and of hide and seek.
The third and last period begins at about
thirteen or fourteen and it is in this period
that the team spirit is developed and a spirit
of co-operation arises in games like baseball,
cricket, and football. Play is the most serious
activity in which the child engages, and it
must not be confused with the recreation of
adults, which is relief from toil. Recreation
may vary in form, but it is never serious and
is valuable only in recreating the mind and
body for the more serious work of life. The
play of a child should constitute physical,

intellectual,, and moral training for future de-
velopment.

Everything indicates that nature intend*
the child to be active, his first interests and
achievements are physical, and repeated tests
show that children under six years old cannot
sit still lor more than thirty seconds. The
early years of life offer the chief opportunity
for physical training, and almost the only
method during this period is play. The more
vigorous the exercise, as in tag, roller skat-
ing, and baseball, provided, of course, it does
not overtax the child's strength, the larger
the spaces to play in, the more interesting the
game, and the more varied the use of dif-
ferent muscles, the better will be the results.
Play tends to develop physical efficiency, a
good chest, a bright eye, a good digestion,
and robust health.

Among primitive peoples the child's edu-
cation comes almost entirely from his play.
In the age of Pericles at least half of each
school day was devoted to organized games
and athletics. Tbe amount of energy that a
person has at his command is one of the
great determining factors in life, and there is
little question that play is a great source for
the development of energy. Play, which rep-
resents the life of the past, which is social in
its very nature and requires friendship and
comradeship, which develops accurate judg-
ment, a sense of justice, and a sense of honor,
is a good preparation for living. See PLAY-
GROUNDS. Consult Publications of the Play-
ground and Recreation Association of Am-
erica.

Playgrounds. Organized play is in reality
older than organized education, having had
its beginnings in the far distant past, when
in Persia, Greece, and Rome a course of
games and athletics was the center of all ed-
ucational systems. The modern playground
movement dates from about the beginning of
the twentieth century, having arisen largely
out of the new psychology which makes the
child the center of educational activity. In
every country in Europe this movement has
been fairly well developed; while Japan has
made a good beginning, and there have been
a few attempts in Korea, China, and India.
The greatest interest, however, has been
shown in America, where the movement is
primarily a social one, designed to keep the
child off the streets. Boston seems to have
been the pioneer in tUs matter, as an or-
ganized playground was opened in one of
its school yards in 1868. Twelve years later