Physical education

Front matter

(Dfavenfcon (J)rC06 ^>ert«0

MAC LA REN

I

Preface

VI 1 doubt, that the lads of our schools and colleges are under the care of capable earnest-minded men, who are in a sense responsible for their physical improvement as well as their mental ; and hence it is that less attention has been called to this side of the question ; whereas the other section of the community has been dependent for its gymnastic recreation on outside help, and its progress has been almost entirely due to the disinterested work of a few enthusiastic men. But however late we be in initiating as a country a national system of physical education, one is encouraged by the progress of recent years to the belief that such a system may now be not far distant.

The glaring fault in the old days was that gymnastics were left (such as they were) to grown-up men ; there was not a single college, for instance, civil or military, which boasted such a thing as a gymnasium, and Mr. Archibald Maclaren had to labour to show, what to-day is recognized, that it is while the body is growing that gymnastics exercise their greatest benefits, and that the time for mental and bodily education is one and the same.

Foolish objections may even now be heard, though much more rarely, and then, it may safely be said, always on the part of some one who is ignorant of the subject. Not long ago the superintendent of a large school gymnasium said to me ‘X . . . (the “football master”) has had to give way ; my six gymnasts are the best men in the team ” — but to the hard work in converting Mr. X. I can testify. Similarly, but a short while back, a member of a recent Oxford University cricket XI, and no mean football player, said to me as I was officiating at a school competition, ‘ he was sure that gymnastics made boys slow of movement in their games, though he had done little in vm

PHYSICAL EDUCATION.

the gymnastic line himself’ — and not many minutes afterwards was complaining that, though his legs were of a tremendous size, his arms were quite small. I suppressed my smile. I merely however give these as instances of the difficulties and prejudices which had, and in some cases still have, to be encountered. But one would judge that the authorities of public schools and like institutions realize themselves to-day that they are responsible for the physical as well as the intellectual growth of those under their care ; otherwise there would scarcely have taken place the rapid growth of fine buildings for use as gymnasia, which, as above alluded to, has been noticeable of late years. The only wonder is that they were delayed so long, for undoubtedly the parent has a right to demand that, as the growing time for mind and body is the same, both shall receive equal attention from his son’s temporary guardians. The responsibility is, as we say, acknowledged, and in almost all the large institutions the means to the end are there : the question which arises is ‘Might not even better results be obtained ? ’

The answer to this question is not far to seek. It is in the public schools and training colleges, if anywhere, that the old distinction of educational and recreative exercise must be enforced. No one, with the subject at heart, would do away with the present importance ascribed to games. Unlike some, I would not lessen these by one iota ; if something must give way, least of all let it be cricket and football ; their value even of recent years has probably never been set too highly. But however invaluable, however health-giving, they remain recreative exercises, and as such cannot suit all members of society, delicate and strong, equally. The place of the gymnasium in a school is to correct the school games and

PREFACE.

IX to complete the part which they leave unfinished, and also, in the case of weaker subjects, to supply their place to a certain degree. In this lies the most important sphere of the usefulness of gymnastics, their application to the weaker members, to those who are physically unable to undertake the strain of the severer games. How many are there in our schools and in our towns who are forbidden by the doctors to play football or take part in a paper chase, for some sound medical reason ? To them the gymnasium is at once the best recreation and the best education ; it is for such, and for those who can spare but a brief hour (more often than not an evening one) that the ‘ System of Physical Education ’ was primarily intended, equally as much as for those who are more fortunate in having health and leisure at their command.

To-day, in the altered state of things, with gymnastics occupying a totally different status from that of five-andtwenty years ago. when the ‘ System of Physical Education’ was first published ; with the growth of their popularity amongst all classes, and specially amongst those in the large cities, who can only devote an evening hour to their enjoyment, (and, finally, with their systematized adoption throughout the army), the question of the old days has undergone a great change. It is now no longer a question of popularizing gymnastics, but of keeping them within bounds, of separating the spurious from the genuine, of making clear the distinction between beneficial exercises and acrobatism.

The present is an age of competitions, and it is important that a word should be said here on the subject of gymnastic competitions. Let them be encouraged by all means — school competitions, inter-school competitions, club competitions. All legitimate means should be taken to make gymnastics popular, provided that they are

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not treated merely as a sport; in that case, owing to the absence of excitement, they must of necessity fail by the side of our English games. But the danger of competitions lies in the desire to accomplish feats, and the tendency at present is undoubtedly to set exercises which are perhaps in themselves too arduous, or necessitate too long a practice on any particular machine, such as the parallel bars, which those of us, who are qualified to speak, know to be highly injurious when overdone.

It is noteworthy that during the long interval of twenty-five years, since the ‘ System of Physical Education’ was first published, no other apparatus has been invented, or, if invented, been sufficiently abiding, to be worthy of a place in the gymnasium. Modifications of the old apparatus, such as the vaulting-horse and parallel bars, there have been in abundance ; but it is to be doubted whether pommels, sloping bars, and suchlike variations are of any value except for the performance of tricks. Modern ingenuity seems rather to have busied itself with what may be termed Home gymnastics — that is, apparatus with pulleys attached to a weight, enabling one to work the arms or legs in any direction, and practically to call on any muscles or set of muscles at pleasure. By far the best of these different kinds of apparatus are manufactured by the Naragansett Company, of Rhode Island, U.S.A., which enterprising firm may be said without exaggeration to have a machine for every muscle in the body. And let it not be thought that such apparatus is without its usefulness. For those who have no gymnasium to attend, or no time to afford for attendance, such home gymnastics are invaluable ; whilst even for those who have such opportunities a little before-breakfast work of this kind is most health-giving. But to imagine that they take the place

PREFACE.

XI of progressive work in the gymnasium would be as sheer nonsense as to claim that swinging a pulley-rope and executing a nice exercise on the horizontal bar, possess the same amount of interest for the performer ! The rage nowadays is to have a machine for everything, but it is open to question whether these machines can supply the place of the good old-fashioned dumb-bell or pair of clubs, previous to the cold tub in the morning.

Noticeable also amongst modern innovations is the Musical Dumb-bell drill and the increased popularity of the Swedish movements without apparatus. The musical drill is a valuable addition to the gymnasium, and deserves a cordial welcome, giving life and vigour to the exercise and being specially effective in the case of gymnastic displays. It implies of necessity the use of very light dumb-bells, for which of late years there may almost be said to have been a craze ; and though these cannot supply the place of the older methods of progressive dumb-bell exercise, they form a pleasant change and supply healthy recreation. Several manuals of these exercises, set to popular tunes, have already been published, and as they merely supply in a recreative form the place of the more serious graduated dumb-bells, it has not been thought necessary to include them in the present work. The Swedish movements without apparatus, to which we have also alluded, are merely valuable for beginners and as preliminaries to the exercises with apparatus that are fully described in the System. That free exercises are in themselves adequate, or capable of developing the whole bodily powers is erroneous and opposed to the whole theory of progressive gymnastic exercises.

The present edition of the book will be found to differ from the former ones almost solely in the greater variety

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of the exercises described. So far as the theoretical part is concerned, it has scarcely been found necessary to make a single alteration. In one or two cases only, where the state of contemporary gymnastics was discussed, a few lines have been omitted, having lost their interest at the present day. On the other hand, in the practical division of the book, the progress made within recent years in this particular branch of exercise, and the tendency of modern feeling, which requires a higher standard of excellence than formerly, have necessitated considerable addition and rearrangement. This will be found to be more particularly the case with the Vaulting Horse, the Parallel Bars, the Pair of Rings, and the Horizontal Bar, for it is with exercises on these machines that the greatest progress has been made. To these alone upwards of a hundred exercises, and nearly as many new illustrations, have been added. In far the greater number of cases these additions concern advanced and arduous exercises. With the elementary exercises scarcely any addition has been found necessary, so amply were they set forth in the earlier editions ; and they are still presented with as great, or even greater, care than the more attractive ones. In the modern gymnasium there is a lamentable tendency to sacrifice the Beam, the different varieties of Plank, the Elastic and Bridge Ladders, and similar machines, for the more showy Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar. The great detriment which this implies to those who are physically still unformed, can only be thoroughly understood by those who are conversant with the subject. In the System the exercises on the former machines play an even more impoi'tant part than the latter, forming the foundation on which the structure of perfect development is reared ; they are dealt with in great detail, and it is

PREFACE.

XUl perhaps for this reason that, notwithstanding the piogress and alterations of recent years, the book still abides, both in America and in this country, as the text-book of gymnastics proper.

Another speciality of the book is the care which has been taken to mark with due importance the position and ‘form’ in which every exercise should be accomplished. We owe to the Aldershot school, more than anything else, the preservation of that accurate style which gives a polish to all gymnastic exercises ; and it is not too much to hope that their precise methods, as laid down in these pages, may become the standard ones of all English gymnasia. The greatest care has been taken throughout the book in discriminating between skilful exercises and mere tricks, and. no exercise has been introduced into the System which does not admit of being performed in perfect safety in the company of a skilful conductor. The greater number of the new exercises come in the fourth course — arduous exercises to be attempted only when the pupil is a sound gymnast ; in cases where exercises, though safe for the experienced, are only valuable for the variety which they afford, they have been placed in an Appendix at the end of the several machines ; risky exercises are in some of the best-known cases merely scheduled ; otherwise they are excluded from the book. At the same time, it must be remembered that, throughout the learning of all exercises, it is pre-supposed that a qualified instructor is on the spot, who can judge of the capabilities of his pupils.

With the introduction of trickeries and fancy-work into modem gymnastics there has grown up a tendency, a very regrettable one, of coining new names for every fresh combination of exercises — names often unsuitable and in numerous instances either exaggerated or xiv

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grotesque. I allude to such terms as ‘lion-crawls,’ ‘dislocations,’ ‘wolf-jumps’ — words which presumably owe their origin to the debasing of gymnastics to the level of acrobatism. It is astonishing that any should try thus to confuse a subject in which but a few technicalities are really necessary, when all who have the subject truly at heart would rejoice to make the province of pure gymnastics more secure than ever against the inroads of professionalism. The names of exercises have in this case only been given in the text where they are universally known, or where they bear directly upon the exercise described.

In the original edition of the book, one of the chief merits was that, in order to make it a complete manual of progressive gymnastics, every illustration was taken from life, each one being in fact drawn from the actual performance of a very capable gymnast. In this enlargement of the work the same principle has been adhered to, and each additional illustration is the result of a sketch or an instantaneous photograph taken from the performance of a well-known late Aldershot instructor ; and my best thanks are due to Mr. Macdonald for his share in what I think must be considered most satisfactory results. New tables have been added to the Appendix showing the growth and development of those taking regular systematized gymnastic exercise, and it is hoped that, in its present enlarged and more modern form, the book may continue to be the Text-Book of the gymnastic profession.

Oxford University Gymnasium: January 1895.

Wallace Maclaren.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction. — Growth and Development .... xix

Exercise the chief agent in bodily culture ... xx

Appendix

A. Illustrations (from photographs) of different forms of Growth

and Development 423

B. Table showing average state of Growth and Development at

different ages from 10 to 18 years ..... 438

C. Table showing the state of Growth and Development of men

on arriving at the University ...... 439

D. Table showing the influence of Systematized Exercise on boys

of different conditions of Growth and Development, extending over periods of several years ..... 440

Table showing the effects of Systematized Exercise upon men of different degrees of Physical Power 44a

E. Tabular statement of Measurements, before and after course

of instruction, of First and Second Detachments of Non- Commissioned Officers, selected to be qualified as Military Gymnastic Instructors ....... 444

F. Eeturn of Course (four months) of Gymnastic Training at

the Eoyal Military Academy, Woolwich .... 446

G. Eesult of one year’s continuous practice of Systematized

H. System of taking Measurements to determine the rate of

I. Gymnastic Schools, their Construction and Eequirements 45a b