PLATE-SWIMMING" 
 
IUKITBRSIT^ 
 
" PLATE-SWIMMING" 
 
 WITH NOTES ON THE 
 
 SCIENCE OF NATATION 
 
 R. H. WALLACE-DUNLOP, C.B. 
 
 AUTHOK OF " SERVICE>AND ADVENTURS," " HUNTING IN THE HIMALAYA " 
 ETC. 
 
 OF THK 
 
 , BESITY 
 
 LONDON! 
 GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS 
 
 THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE 
 NEW YORK : 416 BROOME STREET* 
 
 \ftight of Translation reserved to the 
 
LONDON ! 
 
 PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, 
 MILFORP LANE, STRAND, W.C, 
 
C/3 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 With Press Report on Lecture . . 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 NON-SWIMMERS. 
 
 Their rational Treatment Best Mode of acquiring 
 the Art Principles of Swimming Action And 
 of Plate-Swimming 23 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SWIMMERS. 
 
 Effect of Fluids on moving Bodies Plate-Swim- 
 ming, like other accomplishments, needs Prac- 
 ticeBest Pattern for General Use Tying 
 Knots Leg Action 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXPERTS. 
 " Slip " Swimming and Sculling Practice for 
 
 Life Saving Swimming through Surf . . 47 
 
8 Contents, 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FLOATING AND DIVING. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Ancient Superstitions .Human Endurance of Sub- 
 mersion Theory of Respiration Eastern 
 Divers 59 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AQUATIC CLOTHING, ETC. 
 
 Principles of Protection by Clothing Proper Posi- 
 tion for Displacement Aquatic Entertain- 
 ments" Mussuk Riding " .... 73 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANIMAL SWIMMING. 
 
 Birds Beasts Fishes Analysis of Fish-Tail 
 
 Action 79 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VALEDICTORY. 
 
 Present Position and Promise of the System The 
 " Royal Charter "Cold Water Baths Tepid 
 Swimming Baths Free Bathing Hire of 
 Plates for Practice ,,,,,. 95 
 
Contents, 9 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LIST OF LONDON SWIMMING BATHS, ADDRESSES 
 AND DIMENSIONS 109 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 DIRECTIONS OF THE HUMANE SOCIETY AND 
 NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION FOR 
 RESTORING THE APPARENTLY DROWNED . 113 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WEIGHT CARRYING- . . ... Frontispiece 
 
 OVAL PATTERN OF PLATES 34 
 
 "REEFER'S" AND "GRANNY'S" KNOTS . . 41 
 BEAVER-TAIL PATTERN OF PLATES ... 46 
 DIAGRAM OF "SLIP" 49 
 
 FISH-TAIL FLIPPER, CORK, AND VULCANITE 
 PLATES, NOSE-PINCERS, AND KNOT-PICKER 58 
 
 AQUATIC DRESS 72 
 
 DIAGRAM OF FISH-TAIL ACTION .... 89 
 
 HUMANE AND LIFE BOAT SOCIETIES' METHODS 
 OF INDUCING RESPIRATION , . , Appendix 
 
41 PLATE-SWIMMING/ 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 WHAT are " swimming-plates " ? is the natural 
 inquiry of a stranger to the system, and its 
 answer may be prefaced by an extract from 
 the manufacturer's circular describing their aim 
 and object, or what they effect. 
 
 " These ' Plates, and ' Flippers ' give marvellous float 
 power, diving power, endurance, and speed to swimmers. 
 
 "They enable an average swimmer to carry from forty 
 to fifty pounds' weight of iron, tied round the neck, while 
 on the other hand, they enable him to dive, from surface, 
 and swim under water, wearing an inflated life belt. 
 
 " They enable weak swimmers to go long distances, by 
 the saving of strength resulting from reduction of the 
 ' slip ' of ordinary swimming ; and, by the grasp of water 
 they afford, they increase an average swimmer's speed by 
 about fifty per cent. 
 
 " The wooden plates supply about seven ounces of 
 buoyancy, and so allow of motionless rest on the surface, 
 without any constrained breathing as in ordinary floating. 
 
14 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 "In short, they make swimming easier, pleasanter, and 
 more effective" 
 
 It is the duty of the writer to describe the 
 " why " and the " how " of this predicate, 
 always allowing that the best and most prac- 
 tical argumeutum ad hominem, to the reader at 
 least, must be the performance, by the reader 
 himself, of the test conditions accepted in the 
 above extract. 
 
 The writer, being naturally interested in 
 popularizing his own invention, will always be 
 happy to supply explanation on any points 
 which may be obscure to his readers, and will, 
 under certain limits, give instructions to persons 
 desirous of practising the accomplishment, 
 whether swimmers or not. The said limits 
 being that, as his instructions would be gratui- 
 tous, it would obviously be unfair to professional 
 teachers, to deprive them of paying pupils, or 
 to continue the duties of an honorary instructor 
 where any professional swimming master, com- 
 petent to teach plate-swimming, undertakes the 
 duty. 
 
 Feeling convinced of the possibility of facili- 
 tating the acquisition and practice of the art 
 of swimming, of aiding materially human 
 locomotion in water, and increasing both the 
 power and speed of swimmers, by simple me- 
 chanical means, the writer of this little treatise 
 
Introductory. 1 5 
 
 experimented for several years on the formation 
 of practical fins and flippers. The results of 
 his investigations were communicated to a few 
 of those interested in the art, professionals and 
 amateurs, in a lecture on " Swimming and Swim- 
 mers/' delivered at the Marylebone Baths in 
 April 1876. He then gave his system the title 
 of " Plate-Swimming." 
 
 The devices used were patented, to ensure at 
 once the association of his name with the 
 original invention ; and to prevent piracy 
 of any credit due to the results attained, 
 the assistance of the firm of Messrs Silver 
 & Co. of Cornhill was secured as an assurance of 
 sound manufacture, and sets of plates were 
 presented to a few prominent members of the 
 profession. During the first season, last summer, 
 little or nothing was done in the way of push- 
 ing the system with the public, no advertise- 
 ments whatever being sent to the press. 
 
 The writer gladly acknowledges having met 
 with some educated and intelligent instructors of 
 swimming who have shown a reasoning appre- 
 ciation of the principles involved, as well as 
 practical accomplishment in the art of natation, 
 and who have taken keen interest in the utiliza- 
 tion of artificial appliances for aiding swimmers, 
 but this only in a few exceptional cases. 
 
 It appears to be a common delusion that any 
 winner of swimming medals or races, almost 
 
1 6 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 any one who " knows how to swim/* suffices fof 
 the post of swimming instructor. But it is not 
 always, or even often, that an uneducated per- 
 former is also a good instructor of the art. As 
 a rule, those who have been "educated " in 
 general and cognate subjects, not merely "in- 
 structed " in the routine of their speciality, arc 
 willing recipients of suggestions for reform or 
 improvement, while many self-styled "professors' 5 
 of the art, profoundly ignorant of all else, are 
 very professionally conservative in their ideas, 
 and bitterly opposed to what they deem " new- 
 fangled notions." Some of the professionals 
 attending the lecture in April did not hesitate 
 to express their antipathy to the plan suggested 
 before even hearing the address, and among 
 some accomplished amateurs the author has 
 observed that, while good-naturedly devoting 
 both time and trouble to teaching the art to 
 non-swimmers, when any rivalry was out of the 
 question, they have evinced considerable jea- 
 lousy at seeing themselves, despite many years 
 of practice, easily passed in the water by plate 
 swimmers of a few weeks' standing. 
 
 " Have you seen or heard anything of 
 Dunlop's system of plate-swimming ? " en- 
 quired a friend lately of a professed swimming 
 master. " No, I have not, but I know it's all 
 humbug without seeing it," he replied. This 
 maybe designated either "wholesome prejudice" 
 
In trodu ctory. 17 
 
 or " ignorant bigotry " according to the phase 
 of mind exercised in characterizing it. 
 
 It soon became evident that the initiation of 
 improved methods through those wedded to 
 more antiquated modes, was hopeless, and that 
 it were easier to convert the instructors through 
 a dispassionate public opinion, than attempt 
 to introduce a novel system through those hold- 
 ing professional and unreasoning prejudices 
 against it. 
 
 Perseverance in the plan was promoted by 
 the fact that the only teachers of the art who 
 had taken the trouble to practise with swim- 
 ming plates gave the system their cordial sup- 
 port, while the Press, on the one opportunity it 
 had of pronouncing an opinion, accorded every 
 encouragement. The Times, Daily News, Stand- 
 ard, Land and Water, and other papers, in notic- 
 ing the lecture of April last, not only fully recog- 
 nized the advantages secured, at the stage then 
 attained, but also the promise of the invention 
 as appreciable from its prospects of further 
 development. The Standard report on the sub- 
 ject is reprinted on another page. 
 
 It is thought advisable to detail the system 
 throughout, i.e. beginning with the non-swimmer; 
 but the descriptions will be limited, as far as pos- 
 sible, to swimming taught with and through the 
 use of plates. Unaided swimming action has 
 been clearly and concisely set forth in an admir- 
 
 c 
 
1 8 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 able treatise styled "Swimming and Diving," by 
 Mr. William Wilson, of Glasgow, a work all 
 amateurs ought to read. 
 
 In short, the primary object of this book is to 
 teach " Plate-Swimming," but for that purpose 
 it is necessary to state in a popular and prac- 
 tical form, a few of the scientific principles of all 
 swimming, accepting the dictum of one of our 
 greatest modern teachers, that " science is no- 
 thing more than organized common sense." 
 
 Report of Mr. Dunlop's lecture on " Swimming and 
 Swimmers," from the Standard of April 2ist, 1876, 
 alluded to in the foregoing preface. 
 
 "ARTIFICIAL AIDS TO SWIMMING. 
 
 " An excellent exposition on swimming was delivered 
 last evening at the Marylebone Swimming Club by R. 
 Wallace-Dunlop, Esq., C.B., the inventor of some nove 
 and very effective aids to swimming, which address, 
 delivered to a considerable although select audience, was 
 admirably illustrated by lime light views on the screen 
 and diagrams, and finally also by some most expert swim- 
 mers of the above and other clubs in the great swimming 
 bath itself. 
 
 " The rinkomania,and Captain Webb's celebrated swim, 
 had clearly given the lecturer the idea that swimming 
 ought to become as fashionable a recreation as roller- 
 skating ; whilst as an additional basis he brought in very 
 substantial reasons why soldiers, and sailors in particular, 
 and the public generally, should be educated in this use- 
 ful and healthful art. His immediate object was, of 
 course, to bring into notice his own invention for aiding 
 
Introductory. 19 
 
 human natation by ' plates ' and ' flippers/ easily attached 
 to and detached from the hands and feet, but his reference 
 to the system introduced by General Pfuel in Germany, 
 of soldiers having to learn swimming as a part of their 
 drill, was a strong practical point, especially as the French 
 and other Continental armies have some equivalent in - 
 struction, and no good reason can be stated why it should 
 be neglected in our army, still less in our navy, the only 
 useful efforts at present making in this direction being 
 due to philanthropists like Lord Shaftesbury, or Mr. John 
 Macgregor of the London School Board better known 
 as ' Rob Roy the Canoeist,' who in training ships like 
 the Chichester^ transmute the little waifs and strays of our 
 cities into hardy sailors for our navy and mercantile 
 marine. The contrast between swimmers and non- 
 swimmers was vividly brought out also by two recent con- 
 spicuous cases namely, the loss of life which occurred 
 last year amongst a party of soldiers upset only a few 
 yards from the shore of the Medway, and the burning of 
 the Goliath, in which instance, out of the hundreds of 
 little fellows, scarcely more able, one might suppose, to 
 take care of themselves than old soldiers, comparatively 
 few lives were lost, as numbers of them swam to shore 
 when they found their ship disappearing, the captain's 
 daughters diving off the burning deck and swimming like 
 the rest. A third class of accidents, amongst others, in 
 which swimming was of high importance, was referred 
 to namely in iron ships, with which the average time 
 between collision and sinking is seven to eight minutes. 
 In relation to the public there is an absolute consensus of 
 opinion, medical and general, as to the benefits of bath- 
 ing and swimming, and yet as a rule the public do neither. 
 The commissioners of public baths for Marylebone, Mr. 
 Dunlop pertinently remarked, who had at a cost of ,7,000 
 built the baths in which they were congregated, quote on 
 their handbills a very apposite extract from the writings 
 
 C 2 
 
2O Plate-Swimming. 
 
 of Dr. Abernethy, whose opinion it was that 'next to 
 eating and sleeping the swimming bath ranks amongst 
 the very foremost of the necessaries and supports of life.' 
 And yet there are, he added, only about twenty large 
 swimming baths in London for nearly four millions of 
 people, and these are never full even in summer, and are 
 most of them closed in winter. One object of his present 
 effort towards popularizing swimming would be to fill 
 these baths, and he thought the best chance of accom- 
 plishing this was by making swimming easier and more 
 agreeable, and practised in dress by both sexes, much as 
 dancing, riding, skating, or croquet are practised now. 
 In the old heroic days of classical history, when Leander 
 swam the Hellespont, he used, so far as can be gathered 
 from tradition or record, the ordinary breast stroke ; and 
 when a far greater swimmer crossed the British Channel 
 last year, he too, throughout his long labour, remained 
 not only naked and unbuoyed, but with his limbs as un- 
 furnished for locomotion in water as were those of his 
 renowned prototype three thousand years before. After 
 thus pleading with much eloquence for the advent of a 
 fashionable era in swimming, Mr. Dunlop gave a series 
 of really lucid and scientific explanations of the natatory 
 appliances and swimming actions of seals, fish, beavers, 
 turtles, and other notable professors of the art, pointing 
 out in each the special mechanical principles involved. 
 
 "After this the immediate subject of the discourse was 
 taken up. The first lesson Mr. Dunlop says he learnt in 
 his search for a practical fin or propeller for human beings 
 was that, owing to the impossibility of introducing nerves 
 and muscles for economic expansion and contraction of 
 such devices, all jointed, hinged, and umbrella fins are 
 practically worthless. If the opening and closing of the 
 fin is made dependent on the action of the water during 
 the stroke of the arm or leg the greater part of such 
 stroke is non-effective, being employed in the expansion 
 
Introductory. 2 1 
 
 of the fin ; and the effective complement of the stroke 
 after expansion does not compensate for the extra friction 
 and drag of the apparatus during closing and recovery. 
 It must be remembered that the length of the leg stroke 
 is from 2ft. to 2ft. 6in. only, and that the action is not 
 directly backwards and forwards like the connecting rod 
 of a crank or the piston of a steam engine, but that the 
 feet trace a cycloid. His plates and flippers, therefore, 
 Mr. Dunlop makes stiff or only slightly elastic the term 
 ' plate ' being applied to those artificial propellers in which 
 the hand or foot attachment is over the centre of its 
 pressure area ; and ' flippers ' to those in which it is eccen- 
 tric, considerable elasticity of action being afforded in 
 the latter case, but less power and variation in the use of 
 the instrument. The plates are, however, the more gene- 
 rally useful, as they do not prevent walking on rocks or 
 on the deck of a vessel, and are equally effective for back, 
 breast, or side stroke. 
 
 " The practical illustrations with which the evening 
 terminated were excellent, and did credit to Mr. Dunlop's 
 acumen and judgment. The experts were Ainsworth, 
 captain of the Serpentine Club ; MacGarrick, of the 
 Marylebone ; and J. J. Rope, of the Otter Club, the 
 former (MacGarrick) swimming the full length of the 
 bath atop of the water with a 42lb. iron weight slung 
 round his neck, and then, with 42lb. displacement in the 
 shape of two life-belts, at the bottom of the tank under 
 water. An attendant at the baths, dressed as a soldier 
 in heavy marching order, with knapsack weighted to 6olb., 
 his full number of rounds of ammunition placed on his 
 shacko, his rifle slung over his shoulder, managed to get 
 from end to end of the tank, and landed safely ; and 
 Mr. Dunlop's son a slender, well-formed boy made 
 very good tracks indeed in the water. These two, repre- 
 senting untrained ordinary swimmers, were testimony of 
 the assistance the plates would be likely to render in the 
 
2 2 Plate- Swim m ing. 
 
 case of soldiers fording rivers and in shipwrecks, by 
 enabling unskilled persons to keep themselves longer 
 afloat, and to gain greater distances than would other- 
 wise be possible for them to do. Mr. Dunlop's chief 
 claim is that his plates will make a powerful swimmer of 
 a weak one. 
 
 " A hearty vote of thanks was given by the audience 
 to the lecturer on the proposal of Captain Cockburn." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 NON-SWIMMERS. 
 
 ONE point on which all rational teachers of 
 swimming are agreed, is the desirability of 
 allowing the tyro to gain confidence gradually. 
 He should, in the early stages, be restrained 
 from, rather than urged to, experiments risking 
 anything like swallowing or inhaling water. 
 Nothing more idiotic can well be conceived 
 than the "good old custom," once prevalent at 
 public schools, of throwing in the smaller boys ; 
 indeed, all trickery, practical joking, or ducking 
 of the inexperienced, should be sternly stamped 
 out. 
 
 It is not necessary or desirable that a begin- 
 ner should plunge in, let him be content to wet 
 his head and walk into the water. 
 
 The first instruction should be to impress on 
 his mind that by inhaling a long breath of air 
 prior to dipping the head, remaining a few 
 seconds under water, and exhaling on emerging 
 therefrom, no inconvenience is experienced ; 
 this fact once learned, he will know that the 
 
24 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 gasping, choking, and annoyance, resulting 
 from inhaling under water, is due, if it occurs 
 afterwards, to his own awkwardness or misman- 
 agement. 
 
 The writer once saw a teacher of swimming 
 introduce his son, a fine plucky little fellow of 
 six or seven years old, to the water in a tepid 
 swimming bath. The boy was quite fearless 
 and anxious to learn. His father entered the 
 water, then took him on his back, making him 
 hold on by his neck, and swam round the bath. 
 He soon called out " Now then, Tommy ! shut 
 your mouth!" and dived under water. Poor 
 Tommy may have shut his mouth but could 
 not also shut his nostrils like a seal, nor could 
 he be expected to refrain from inhaling when 
 under. He naturally came up a miserable look- 
 ing object, choking and coughing, while his 
 father putting him out on the side, tenderly 
 wiped away the phlegm and saliva oozing from 
 nose and mouth, and encouraged him by words, 
 after having seriously injured his morale, and 
 thrown him back several weeks by his first 
 lesson. 
 
 The most favourable position in which to 
 acquire swimming action is when the learner is 
 aided by displacement in water, i.e., wearing a 
 macintosh belt or cork floats. The dread vul- 
 garly entertained of some danger from change 
 of position of the belt, or of its getting entangled 
 
Non-Swimmers. 25 
 
 with the feet, is unreasonable, no change is pos- 
 sible if the appliance be properly attached ; but 
 macintosh is always liable to leaking from punc- 
 ture or rotting of the material ; it appears to 
 lose all its good qualities, its elasticity and 
 toughness, as soon as it loses its characteristic 
 evil odour. 
 
 The cheapest and safest life-preserver possible 
 is made by collecting a number of bottle corks 
 and sewing them as close together as they will 
 go, on to an old waistcoat. This expedient 
 was first mentioned to me by Mr. Humphrey, 
 a teacher of swimming. A pair of cork hand- 
 plates strapped to back and chest, also form an 
 excellent life-buoy. 
 
 As soon as a lad has attained a sound and 
 slow action with the floats on, and this in most 
 cases is attainable in three lessons, he need only 
 continue the same stroke with the floats off to 
 swim unaided. This I have tested in repeated 
 instances ; the period of nervously hurried and 
 exhausting effort common to most beginners, 
 may be shortened, if not avoided by first teach- 
 ing them, when comfortably buoyed, the regular 
 system of correct movement. 
 
 In the ordinary breast action, almost all the 
 propulsion should be done with the legs, the 
 arms being chiefly occupied in supporting the 
 weight of the head. It is therefore of great 
 importance to acquire from the first a powerful 
 
26 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 leg stroke. For this purpose it is usual to 
 recommend the beginner to hold on to a bar at 
 the side of the bath, or hang from a rope or 
 loop attached to the ceiling, or be held by the 
 teacher, and then kick out with the legs. In 
 lieu of such aids the plate-swimmer gives the 
 learner a pair of cork hand-plates, nine by ten and 
 one and a half inches thick, or with nearly 100 
 square inches of horizontal face, or pressure 
 area (vide wood cut at page 58). The outline 
 is of little importance as speed is then not an 
 object. The mode of attachment is, as with all 
 hand-plates, a single buckle and strap passing 
 through two slots in the plate and forming a 
 loop through which the four fingers of the hand 
 pass. The displacement of such a pair of plates 
 is equivalent to seven pounds of dead weight, 
 and it is evident that by such assistance not 
 only can the leg action be easily 'taught, the 
 support moving on as required by the learner's 
 progression, but the synchronous action of the 
 hands can be acquired in connection with it. 
 
 To show how the buoyancy, independent of 
 mechanical float power in such plates, may be 
 calculated, if the reader will utilize the table 
 of specific gravities which is borrowed at page 
 6 1 from Baker's Dynamics, he will find that 
 such a pair of plates give him, allowing a small 
 correction for bevils and rounding of the edges, 
 some 288 cubic inches of displacement, or 
 
N on- Swimmers. 27 
 
 about nine pounds six ounces of water ; and 
 as the cork causing said displacement itself 
 weighs only two pounds eight ounces, it affords 
 a buoyancy of six pounds fourteen ounces of 
 dead weight. If he test the same empirically 
 with well varnished cork, by floating and plac- 
 ing weight on it until the water just covers 
 the whole of the cork, he will find the result 
 even more favourable for buoyancy, the cork 
 being dry and its air cells protected by the 
 varnish, it will carry over seven pounds of dead 
 weight, by which is meant weight above, not 
 floated in the water. 
 
 The best possible preparation, by dry land 
 drill, for practice in water, is to support the 
 learner by a stool under the abdomen, while 
 his wrists and ankles are placed in leather loops 
 suspended by cords from ring bolts in the ceil- 
 ing, by this means all injurious strain can be 
 avoided, and the combined action of arms and 
 legs so far mastered, as to ensure every pupil 
 of good nerve, swimming across a bath during 
 the first lesson. 
 
 It appears to the writer to be of more im- 
 portance to state the principles on which swim- 
 ming progression depends, than to lay down 
 dogmas as to the details of action. Much de- 
 pends on physical conformation, and an intelli- 
 gent learner will soon test the styles best suited 
 to his own individual make or figure. 
 
28 Plate- Sivimming. 
 
 If, for instance, we glance at the instructions 
 as to leg action given in some of the latest 
 publications on swimming, we find in a small 
 " Handbook of Swimming " by Messrs. Rout- 
 ledge, p. 23 : 
 
 " The legs, which should be moved alternately 
 with the hands, must be drawn up with the 
 knees inwards, and the soles of the feet 
 inclined outwards ; and they should then be 
 thrown backwards, as widely apart from each 
 other as possible." 
 
 In a book by Sergeant Leahy, a swimming 
 teacher at Eton, " The Art of Swimming in the 
 Eton style," we find, p. 5, these words : 
 
 "With the soles of our feet we balance our- 
 selves and walk on the land ; and with them 
 also we propel ourselves through the water. 
 To use the soles of the feet to the greatest 
 advantage, that is to strike the water with the 
 soles only, the knees, as I have said, ought to 
 be turned out, and the toes drawn up towards 
 the shins before every kick." 
 
 Again in Captain Webb's book, p. 31 : 
 
 " Here let me observe that it is a popular 
 fallacy to imagine that the speed of the swim- 
 mer in any way depends on the resistance of 
 the water against the soles of the feet. I 
 have often heard it observed": ' Oh, that man 
 would make a fine swimmer ; he has got such 
 large feet. ' Now, in the movement of the legs 
 
Non* Swimmers. 29 
 
 the flat of the foot never directly meets the 
 water, except in the case which I shall here- 
 after mention, known as 'treading water.' 
 The propelling power in swimming is caused by 
 the legs being suddenly brought from a position 
 in which they are placed wide apart, into one 
 in which they are close together like the blades 
 of a pair of scissors. In fact the mechanical 
 power here brought into play is that of the 
 wedge. For instance, suppose a wedge of ice 
 were suddenly pinched hard between the thumb 
 and finger, it is evident that the wedge of ice 
 would shoot off in the direction opposite to that 
 in which the sharp edge points." 
 
 These last two teachers are like the knights 
 with the gold and silver shield, each looking at 
 one side only, and each in a sense right as to 
 the point on which he insists. 
 
 As a matter of course, as large a cone or 
 wedge of water as possible should be grasped 
 by the legs ; and it stands to reason that if this 
 wedge of water from which the forward impulse 
 is obtained, were a wedge of ice, it would be of 
 little consequence what the pressure area or 
 diameter of each leg might be ; but it is very 
 different with a yielding and fluid matter, a pair 
 of scissors for instance as long as the legs, 
 would obtain but little spring off a cone of 
 water. 
 
 It stands to reason, also, that the value of 
 
30 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 each unit of this pressure area of the legs is in 
 direct proportion to its distance from the hips. 
 In fact, that the most important and widest 
 traverse is obtained by the feet ; and it is very 
 desirable to increase the pressure area at the 
 most important point, by using the sole, not 
 the side of the foot, in bearing on the water- 
 wedge described ; this, also, adds the impulse due 
 to the fin-like action of the ankle-joint in that 
 position. The same principles regulate the use 
 of the flat, or palm of the hand, which should 
 be passed edgeways through the water during 
 " recovery " to ensure the minimum of resistance 
 to its transit, while during the " stroke " it 
 should be turned square to the direction of its 
 motion, to obtain the maximum of resistance to 
 its passage, i.e., grip of water. 
 
 The principle of " plate-swimming" is the 
 increase of the pressure area, by which pro- 
 pulsion and surplus float-power are secured ; it 
 is simply assimilating the hands and feet of 
 human beings to those of certain aquatic 
 animals, such as the sea-lion and turtle. 
 
 When the non-swimmer, placing his hands in 
 the loops of a pair of cork-plates like those 
 illustrated, lays his length in the water, his 
 head is sufficiently raised without effort or 
 movement, and he is able by even a crude 
 imitation of the correct action to travel round 
 a bath at the first essay. So soon as his action is 
 
Non - Swim mers. 3 1 
 
 tolerably correct, the foot plates (page 34) may 
 be attached, the next step is to exchange the 
 cork hand plates for wooden ones, and a begin- 
 ner usually succeeds in plate-swimming, travers- 
 ing the length of the bath or round it in one 
 lesson. 
 
 For the second lesson, after practising with 
 the plates on, and alternately with those on the 
 hands or feet alone, after the learner has been 
 warned to continue a slow steady stroke, the 
 plates may be taken off, and he will find that 
 he can cross the bath unassisted. Under any 
 circumstances, and with the most nervous 
 bathers, a few days' practice at most, ensures 
 facility of swimming both with and without 
 plates. 
 
 The irregular jerky action often adopted by 
 self-taught performers, is impossible while using 
 the plates, because all action not perfectly true 
 causes " drag," which modifies and corrects 
 irregular movements and in fact insures, not 
 only perfect action while " plate-swimming," 
 but the habit of correct action, which remains 
 when swimming unaided. 
 
 The writer has frequently been asked why he 
 did not devise a fin to open and close in lieu of 
 plates ; an abstract of the objections to collaps- 
 ing appliances has been quoted at the end of 
 last chapter, in the extract from the Standard 
 report of lecture ; but it may be added that a 
 
32 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 great variety of such devices have been tested, 
 and the popular tendency to such delusive aids 
 is proved by the fact that three-and-twenty 
 patents or provisional specifications of such 
 hinged and jointed contrivances have been 
 entered at the patent office, all collapsing, in 
 more senses than one. 
 
 The great impediment to the utilization of 
 swimming-plates has been the human heel. No 
 swimming animal, we may say no animal but 
 man, has a heel, and the ninety degrees of play 
 now obtained for the foot-plates has only been 
 secured by letting the heel through a gap, and 
 taking a bearing principally from the ball of 
 the foot, so utilizing the play of both the ankle 
 and the metatarsal, or instep, joints, to bring 
 the plate in line with the leg or square to it at 
 will. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SWIMMERS. 
 
 IT is essential, in order to appreciate the varied 
 phenomena appertaining to swimming questions, 
 that we keep in mind a well known law of hydro- 
 dynamics, that, "the resistance which a fluid 
 opposes to a body moving in it, increases as the 
 square of the velocity." So that a resistance 
 of, say, twenty-five units, offered to a speed of 
 one yard a second, augments to 100 units for 
 two yards, 225 for three, and so on. The resist- 
 ance is in direct ratio with the area of the 
 moving body but modified by a co-efficient 
 dependent on its shape. 
 
 As a necessary consequence of the aforesaid 
 law, the power exerted in overcoming such 
 resistance must increase as the cube of the 
 velocity, for, supposing the power exerted to 
 achieve one yard per second to be twenty-five 
 units, the first yard accomplished at the rate 
 of two per second takes 100 units in lieu of 
 twenty-five to complete, and the second yard 
 adds another 100 to bring it into the same 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 time, the total 200 representing eight times, or 
 the cubical proportion of, twenty-five. 
 
 At page 371 of Molesworth's " Pocket Book of 
 Engineering Formulae," published by Spon & Co., 
 Charing Cross, the reader will find the rules for 
 proportioning power and speed algebraically 
 expressed for screw steamers. 
 
 As instanced by an engineering friend of 
 mine on one occasion, an ironclad of 3000 H.P. 
 running at half power made ten knots an hour, 
 while full power added but a little over two 
 knots to her speed. It is evident that a point 
 must soon be reached when, practically speaking, 
 any increase of power will hardly add to speed. 
 With our present appliances twenty miles an 
 hour may be quoted as about the limit of speed 
 for steamers, and roughly speaking one and a 
 half yards per second is the ne plus ultra for 
 swimmers. 
 
 This affords some explanation how it is that 
 while all good swimmers can go a yard per 
 second, the most strenuous exertions are requi- 
 site to accomplish fractional increments in excess 
 of it, and an immense amount of extra energy 
 has to be used by athletes like Jones and John- 
 son when making time that shows in distance 
 but a few inches per second over that of ordin- 
 ary good swimmers. 
 
 It is well known that in racing, as a rule, 
 competitors sink as much as possible of their 
 
Swimmers. 37 
 
 body, in order that their efforts may not be 
 wasted in floating or supporting it, but entirely 
 utilized for propulsion. It is evident if we 
 bring the before quoted rule to bear on the 
 question, that the growing volume of resistance, 
 owing to the density of water as compared with 
 air, quickly brings a point where it is more 
 economical to raise the body partly out of 
 water, than to devote the entire power available 
 to propulsion direct. Practically this is demon- 
 strated by the action of the hundred yard 
 champion, Mr. Trudgeon, who, striking down- 
 wards as well as backwards with his hands, 
 raises his body considerably out of the water, 
 and accomplishes great speed, but at a cost of 
 exertion which precludes its continuance for 
 more than a short distance. 
 
 Similarly, in the case of what are known as the 
 wave-line build of vessels and boats, designed 
 by Messrs. Scott Russell, Coryton, Ramus, and 
 others, when running beyond a certain velocity 
 they partly rise from the water, their draft 
 diminishing in proportion to their rate of 
 speed. 
 
 It is not unusual to see self-taught swimmers 
 who merely draw the legs and feet up for 
 recovery and jerk them back for stroke ; they 
 care nought for wedges of water or width of 
 traverse with the feet, yet some of them are 
 comparatively fast swimmers. Their propulsion 
 
3 8 Plate- Swimm ing. 
 
 is gained by utilizing the law of hydro-dynamics 
 before expressed, i.e. if they only strike back 
 the feet at twice the speed they draw them up, 
 they gain for the forward impetus nearly twice 
 the rearward drag. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that plate-swimming 
 is an accomplishment as distinct as roller- 
 skating, and although many persons, find no 
 difficulty in using plates at the first trial, their 
 slide and grip of water, if misused or inverted 
 in action, will impede or obstruct a novice just 
 as they give power and speed to an expert. 
 The writer has seen a person, proud of his 
 proficiency in swimming, put on the plates for 
 the first time, blunder about awkwardly on the 
 surface and then disappear under water. On 
 coming up spluttering to his feet, he promptly 
 pulled off the plates and refused to try them 
 again, complacently ignoring any awkwardness 
 on his own part, he denounced "swimming- 
 plates " as being being " very bad things " they 
 drag you imder. This could only be paralleled 
 by a tyro pulling off his skates at the first 
 tumble, and pompously announcing that they 
 throw you down. 
 
 The swimmer who tries plates for the first 
 time had better be content to use those for the 
 feet only, wearing the anklet attachment, and 
 making himself familiar with the character of 
 the foot action before trying them on the hands 
 
Swimmers. 39 
 
 also. Although hand-plates are very useful in 
 broken water, and essential in weight-carrying, 
 all travelling should be thrown on the legs. 
 
 In the illustration at the commencement of this 
 chapter we have the pattern of hand and foot 
 plates best adapted for general purposes. 
 
 It will be seen that the hand-plate, which 
 measures about eleven inches by eight, and is 
 only three-eighths of an inch in its thickest part, 
 has the simplest possible form of attachment 
 a strap passing through two slots about four 
 inches apart and so forming a loop for the hand. 
 
 It will be seen that the foot is attached to 
 the plate by a laced upper of leather. There 
 are brass staples with sliding rings on each side 
 of the heel gap, and there are two methods 
 used for securing to the ankle : 
 
 Firstly. By an anklet, instep strap, and heel 
 strap, vide p. 34. 
 
 Secondly. By a single long strap combining 
 the three pieces in one, vide p. 46. 
 
 This last is used by those who will not be 
 troubled to fasten more than one buckle ; but 
 the first is the more efficient mode, as it allows 
 greater freedom and play to the foot, the heel 
 strap being carried round the achillis tendon on 
 a metal hook does not get friction bound by it, 
 but allows the heel to traverse easily right and 
 left while it runs through the hook. The heel 
 strap is preferable to a lace as being stronger, 
 
4-9 Plate Swimming. 
 
 and a buckle is a safer fastening than a knot, 
 often carelessly or awkwardly tied. 
 
 With reference to tieing laces whether for 
 uppers and anklets or for boot strings, and 
 parcel fastenings, a few minutes' study of the 
 annexed diagram will, unless the reader is 
 already initiated, afford him benefit for the rest 
 of his life. 
 
 Here are two kinds of knot shown, with appar- 
 ently very little difference between them, but 
 that little constitutes the difference between a 
 perfectly reliable knot which will not draw, but 
 is easily opened at will, and a worthless 
 tangle which frequently draws, but which, when 
 once tight, it is a trying penance to have to 
 untie. 
 
 The first is the " reefer's " knot, the second 
 the "granny's," the former so called because 
 used by all sailors when reefing, and however 
 jammed by strain or wet, it can be unloosened 
 quickly, with the point of a splicing pin or 
 almost any pointed piece of wood. It takes 
 no longer, and is not more difficult to make, 
 than the "granny's," yet strange to say, many 
 men and nearly all women and children know 
 and use the latter only. 
 
 The main point in plate-swimming, whatever 
 the action used, is to ensure the plates travers 
 ing the water edgeways during recovery and 
 square during stroke. 
 
REEFER'S KNOT 
 
 GRANNYS KNOT 
 
Swimmers. 43 
 
 The hand-plates may, of course, travel edge- 
 ways whether the plate be horizontal or vertical 
 in the water, and it must be understood that 
 both with the " side " and " overhand " action 
 it is desirable that the underhand plate be ver- 
 tical during " recovery ; " if kept horizontal, a 
 slight error of incline might alter the position 
 or " swim " of the body and transfer some of its 
 weight to the plate, so as to retard progress, 
 while the same amount of error with a plate 
 vertical, would only cause a trifling change of 
 direction. 
 
 The recovery of the feet may be practised 
 either separating the knees with the inner edge 
 of the plate leading, or with the knees together 
 and the heels leading. 
 
 A bandy legged swimmer would use the 
 former, and a knock-kneed one the latter. As 
 a rule both should be practised, the first being 
 preferable for all breast action, the last for 
 swimming on the back. 
 
 At page 36 of his book, Mr. Wilson describes 
 the improved leg stroke for the side action. He 
 says, 
 
 "With the legs, bring both feet up to the 
 body, heels touching, toes pointing outward ; 
 send the topmost or left foot straight in front 
 of and as nearly as possible at right angles to 
 the body, at the same time kicking the under- 
 most or right foot in the direction of one's own 
 
44 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 back. This motion of the legs seems like a 
 long stride, as in running ; now bring the legs 
 sharply together, the top or instep of the right 
 foot, and the inner ankle of the left foot, offer- 
 ing the resisting surface." There is no doubt 
 this is the action used by our best swimmers, 
 but there are many who do not adopt it. Indeed 
 Captain Webb, among other injunctions to the 
 side swimmer, (vide page 43 of " The Art of 
 Swimming,") distinctly tells him "to keep the 
 same stroke with his legs as in the breast 
 stroke," and this is exactly what he must do 
 when using the ordinary or oval pattern of 
 swimming-plates, as they are designed for 
 taking the pressure against the water on the 
 sole or under surface of the plate. At p. 58 
 a " fishtail " flipper is shown, with which the 
 improved leg action of the side stroke can be 
 used, and the true fishtail action imitated, as 
 more fully detailed in Chapter VII. 
 
47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXPERTS. 
 
 MOST persons will know what is meant by the 
 term "slip " of ships' propellers ; it is here used 
 in the same sense as applied to plates, and lest 
 some readers may not have met with the ex- 
 pression in its technical meaning, the exact 
 purport had better be explained. If the helix 
 or spiral thread of a screw has such a pitch 
 that in one turn round the shank of the screw 
 it advances say one inch, the screw would if 
 turned into wood or any solid material, advance 
 one inch with each complete turn, but if the 
 helices or blades of the screw propeller of a 
 ship have a pitch of, say, one turn in three feet, 
 they do not, owing to their turning in a yielding 
 or fluid substance, advance the ship at the rate 
 of their pitch, but lose at a rate, large if there 
 is much static inertia, or small if there is much 
 acquired momentum, in the ship. The difference 
 between the distance actually advanced and 
 that which the rate of pitch would give, is the 
 " slip " of the screw. 
 
 If when a swimmer reaches out his arm 
 before him he could lay hold of a fixed handle 
 in the water ; or if when he has " recovered " 
 
48 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 his feet he could find a bar behind them, there 
 would be good purchase for his stroke and no 
 " slip." But, owing to his legs and arms being 
 better proportioned for work on land than for 
 grasp of water, the slip, in unaided swimming, 
 amounts to about two thirds of the stroke. 
 
 Much of this slip is of course saved by using 
 plates, it is reduced not eliminated, and as the 
 slip is caused by the power applied, or pressure 
 exerted by the swimmer, they necessarily bear 
 a ratio to each other. In the following diagrams 
 therefore both swimming and sculling action are 
 illustrated, by indicating the "slip" and relative 
 pressure at each point of the movement. On 
 the annexed diagram, the feet action only is 
 shown, but that for sculling represents accu- 
 rately also the movements of the hands, if it be 
 supposed that the curves are separated by the 
 width of the body. For swimming foot action 
 the movement is the same whether en breast or 
 back. 
 
 We will suppose the feet to be recovered at 
 A, the heels and outer edges of the plates then 
 lead off to B and D respectively ; but slight 
 pressure, commencing until the direct paddle 
 blow BC and DE initiates the movement 
 changing to the incline pressure along CF and 
 EF. The strokes lengthening and the slip 
 diminishing as the body gains momentum. 
 
 The sculling movement is performed on the 
 back, and is useless without the plates, sup- 
 
Experts. 5 1 
 
 posing the body to lie fully extended and the 
 feet at a the knees are turned in, then the legs 
 separated from the hips, to b and c. Though 
 it is difficult at first, in this portion of the 
 movement to make the soles of the plates bear 
 strongly on the water, it is quite easy to run 
 them edgeways through it, and so " recover " 
 for the second portion of the stroke, in which, 
 the knees being turned outwards, the plates get 
 a good inclined bearing on the water, and being 
 brought sharply together, propel the body 
 effectually. The same sculling action being 
 carried on by the hands, considerable speed 
 without great effort, and without splashing, is 
 attained, one great advantage being that the 
 face is throughout above water, and breathing 
 easy even when accelerated by exertion. The 
 small amount of unprofitable action, in the 
 necessary turnings, is shown by the dotted lines. 
 
 The most conspicuous proof of the great 
 power given to swimmers by swimming-plates 
 is shown in weight-carrying, and the varied 
 methods of utilizing this power are of primary 
 importance in saving life. Swimmers who can- 
 not,. in unaided swimming, carry for the length 
 of the bath twenty-five pounds of immersed 
 ring weights, can carry double that amount when 
 using plates, while by merely treading water 
 the plate-swimmer raises his head, thorax and 
 shoulders, above the surface. In other words, 
 
 E 2 
 
5 2 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 he has for the assistance of a drowning man, 
 some twenty pounds of surplus power available. 
 
 A plate-swimmer approaching any one in 
 difficulty would seize his arms between the 
 shoulder and elbow, from behind if possible, 
 and by holding his head above water reassure 
 and encourage him. If he is persuaded to hang 
 by the arms round the swimmer's neck, his 
 weight w r ill be favourably placed for carrying, 
 as illustrated in the sketch from life, of weight- 
 carrying, vide frontispiece. The heads of the 
 swimmer and the person he carries are then 
 side by side. 
 
 It is easy to understand how different is such 
 a position from the ordinary one in which the 
 drowning man and his rescuer are sometimes 
 under water, sometimes struggling on the 
 surface, the extreme limit of the latter's strength 
 being unequal for more than a few minutes of 
 time or a few yards of distance. Most swim- 
 mers entertain very delusive ideas as to their 
 powers in this respect ; in a canal or river it is 
 of little consequence how the victim is pulled 
 to bank, a few feet only may be accomplished 
 in some fashion, though lives are often lost even 
 under these apparently easy conditions. 
 
 It is as well to mention, that where there is 
 occasion to drop the hand-plates and resume 
 them again, it is advisable to attach them by a 
 lace, run through the outer edge near the wrist- 
 gap, and tied to the arm just above the elbow, 
 
Experts, 53 
 
 In most accidents while at sea, with a ship 
 under way, all ordinary unaided swimming is 
 impotent to save a drowning man. A melan- 
 choly case has recently been reported by tele- 
 graph, which strikingly illustrates this fact. On 
 the 1 3th December last one of Her Majesty's 
 ships, the Newcastle, was on its way home 
 from China, when a sailor fell off the yard- 
 arm into the sea; a gallant young midship- 
 man named Wingfield, an excellent swimmer, 
 sprang over the side to rescue him, and two 
 seamen, both good swimmers, followed shortly 
 after; the ship was brought to, and boats 
 lowered at once, but bearings are very difficult 
 to keep when the ship swings half round the 
 compass, and a weary waste of waters must 
 intervene ere the smartest crew can stop her 
 way, whether under sail or steam. Wingfield 
 was last seen, having reached the man he sprang 
 to save, struggling to keep his head above water, 
 but none of the four zvere ever seen afterwards. 
 
 A man of the splendid physique of Captain 
 Webb might perhaps save a life in such a case, 
 and it would have been easy with the precau- 
 tions taken, and a row-boat close at hand, for 
 Baker to have rescued him had he succumbed, 
 during his marvellous feat of endurance in cross- 
 ing the Channel, just as Pamplin saved Cavill 
 when persevering until unconscious to rival that 
 achievement. But a rescue in a broken sea, 
 when a " few minutes " and " a few yards " are not 
 
5 4 Pla tc- Swimming. 
 
 factors in the formula, offers a problem insoluble 
 to unaided swimming. All honour to those who 
 at the cry of " a man overboard " spring into the 
 water after him as a matter of course; but let the 
 fact be noted for prompt action in such emergen- 
 cies by all in a position to aid, that where the 
 savingof a non-swimmer is concerned, the instant 
 cutting loose of a life-buoy and the lowering of a 
 boat are so far essential, that a question of a few 
 seconds sooner or later is a question of life or 
 death. 
 
 A study of the details of acts for which the 
 Humane Society's medals have been given since 
 1830, published by Lambton Young, Esq., the 
 Secretary, will enable the readers to judge 
 what is possible and what impossible to human 
 effort by unaided swimming. 
 
 We now come to a point more important in this 
 connection than even weight-carrying. Any- 
 one who has seen J. MacGarrick of the Maryle- 
 bone Baths, when plate-swimming with an in- 
 flated lifebelt round his waist and a nautilus 
 collar round his neck, go down at one end of 
 the long bath and after swimming along the 
 bottom come up at the other end 73 feet distant, 
 will understand how important the use of such 
 diving power, in overcoming and utilizing dis- 
 placement buoyancy, might prove to be. A 
 swimmer so provided, carrying down a lifebelt 
 to a non-swimmer who had already sunk, could 
 find no difficulty in raising him, and would have 
 
Experts. 5 5 
 
 no dread of the hug of a drowning man, as 
 the belt alone could keep their heads above 
 water. 
 
 Another very important benefit from the com- 
 bination of great grasp of water and displace- 
 ment buoyancy, especially if the latter be applied 
 as directed in Chapter VI., will be found in swim- 
 ming through surf. Captain Webb very justly 
 says, "To attempt swimming in a heavy surf 
 would be an act of folly for any one, however 
 great a swimmer he might be, unless he were 
 possessed of considerable personal strength." 
 
 Now it is just some equivalent for this excep- 
 tional power that I design for ordinary swim- 
 mers. Most persons are pleasingly surprised at 
 their first experience of the ease with \vhich they 
 can surmount great rollers in a heavy sea, when 
 once they have got away from the shore ; but 
 there are two difficulties, or rather dangers, to be 
 avoided when crossing surf, the one being struck 
 down by the curl of a wave, and the other being 
 dragged back when trying to land, by the reced- 
 ing water. 
 
 However artificially aided, the swimmer can- 
 not do better than follow the instructions of the 
 greatest authority we have on this speciality. 
 Captain Webb says, page 66, "The great art 
 in returning to shore is, not to attempt to battle 
 with the waves, but to manoeuvre with them so 
 that they assist you. Should a huge mass of 
 water be bearing down upon you from behind, 
 
5 6 PI a te- Swim m ing. 
 
 wait till it nearly reaches you, and then suddenly 
 dive downwards, swim a little way under water, as 
 far as you can, against the waves. By this means 
 you will avoid being caught in the crest of the 
 wave. Then turn again and strike out to shore, 
 and let yourself be carried on the huge bend of 
 the wave, which will take you rapidly in. The 
 waves by this means will bring you nearer and 
 nearer the shore; and the nearer you get the 
 greater must your care be that you don't get 
 caught, as I have said, in the crest of the wave, 
 the effect of which will be to dash you on the 
 beach, and probably, at the same time, knock all 
 the breath out of your body. It will generally 
 be found that every third and every ninth wave 
 is larger than the others, and, also that every 
 large wave is followed by a much smaller one. 
 In reaching the shore, therefore, watch your 
 opportunity, if possible to land as soon as you 
 can after these great waves have broken. 
 
 " In swimming out through the surf you must 
 of course, start in one of these small waves, and 
 when the sea appears to be in its calmest 
 moments. Again, the first time you see a 
 heavy billow higher than the rest rolling with 
 tremendous force towards you, wait till it is 
 nearly on you, then dive quickly and swim with 
 all your might against the water as long as you 
 possibly can, and your head will shoot above 
 water when the wave itself has passed far back 
 behind you.'* 
 
FISH TAIL FOOT FLIPPER 
 
59 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FLOATING AND DIVING, 
 
 THE crudity of current views on swimming 
 questions is shown by the practice still prevalent 
 of quoting Dr. Franklin's essay, including the 
 quaint superstitions it contains, as if the latter 
 were scientific facts. In the edition of a popu- 
 lar work of reference published so late as 1873, 
 we find full paraded, his injunctions as to 
 opening the eyes before diving, because of the 
 difficulty of doing so under water owing to the 
 pressure of the fluid on the lids. The English 
 Encyclopaedia ignores the art of swimming, the 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica quotes Dr. Franklin. 
 
 We often hear the mischievous fallacy 
 repeated that the specific gravity of the body 
 being less than that of water, if non-swimmers 
 only had the presence of mind to lie quietly 
 extended, keeping the head well back, they 
 would float even if the legs sank " till they were 
 almost in a standing position.'' Most of our 
 bathing accidents take place in fresh water, 
 lakes, rivers, or ponds, in which, except in the 
 
6o 
 
 case of very fat people, the body is heavier 
 than water. 
 
 The writer has himself practised, and has 
 often seen others, diving to the bottom of a 
 swimming bath, and lying there motionless for 
 a few seconds. When this is possible it were just 
 as true to call two and two five, as to say that the 
 body, bulk for bulk, is less in weight than water. 
 
 In fact motionless floating is a feat for ex- 
 perts and one requiring considerable practice. 
 It is accomplished by retaining throughout 
 respiration, a certain amount of air in the 
 lungs ; without practising this constrained mode 
 of breathing, any non-swimmer trusting to 
 presence of mind, and the afore-mentioned 
 pedantic delusion, would infallibly be drowned. 
 As a general rule it may be accepted, that the 
 body is lighter than water when the lungs are 
 filled with air, but when they are emptied by 
 exhalation, it is heavier than water. As, hov/ever, 
 the surplus in specific gravity of the body is 
 but trifling, very little additional displacement 
 suffices to raise the face above w r ater, and any- 
 one wearing plates of light wood may even go 
 to sleep while floating, because natural breathing 
 without sinking is practicable. A friend, late 
 in the Indian navy, assures the writer that with 
 the added buoyancy only of a Manilla hat he 
 has slept for some time floating in the harbour 
 of Jeddo. 
 
Floating and Diving. 61 
 
 As a matter of course the thick plates made 
 for beginners are much lighter in water than 
 the thin plates designed for experts, that is to 
 say, the displacement of the former being much 
 greater than that of the latter, they are lighter 
 to wear for floating or slow movements, but 
 much heavier to move through water during 
 rapid progression. 
 
 There is great difference between the specific 
 gravities of woods ; for instance, taking (weights 
 in ounces per cubic foot) 
 
 Fresh water at 60 degrees . . rooo 
 
 Sea water is .... 1*026 
 
 Oak and mahogany, about equal, "925 
 
 Beech "850 
 
 Elm '600 
 
 Fir -570 
 
 Poplar . . . '383 
 
 Cork '240 
 
 These figures are borrowed from Baker's 
 " Statics and Dynamics " published in Weale's 
 series. 
 
 The power of resting during protracted 
 exertion in long distance swimming is of great 
 importance to the swimmer himself, but as a 
 means of aiding others in difficulty, or at any- 
 rate of saving life when the victim to be rescued 
 has already sunk, it is of but minor importance 
 
62 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 compared to the power of diving, with facility 
 of movement and command of direction under 
 water. 
 
 The period of time during which human 
 beings can stand submersion in water without 
 losing consciousness, is a question of consider- 
 able interest to physiologists, as well as all 
 classes of swimmers. The power of a diver to 
 save life, in cases where a non-swimmer has 
 already sunk, depends often on the amount of 
 time he can devote to search under water for 
 the body, or to disentangling the same from 
 weeds and raising it to the surface. Most scientific 
 works give from one minute forty-five seconds, 
 to two minutes as the extreme limit of human 
 endurance in this respect ; and this coincides 
 with the experience of officers in charge of the 
 pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf. The chief 
 pearl fishery of the world, in the neighbourhood 
 of Bahrein and the E. I. C. islands, having a 
 pearl fleet of some 10,000 boats, manned prin- 
 cipally by Arabs, is, or lately was, kept in order 
 by a gunboat or British Government vessel sent 
 to keep the peace among them. 
 
 Captain Tronson of the late E. I. Company's 
 fleet, who was for some time in command 
 of this vessel, informed the writer that he has 
 had hundreds of opportunities for testing by 
 the ship's chronometer, the moment of the 
 entrance and exit from the water of the divers 
 
Floating and Diving. 63 
 
 around his ship. He found that the maximum 
 period of submersion so proved was two min- 
 utes, and that divers coming up after such an 
 effort showed every symptom of complete ex- 
 haustion. 
 
 In this connection it is very desirable that 
 the theory of respiration be clearly apprehended, 
 because the phenomena attending its suspension 
 and the practice empirically approved by divers, 
 receive interesting elucidation in the discove- 
 ries of advanced physiologists. I can strongly 
 recommend to the attentive perusal of all inter- 
 ested in such points, a pamphlet by Dr. Patrick 
 Black, published through Smith, Elder and Co., 
 entitled " Respiration, or why do we breathe.'* 
 I quote later on some of its convincing exposi- 
 tion of familiar facts, slurred over or avoided by 
 less intelligent observers. When an experienced 
 diver such as Mr. J. B. Johnson is preparing for 
 a long stay under water, it will be observed that 
 he fills and empties his lungs repeatedly by 
 short full inspiration and exhalation. By so 
 doing he is not merely filling the capillary air 
 cells with fresh oxygen, which is very essential, 
 but he is also, we may say, pumping blood 
 through the lungs ; he is emptying the right 
 ventrical of the heart so far as possible, just 
 before diving, instead of commencing his suspen- 
 sion of lung circulation with it semi-engorged. 
 
 The writer tested Mr. Johnson's endurance on 
 
64 Plate-Swimming* 
 
 one occasion, when he remained under water for 
 three minutes and thirteen seconds. There is 
 also ample evidence of his having done so for 
 three minutes thirty-five seconds, while his 
 brother, Mr. Peter Johnson, has been more than 
 four minutes under water. This, however, re- 
 presents quiescent endurance of suspended res- 
 piration only, whereas the active effort of col- 
 lecting the pearl oysters, necessarily increasing 
 heart action and filling the lungs with blood, 
 must shorten the period of submersion possible 
 when obtaining them. Mr. Peter Johnson's 
 longest swim under water is reported slightly 
 to exceed one hundred yards, and this at the 
 rate of nearly a yard per second, which is pos- 
 sible for divers, represents not more than the 
 two minutes maximum accomplished when active 
 muscular effort is imposed on the pearl fishers. 
 
 Dr. Black says, 
 
 " In speaking of the chemistry of respiration, I seemed 
 to show that although the blood's aeration was the ulti- 
 mate end to be attained, yet this might in a certain sense 
 be considered incidental to the primary end, viz., that of 
 the expansion of the air vesicles, without which expan- 
 sion the blood could not pass onwards. Now, there 
 are two forces which tend to expand the lungs ; one is 
 the expansion due to the heart's vigorous contractions, 
 such as take place in violent exertion, when the heart is 
 beating with almost twice its usual frequency ; this is a 
 force acting from within, and tending to push outwards 
 the walls of the chest. 
 
Floating and Diving. 6$ 
 
 " The other force is a power acting from without, one 
 which tends to enlarge the chamber, to fill which the 
 lung will swell out by the air rushing in by the windpipe 
 and its branches. In the one case the lungs are filled 
 with blood, in the other they are only filled with air." 
 
 Again 
 
 " Physiologists have taken account of the number of 
 cubic inches of air we inspire in ordinary circumstances, 
 and also of the greatest quantity we can draw in and give 
 out under the most forced efforts. Now it is obvious 
 there must be a limit to the extent to which the chest 
 will: admit of expansion. The chest at its fullest expan- 
 sion after a forced inspiration is said to contain about 
 330 cubic inches of air, in its medium condition about 
 200. Now this gives us a proportion of about 20 and 12 ; 
 20 representing that degree beyond which the chest will 
 not admit of any further expansion. If it were possible 
 that the heart by its own energetic action could so en- 
 large the lungs as to bring them up to this limit of 20, 
 life would not only be imperilled, but if such a state of 
 things were to continue for a minute, or perhaps a little 
 longer, death would be certain. Who cannot remember 
 instances when, either in his own person or in that of others, 
 he has been made conscious of that intense distress, when 
 after the utmost exertion, he has found it impossible to 
 draw his breath ? I have heard people describe it in the 
 words, ' I thought I should have died.' I sometimes put 
 to young students of medicine the following question, ' A 
 man runs a few hundred yards at the top of his speed, at 
 the end of which he is out of breath. What is the phy- 
 siological explanation of this condition?' I have just 
 given it you, but I will repeat it. The lungs are filled 
 with blood not with air, though indeed they contain pro- 
 bably more air than at any lower point of expansion. To 
 enable this blood to pass onwards to the left chamber of 
 
 F 
 
66 Plate- Swim m ing. 
 
 the heart, expansion of the air cells is now necessary, but 
 if the limit of expansion has already been reached, death 
 is inevitable, because this left chamber of the heart is 
 starved of its supply; it has nothing to contract upon. 
 You see then what a difference it makes whether the 
 chest is expanded by the muscular forces external to the 
 lungs, or by the force of the circulation within them, 
 which imperatively demands a still further effort from 
 without. In the first case we draw in air, and blow it 
 out again at our will; in the second we pant in our 
 almost vain efforts to give further expansion to the lungs ; 
 and this state continues until the circulation slackens 
 from enforced quietude." 
 
 In considering these details the idea naturally 
 suggests itself, that if it were possible to unite in 
 the shape of a lozenge, any salts which, with the 
 addition of water, developed a non-irritant gas, 
 the dilatation of the lungs and their mechanical 
 action in circulation would be secured under 
 water, and a few moments' time at least for effort 
 and observation beneath the surface gained. 
 As a matter of course absence of oxygen in the 
 lungs would very soon produce insensibility, but 
 for a few inspirations it is possible to do without 
 it, as instanced where nitrous oxide gas, which 
 has no free oxygen, is inhaled. 
 
 The suggestion as to " diving lozenges " was 
 made to an acquaintance engaged in chemical 
 work, some time ago, with no result ; but it is 
 still to be hoped that chemical ingenuity and 
 research may lead to some practical utilization 
 of this line of invention, 
 
Floating and Diving. 67 
 
 Captain Tronson of the Indian navy mentions, 
 that on one occasion a slipped anchor which 
 was visible through the clear waters of the Red 
 Sea at a depth of sixty feet, was recovered by 
 an Arab diver, who succeeded in reaching it and 
 hooking a chain to its ring, but he lost conscious- 
 ness before he got to the surface again, and was 
 rescued in one of the ship's boats when insen- 
 sible and bleeding at the eyes, mouth, and ears. 
 It was, doubtless, the muscular effort required 
 to complete his task, which proved the prover- 
 bial feather in this case. 
 
 On another occasion, when the cable had 
 twisted round coral in the harbour of Jeddo, the 
 depth varying from 12 to 15 fathoms, an Arab 
 went down repeatedly, and standing at the 
 bottom, freed it without ill effects to himself. 
 
 Mr. Wilson describes a diving competition in 
 which he was himself engaged, in the Frith of 
 Clyde off Greenock, where one of the competi- 
 tors, Mr. James Milne of Edinburgh, brought an 
 object from the bottom, at a depth of seventy- 
 two feet. 
 
 The Somalees,aswell as the Arabs about Aden, 
 are admirable divers ; if a rupee be thrown into 
 the water from the deck of a ship, one or more 
 of the lads swimming around will pursue and 
 secure it before it has sunk more than a few feet 
 When approached by two divers about the same 
 moment, they fight under water for its possession. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Plate- Swimming, 
 
 When dashing into the water from the deck 
 of a vessel after a shoal of fish, they frequently 
 succeed in seizing one. A friend of the writer 
 once saw a diver bring up one in each hand; 
 caught of course, not by any speed of swimming, 
 but much as an omnibus catches, and unless 
 pulled up, would run over an old female at a 
 crossing, fear and confusion of mind producing 
 paralysis of action. 
 
 Natives in India, many of them mere children, 
 practise diving from great heights, always feet 
 foremost, into large wells or tanks, in the hope 
 of receiving some trifling pecuniary reward from 
 spectators. At the Bawalee or Great Well near 
 the Kootub pillar of old Delhi, the writer has 
 been boys springing off every stage from top to 
 bottom ; and at the Khund or water-hole among 
 the towering ruins of Futtehpore Sicri, near 
 Agra, he has seen native boys climb to the third 
 and fourth stories, then spring from a window, 
 struggling during the descent to keep their posi- 
 tion, feet downwards, just as they approach the 
 water suddenly straightening the body, seizing 
 the nostrils with the finger and thumb of the 
 right hand, the arm close to the chest, the left 
 arm close along the side, or sometimes held 
 above the head, they then appear to enter the 
 water with the rush of a cannon-ball. 
 
 For practical purposes however, the feat of 
 diving from heights exceeding the deck of a 
 
Floating and Diving. 69 
 
 ship, the side of a pier, or a river bank, may be 
 deemed useless. 
 
 In diving with plates from surface when 
 swimming, all that is requisite is to point the 
 hands downwards, the swimmer's momentum 
 carries him after them without further effort 
 than continuing the foot action. Any depth or 
 any direction can be regulated by the same 
 means. When diving from a bank, boat, stage, 
 or similar height, the foot-plates follow naturally 
 the course of the diver without further attention 
 than pointing the toes. But if hand-plates also 
 are used, practice and perfect command of the 
 plates are requisite to utilize them. They must 
 strike the water at the angle intended for the 
 entrance of the body, as any awkwardness in 
 holding would deflect the arms from the direc- 
 tion aimed at, while very shallow water suffices 
 for the plunge of an accomplished plate swim- 
 mer. 
 
THE "AQUATIC DRESS," 
 
73 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AQUATIC CLOTHING. 
 
 IF we consider briefly the principles on which 
 clothing warms the body on land, we perceive 
 that, as the contact, of very cold air carries off 
 caloric faster than it is naturally replaced by 
 vital combustion, we seek to keep the film of air 
 heated by contact with the body from being too 
 rapidly changed for that of a low temperature, 
 by interposing plies of clothing proportioned to 
 the warmth required. Chilling may be caused 
 either by transfusion or conduction, and warmth 
 requires thickness of covering for the latter, as 
 well as closeness of texture for the former. 
 
 Clothing should of course be more or less 
 ventilating to carry off the insensible perspira- 
 tion, and renew gradually the air next the skin, 
 and water being a much better conductor than 
 air, it is proportionately more difficult to protect 
 the body from cold in it. 
 
 The insensible perspiration amounts to some 
 pounds weights per diem, and the pores of the 
 skin become poisoned by hermetical sealing. I 
 
74 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 have heard of an instance of death resulting to 
 a little child carried in procession during one of 
 the native festivals in India, from its having 
 been covered with gold leaf to represent an 
 image, and a similar case is reported to have 
 occurred in Italy. It becomes therefore desir- 
 able, if impervious tissue be used for aquatic 
 dress, to allow transfusion of a certain amount 
 of water for the renewal of that in contact with 
 the skin, or, as it would be expressed with air, 
 for ventilation. 
 
 I have attempted with some success to meet 
 these difficulties by the sea-suit depicted at the 
 head of this chapter. It consists of a pair of 
 drawers and a jacket made of the elastic woollen 
 webbing used for " tights " by athletes ; the 
 jacket buttons across the chest and is cut to a 
 point before and behind so as to fasten between 
 the legs. These garments are covered with a 
 thin skin of rubber, and fit closely round the 
 wrists and ankles. 
 
 The suit alone allows of an hour's practice in 
 the sea, when it is too cold for bathing with 
 comfort if unprotected. And extra warmth is 
 obtainable by the addition of an ordinary 
 merino vest and drawers beneath the sea-suit. 
 
 One chief advantage of such a dress is the 
 means it offers of correctly locating any dis- 
 placement required either for non-swimmers, or 
 on occasions of dangerous service by swimmers. 
 
Aquatic Clothing. 75 
 
 The usual system of cork or air belts is hope- 
 lessly destructive of the outline essential to 
 rapid locomotion in water. Any unfortunate 
 wearer of such appliances, stuck nearly upright, 
 like an empty bottle, drifts helplessly with wind 
 and tide, and may die from mere inability to 
 reach the shore. It will be seen from the draw- 
 ing that a tube of air along the back, and a 
 pipe communicating with the mouth, enables a 
 tired swimmer at once to make use of displace- 
 ment, causing a minimum of obstruction to 
 locomotion. 
 
 If the displacement instead of being placed 
 in a ridge like a fish back, was supplied by a 
 net-work of air-tubes between the woollen webb 
 and rubber skin, it would, acting as a noncon- 
 ductor, give much greater warmth to the wearer. 
 
 The reader will easily understand from this 
 description, wherein this sea-suit differs from the 
 " Merriman Dress " exhibited by Captain Boy- 
 ton. That gentleman is an excellent and most 
 energetic exhibitor, and the chief merit of the 
 dress is the protection from cold it affords ; but 
 it seriously impedes locomotion, it precludes all 
 possibility of following and saving any non- 
 swimmer who has sunk, and its price, fifteen 
 pounds, is prohibitory. The dress I have 
 designed for plate-swimmers is supplied by 
 Messrs. Cording, of 125, Regent Street, London, 
 for sixty-three shillings. I have found it very 
 
76 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 seviceable when practising in a rough sea, and it 
 is little or no impediment to a plate-swimmer's 
 progress whether under water or on surface. 
 It is not patented, and I trust it will be made 
 and improved on by others. 
 
 It is to be regretted that there is no recognized 
 authority or ruling body for swimming regulation 
 and government, such as the Jockey Club for turf 
 questions, and the Marylebone Club for cricket. 
 
 If the London Swimming Clubs were asso- 
 ciated, sending representatives to a central 
 committee in proportion to their numbers, and 
 contributing towards prizes both for profes- 
 sionals and amateurs, contests might be system- 
 atised, public interest in them aroused, and 
 means sufficient found to stimulate and reward 
 exceptional merit either with credit or coin. 
 
 We should not then have the farce of several 
 claimants advertising themselves as champions 
 of the same distance or the same feat in nata- 
 tion, and squabbling in the press as to their re- 
 spective merits. The title of " champion " 
 would be an honour if limited to recognized 
 test distances, such as the hundred yards, mile, 
 and long distance at sea. A championship for 
 pre-eminence in diving would probably also be 
 acknowledged, due note being taken of its 
 various kinds. 
 
 Aquatic entertainments have already 
 
Aquatic Clothing. 77 
 
 very popular wherever well organized, and atten- 
 tion is given to variety and novelty in the char- 
 acter of the performances. 
 
 The routine programme for London appears 
 to be, handicap racing, fancy swimming, plung- 
 ing, diving for eggs, undressing in water, the 
 " Monte Christo " trick, tub racing, and what is 
 called the saving of life illustration ; this last 
 bearing no resemblance to reality, the part of 
 victim being performed by some accomplished 
 swimmer, the whole process looks deceptively 
 easy, the true difficulties of such an undertaking 
 never appearing in the representation. 
 
 But all practice of the kind is useful, if the 
 illustration be defective, and with a view to pro- 
 moting activity, readiness and familiarity with 
 recurring unexpected immersion, I can strongly 
 recommend to entertainment organizers, the 
 Indian practice of " Mussuk riding." 
 
 " Mussuks " are the tanned goat skins used by 
 Indian water carriers, which, if filled with air, 
 can be ridden in the water either crossed-legged, 
 or sideways. A practised rider will spring on to a 
 Mussuk from the bank, sink overhead, but rise 
 again firmly seated on " goatback." But the 
 struggles of a novice, either to mount or keep 
 his balance, the gravity of his countenance, and 
 the effects of gravity on his person, his solemn 
 persistence and frequent ducking, are sometimes 
 ludicrous beyond description. 
 
78 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 In tournaments, each tries to put the head of 
 his opponent under water, and if two grappling 
 go under together, the last head visible, if only 
 for a second, wins the bout. 
 
 In racing with sides, say three against three, 
 the time of each is taken by the last of that 
 side " home," so that even two practised riders 
 may have to support and push along a weak 
 brother, whose perpetual fallings off, though dis- 
 tressing to his side, are generally highly ap- 
 plauded by the spectators. 
 
 Handicapping is perhaps a necessary evil, 
 though the honour to the competitor of winning 
 such a race, is not self-evident, if the cause of 
 his doing so consists in swimming so badly that 
 he is let in with a start which the others cannot 
 make up. It might vary the monotony of this 
 kind of match if the competitors carried belts 
 of different weights, in lieu of getting time 
 allowance, and so swam shoulder to shoulder 
 through the greater part of, if not throughout, 
 the contest. 
 
79 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ANIMAL SWIMMING. 
 
 AQUATIC birds, putting aside mere waders, are 
 all web-footed, and may be roughly divided into, 
 firstly, those which swim by means of the feet 
 only, their wings being large and not shaped 
 for use as flippers, such as ducks, geese, and 
 swans, gulls, cary chickens, &c. &c. ; their speed 
 is very small, even human swimmers being able 
 to catch them when disabled for flying. 
 
 Secondly, the puffins, guillemots, razor-bills, 
 and divers generally, with narrow, clean cut, 
 closely feathered wings, \vhich they use freely 
 underwater; they have great speed in swimming 
 coming out, as a rule, after diving as clean and 
 smooth as fish. 
 
 Thirdly, some few of the auks and penguins, 
 or booby tribe, use their wings only as fins for 
 swimming, being too small for flying, some 
 even having no quill feathers, and the wing, in 
 proportion to their size being no larger than the 
 flippers of the otaries, or sea-lions. 
 
 The public have now a good opportunity of 
 
8o Plate-Swimming. 
 
 studying the swimming action under water of 
 guillemots, at the Brighton Aquarium. They 
 can there see to what extent wing action assi- 
 milates to, or differs from, rigid plates, and 
 flippers such as those of the turtles. 
 
 The guillemots are perpetually moving about 
 on the surface in their tank, using the feet only 
 for propulsion, but directly they pass below the 
 surface, the feet lie back motionless and they 
 fly about under water, never closing the wings, 
 but progressing with rapidity by the effective 
 pressure of the upper and lower surface inclining 
 alternately during upward and downward stroke. 
 The film of air between their feathers and the 
 the water looking like molten silver, and giving 
 off bubbles continuously as they move. 
 
 There is a fine specimen of the otaria jubata, 
 or great sea-lion in the Regent's Park Zoolo- 
 gical Gardens. This animal, though appearing 
 when seated in a chair, as in the well known 
 photograph by Mr. F. York of Netting Hill, 
 only about five feet long in body, is, when 
 extended to full length in the water, nine feet 
 and a half from nose to end of foot fins, 
 weighing over 200 pounds ; the flippers or 
 fore arms are each two feet long and nine 
 inches in width, the end section of these flip- 
 pers, forming sixteen inches of the said two 
 feet, is in skeleton a gigantic hand, the five 
 fingers and their respective nails being dis- 
 
Animal Swimming. 81 
 
 tinctly indicated, but there being no joints to 
 the fingers they form practically a swimming 
 plate. The feet flippers are each twenty inches 
 in length, but the five fingers or toes have skin 
 hanging some inches beyond the nails ; this is 
 possibly the result of confinement, as newly 
 caught specimens are without it. 
 
 At first sight it is difficult to realize the pos- 
 sibility of such a creature pursuing and catching 
 fish for food, but any doubt is quickly removed 
 in watching the marvellous agility and rapidity 
 of movement in water of the smaller sea-lion, or 
 otaria pulcilla, which is in the same tank. This 
 little animal has a more pointed head and slim- 
 mer body than his companion, and skips through 
 the water, after food which is thrown right and 
 left for it, almost as lightly as a flying fish. 
 
 The affection of these animals for their late 
 keeper, Leconte, was very remarkable ; they 
 used to perform a most ludicrous dance on the 
 wall of their tank, jumping for joy, when they 
 saw him coming, and when he turned to go, the 
 larger one sometimes would lay hold of his 
 clothes with its teeth to stop him. 
 
 As regards the action of beavers, I looked 
 through a number of zoological works in order 
 to ascertain the precise manner in which they 
 swim, and found a variety of superstitions not 
 very creditable to modern publications, but no 
 Detail whatever of the obvious indications 
 
 G 
 
82 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 offered by their shape as to their manner of 
 swimming. I read that they swam with their 
 hind feet, that the tail was used for guiding 
 them when swimming, and also for smoothing 
 the mud with which their houses are built In 
 fact that it performed the functions of a trowel 
 and a tiller. An examination of the animal 
 itself in the Zoological Gardens, and the ocular 
 test of watching its action, disproved much of 
 this detail. 
 
 The ihind feet, though webbed, have but a 
 small pressure area, as compared with the tail, 
 which is flat, covered with scales, ten inches 
 long and about five across and of an oval shape ; 
 its pressure area is about forty square inches, 
 and in swimming the animal sculls itself as 
 palpably and unmistakably as is the case when 
 a man uses an oar in the stern of a boat. The 
 tail in fact is not a rudder but a propeller. 
 
 It will readily be understood that this scull- 
 ing is for the purpose of continuity, or sustaining 
 acquired momentum, a much more economical 
 application of power than the intermittent 
 action of paddling. 
 
 All warm blooded aquatic mammals, seals, 
 walrusses, otaries, hippopotami, dugongs, &c. 
 &c. &c., close the nostrils at will. This is of 
 course essential \ where >f subaqueous turnings 
 oftelTdirectlhe nostrils upwards, because water 
 
Animal Swimming. 83 
 
 would, if they were not closed, instantly replace 
 the air in them and so find its way to the air 
 passages of the lungs. 
 
 One of our best fancy swimmers says, he is 
 frequently troubled by this difficulty when 
 practising his evolutions. All the pearl divers 
 use nose pincers of bone, which hang round the 
 neck by a string, and are slipped on to the nose 
 before diving. The nose pincers shown at p. 58, 
 were designed to meet this inconvenience, they 
 are made of sheet vulcanite, being easily cut out 
 with the aid of a small saw, the edges are filed 
 round, and they are moulded to shape after 
 dipping in scalding water, cold water setting 
 them immediately. 
 
 It is as easy to pass under water from surface 
 when swimming on the back as when swimming 
 on the chest, if using plates, and this enables 
 the swimmer to look out from under water like 
 a seal, but if attempted without closing the 
 nostrils it would cause instant choking. 
 
 The public are often misled as to the possi- 
 bilities of human swimming by reports of 
 distances and times taken from performances 
 in tideways or streams, all mention of the 
 favouring current being omitted, while credit is 
 sometimes claimed for the accomplishment of 
 rates of speed when the results announced are 
 based on the most slipslop observation. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 Mr. A. G. Payne was the first to sweep aside 
 much delusion on this point by the stern logic 
 of tested and registered facts, quoted in the 
 work he edited for Captain Webb. We may 
 take it as a deduction from our records of the 
 art, that no one has ever yet accomplished two 
 miles within the hour in still water. In fact that 
 man is, looking to his size and weight, about the 
 feeblest and slowest of swimming animals. 
 
 A large retriever dog would weigh about 
 half as much as a man, yet is sometimes able 
 to beat him in the water, as shown in the follow- 
 ing account from the Sportsman, of a match 
 made last summer. 
 
 "HARRY PARKER v. MR. EADE'S DOG, 
 FOR 50. 
 
 " Such a match as that contended at the Welsh Harp, 
 Hendon, on Saturday last, is, we believe, without pre- 
 cedent. Certainly in recent years nothing of the kind 
 has been chronicled, and, therefore, the issue afforded 
 the greater surprise, resulting as it did, in the defeat of 
 the man. That a dog could compete with any chance of 
 success against a moderately good swimmer many were 
 loth to believe, and, although conceded a start on this 
 occasion, the almost unanimous feeling was with the 
 biped. In fact, it was generally considered a "good 
 thing " for Parker, who, as a professional swimmer, has 
 taken very high honours, and is at the present time 
 teaching the art of natation at both the Peckham and 
 Kennington Baths. The articles stipulated that Parker 
 should concede to the dog a start of 30 seconds in half a 
 mile, the time to count from the moment the dog entered 
 
Animal Swimming. 85 
 
 the water and not from any signal tendered by the starter. 
 Mr. Eade has named his dog ' Now Then/ and he tells a 
 very interesting story of the manner in which he first dis- 
 covered the powerful merits of his animal in water. It 
 appears from his account that being some distance off 
 Margate in a boat accompanied by the dog, he unfor- 
 tunately lost his two sculls, and how to reach the shore 
 he was at a loss to know for some time, until the bright 
 idea struck him of utilizing the animal. This he did by 
 means of his pocket handkerchief which he attached to 
 the collar of ' Now Then/ who was known to retrieve well 
 in water, and, as a means of keeping him in the right 
 direction, his owner cut the stretcher up into numerous 
 pieces, and so threw them just ahead of the dog, who 
 being thus encouraged on his way, successfully towed the 
 boat to shore. 'Now Then/ a half-bred retriever, is 
 black, and shows remarkable strength in the fore arm, 
 while his paws, when spread, are unusually large, and, in 
 swimming, the whole of his back is visible. A straight 
 half mile had been marked out with flags denoting the 
 course, and at a few minutes past six the dog leaped off 
 the punt, his owner leaning over the stern of a skiff which 
 preceded the animal, enticed him with cooked liver, and 
 in the half minute allowed he travelled nearly forty yards, 
 the speed with which he propelled himself being par- 
 ticularly noticeable. Parker slightly reduced the gap in 
 three hundred yards, but keeping a beautifully straight 
 course, the dog began now to positively draw away, and 
 to the chagrin of the swimmer's backers at the end of 
 about 450 yards the dog was seventy ahead. After this 
 Parker eased, and never again went at top-speed to the 
 end of the journey, the dog thus winning very easily in 
 14 minutes 3 seconds." 
 
 The best natural illustration of plate-swim- 
 ming is shown by the turtle family. 
 
86 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 The shape of the turtle is that of a swimming 
 plate ; moving easily edgeways in water, but 
 having great vertical stability, this enables it 
 to make both the up and down blow of its 
 front flippers very effective. The action of the 
 turtle when moving slowly is like that of the 
 frog, on the diagonal, i.e., the left front and 
 right rear flippers move together, but like the 
 frog also, the turtle works its flippers in pairs 
 whenever doing its best, and this is also 
 found advantageous by human swimmers with 
 plates. 
 
 Mr. Winwood Reade, who visited Corisco 
 near the Gaboon on the West African coast, 
 gives a good idea of the speed of this animal. 
 He had been introduced to a great turtle har- 
 pooner called " Abauhi " and he describes their 
 proceedings as follows : 
 
 " When the moon had risen above the plantain trees, 
 Abauhi came forth carrying a couple of long spears and 
 followed by two men, with paddles in their hands. He 
 led the way down to the beach and pushed a small canoe 
 into the water. He then asked me if I could swim, as 
 canoes are often upset in the turtle-spearing business. I 
 was obliged to reply that I could not. He seemed sur- 
 prised at my venturing at all on the water in such a case, 
 and advised me to go home again. Finding that I was 
 not inclined to do this, he placed me in the bottom of the 
 canoe, holding the sides with my hands, and told me not 
 to stir after we had once started. His injunction was 
 quite unnecessary, for, as we wobbled along in this tiniest 
 
Animal Swimming. 87 
 
 of vessels, it seemed to me that only a succession of 
 miracles kept it from capsizing. Abauhi stood up in the 
 prow, with a foot on each gunwale. Two mortal hours 
 and nothing had been seen. Clouds circled and threat- 
 ened to obscure the moon. My joints became horribly 
 cramped ; and when I looked at the dim water over which 
 we passed, I could not believe that it was possible to see 
 a turtle where I could see only the reflection of the stars. 
 Suddenly the spear was hurled into the water. The men 
 gave a yell. Something large and black leapt through 
 the air, and fell into the sea with a prodigous splash. 
 Abauhi .snatched up a spare paddle and the canoe seemed 
 to fly. In front could be seen a cloud of white foam 
 skimming along the surface of the sea. This was the 
 staff of the spear, the turtle being in the water underneath. 
 The iron spearhead with its small barb is tied by a 
 string to the staff or butt, when the turtle is struck the 
 spearhead remains in the flesh, and the staff retained by 
 the string floats on the surface. 
 
 " After a second spear had been thrown, and a second 
 burst of speed followed, the turtle was pulled into the 
 canoe." 
 
 Some stress has been laid on the question of 
 the speed of the turtle, because a friend hearing 
 that the action of these flippers followed to 
 some extent that indicated by those of the 
 turtle exclaimed, " Oh but they are such very 
 slow animals!" He probably confounded the 
 tortoise, renowned in fable, with the turtle. 
 
 Perhaps the most important example of the 
 natural mechanism of animal locomotion in 
 water is that of the fish's tail. Among the 
 
88 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 illustrations in woodcut, page 58, will be seen 
 a propeller called the " fish tail flipper." Now 
 what is the true action of a fish's tail ? I 
 believe it has never yet been correctly de- 
 scribed. 
 
 There is an excellent work on animal loco- 
 motion by Dr. Pettigrew, published by Messrs. 
 H. S. King & Co., to which I can refer my 
 readers for much that is interesting, but, 
 having analyzed for myself the action of the 
 tail of a fish, I cannot agree with Dr. Pettigrew 
 as to the correctness of his theory on the 
 subject. 
 
 Dr. Pettigrew states that all writers since the 
 time of Borelli, whose work " De Motu Ani- 
 malium" was published at Rome in 1680, have 
 adopted his assertion that, " The fish in swim- 
 ming causes its tail to vibrate on either side of 
 a given line, very much as a rudder may be 
 made to oscillate by moving its tiller." And, he 
 adds, "according to this, the commonly received 
 view, the tail would experience a greater degree 
 of resistance during the back stroke, i.e., when 
 it is flexed and carried away from the axis of 
 motion d, c y f than it would during the 
 forward stroke, or when it is extended and 
 carried towards the axis of motion. This 
 follows because the concave surface of the tail 
 is applied to the water during what is termed 
 
BORELLIS FISH 
 
Animal Swimming. 91 
 
 the back or non-effective stroke, and the convex 
 surface during what is termed the forward or 
 effective stroke. This is just the opposite of 
 what actually happens, and led Sir John Lub- 
 bock to declare that there was a period in which 
 the action of the tail dragged the fish backwards, 
 which, of course, is erroneous." 
 
 That I may not make a misleading interpre- 
 tation of Dr. Pettigrew's views, I have given a 
 copy of his diagram on the subject and will use 
 his own words in describing it. 
 
 " By always directing the concavity of the 
 tail s and / towards the axis of motion a b 
 during extension, and its convexity c and v, 
 away from the axis of motion a b during flexion, 
 the fish exerts a maximum of propelling power 
 with a minimum of slip. In extension of the 
 tail the caudal curve s, is reduced as the tail 
 travels toward the line a b in flexion. A new 
 curve v is formed as the tail travels from the 
 line a b, while the tail travels from s in the 
 direction t the head travels from d in the 
 direction w. There is therefore a period, 
 momentary it must be, when both the cephalic 
 and caudal curves are reduced, and the body of 
 the fish is straight, and free to advance without 
 impediment." 
 
 Now it is physically impossible for a fish to 
 strike from s to a b with its tail concaved at all. 
 
Q2 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 The elasticity alone of the digits or rays in the 
 tail, to say nothing of the power and pressure 
 of the water, suffice to open it the instant it 
 reaches the limit of its sweep. The recovery or 
 transfer of pressure to reverse side is caused by 
 a slight flexion of the caudal vertebrae, and the 
 tail passes from s past the axis of progression 
 to t ; with a rearward reflexion of its effective 
 side throughout the stroke. In fact the tail is 
 never coincident with the line of progression, 
 except when the fish is gliding with acquired 
 momentum or at rest. I show what I believe 
 to be the true tail action of fishes in diagram 
 No. 3 of annexed illustration, as also its 
 possible application to the reciprocating fish- 
 tail action of human legs. The " recovery" on 
 one side being effected by bending the knee 
 joint, or the other, by bending both it and the 
 ankle joint. 
 
 The action depicted in Dr. Pettigrew's dia- 
 gram is supposed to be that of the sturgeon, 
 exaggerated probably to emphasize the theory 
 enunciated, as it rather resembles the action of 
 the dog-fish, which seems to swim with the 
 entire body, somewhat like the eel. 
 
 The fish I have chosen for illustration is the 
 gurnet. It has two pair of enormous pectoral 
 fins, between which on each side lie the curious 
 little claws by which it walks ; these are all 
 
Animal Swimming. 93 
 
 furled up out of the way close along the body, 
 as soon as it begins to travel forwards in swim- 
 ming, the entire progression being effected by 
 the tail flexions. These begin at two thirds of the 
 entire length from the tail, and a visit to almost 
 any aquarium will place the character of these 
 flexions beyond dispute by ocular demonstra- 
 tion. The great head wags in unison with the 
 caudal movement, turning slightly to the side to 
 which the tail is carried, exactly as the prow of 
 a boat follows the right and left sweep of the 
 sculler's oar, and quaintly recalling one of Lord 
 Dundreary's confusions, in which he reflects as to 
 why a dog wags his tail, and then supplies, the 
 mechanical explanation, that " he is bigger than 
 his tail," " and unless the tail was smaller than 
 the dog, of course the tail would wag the 
 dog." 
 
 The .swimming action of the mackerel also 
 shows, to my mind very clearly, that propulsion 
 is effected by passing the blade of the tail 
 across the axis of progression with a rearward 
 reflection of its effective side. 
 
 I shall be glad if my own interpretation be 
 freely criticized and any inaccuracies corrected. 
 There can be no doubt but that we may learn a 
 valuable lesson from the unquestioning credulity 
 of those who for 200 years accepted the very 
 unmechanical superstition of Borelli, merely 
 
94 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 because it had been enunciated by authority ; it 
 proves the truth of Huxley's assertion that, in 
 science at least, " scepticism is the only phase 
 of mind promising safety, and blind faith the 
 one unpardonable sin.'* 
 
95 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 VALEDICTORY. 
 
 " Three wives sat up in the lighthouse tow'r, 
 
 And they trimm'd the lamps as the sun went down : 
 
 They look'd at the squall, and they look'd at the show'r, 
 
 And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and 
 
 brown ; 
 
 But men must work and women must weep, 
 Where there's little to earn and many to keep, 
 Though the harbour-bar be moaning." 
 
 " Three corpses lay out on the shining sands 
 
 In the morning gleam as the tide went down, 
 And the women are weeping and wringing their hands 
 For those who will never come back to the town ; 
 Yet men must work and women must weep, 
 Though storms be sudden, and waters deep, 
 And the harbour-bar be moaning. 
 
 IT may be as well to state clearly what is the 
 present position and future promise of this 
 system of aiding swimmers, i.e. what is already 
 demonstrated and what hoped for. The inven- 
 tor has sufficiently shown that the use of swim- 
 ming-plates is not, as one critic to whom the 
 
96 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 suggestion was submitted, declared, "anatomi- 
 cally impossible for human beings," but an 
 easily acquired and agreeable accomplishment. 
 
 It has been proved to demonstration by 
 repeated practical test, that lads who could not 
 swim 100 yards unassisted, can complete four 
 times that distance with plates ; that an amateur 
 with little practice, whose best time for 100 yards 
 unaided was 132 seconds, has done the same 
 distance plate-swimming in 83, while a profes- 
 sional has reduced his time for 100 yards in 
 the same way by thirteen seconds, and the 
 writer can safely defy any unaided swimmer to 
 accomplish the feat of swimming even twenty 
 yards with 50 Ibs. of iron weights tied round 
 his neck, though he has himself easily achieved 
 more than this test of the power of plate-swim- 
 ming. 
 
 If any one examines what is called the annual 
 wreck chart of the British Islands, compiled 
 from the Board of Trade Register by the officials 
 of the Life-Boat Institution, he will be struck 
 
 Firstly, by the enormous amount of the 
 casualties reported in a single twelvemonth's 
 record. The quarterly journal of the Life Boat 
 for November last says : 
 
 " The annual average number of wrecks on 
 the coasts of the United Kingdom reported 
 since 1855, divided into four periods of five 
 
Valedictory. 97 
 
 years, may thus be given. Between 1855 and 
 1859, th e number was 6,023, giving an average 
 of 1,204 a year. Between 1860 and 1864 the 
 number was 7,415, or an average of 1,483 ; 
 between 1865, and 1869, 9,467, or a yearly 
 average of 1,893 ; and between 1870 and 1874-5, 
 10,428, giving in that period an average of 
 2,085 wrecks each year. 
 
 Secondly, by the fact that despite the heroic 
 readiness of our life-boat crews, and the numer- 
 ous stations which the Royal Life Boat Institu- 
 tion has established, there must remain many 
 rocks and shoals unguarded. 
 
 Thirdly, that throughout the coast lines of 
 the world there are none so guarded by life- 
 boats as the coast of England. 
 
 There is many a wild stretch of strand the 
 dwellers by which may, at any moment during 
 stormy weather, be startled from the half-awak- 
 ened pity which a knowledge of distant danger 
 arouses, to quick throbbing sympathy for pre- 
 sent trouble, by the sound of minute guns at 
 sea. Then, as men and women hurry to the 
 beach, or watch from the cliffs, midst driving 
 wind or blinding rain, striving to trace the 
 outlines of the doomed vessel, through the 
 hoarse roar of the trampling surf they hear 
 again the faint echoes of that solemn appeal 
 from those in mortal danger to their fellow 
 men, where no life- boat is available, where no 
 
 H 
 
98 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 ordinary boat could live, and where strenuous 
 if almost hopeless effort, would be a relief from 
 pain. 
 
 It was on just such a spot, and in just such 
 a storm, that the Royal Charter was lost on the 
 coast of Wales. 
 
 The Royal Charter was an iron passenger 
 steamer, and when driven on to the rocks of 
 Anglesey she had on board 494 souls, principally 
 returned emigrants, some of them seeking, after 
 life-long exile, the haven of home. Thirty-nine 
 only were saved out of that community, and the 
 manner of their rescue is the lesson on which I 
 would now insist. 
 
 One gallant swimmer, a Maltese sailor of the 
 crew, named Joseph Rodgers, volunteered the 
 attempt to carry a line to shore, and struggled 
 through that raging sea to land, with the means of 
 communication fastened to his waist, so enabling 
 a hawser and guiding lines to be carried across 
 for slinging to shore the few who were snatched 
 from destruction. 
 
 Many more might have of course escaped by 
 the same means but for the rapidity with which 
 the iron fragments of the wreck were engulphed 
 after she crashed on to the rocks. 
 
 Surely what was barely possible for even the 
 boldest swimmer unaided, may be rendered 
 more feasible for such a volunteer if he 'were 
 protected from cold by impervious tissue, pro- 
 
Valedictory. 99 
 
 tected from the possibility of lengthened im- 
 mersion by air displacement, and supplied with 
 propellers enabling him to force his way through 
 a tide. It would, as a matter of course, be at 
 the risk of his own life, even if so assisted, that 
 a swimmer would commit himself to the sea ; 
 but I feel confident that many would be found 
 to accept the risk even of attempting communi- 
 cation from shore to the ship, and much as we 
 may value the hope of any single life being so 
 saved, we may reckon far higher the thought 
 that such volunteers can be found. One life so 
 sacrificed for men would be far more for human- 
 ity than many a life so saved. 
 
 Supposing a single set of these appliances 
 placed either in a passenger boat or a pleasure 
 yacht, there are numerous situations in which 
 they could be used with pleasure or profit, to 
 say nothing of their being in reserve for such 
 desperate extremity as that described. 
 
 There are now no covered cold water swim- 
 ming baths for London. There are two small 
 cold plunge baths, the " Nell Gwynne " in Cold 
 Bath Square, Clerkenwell, which is fifteen feet 
 by sixteen, and only five feet deep ; and the old 
 Roman Bath, Strand Lane, Strand, eight feet 
 by fourteen, and four feet six inches deep. 
 
 The old " Royal bath," Newgate Street, has, 
 like the "Peerless Pool" before it, been swept 
 
 H 2 
 
I OO Plate- Swimming. 
 
 away to make room for improved buildings, and 
 a letter addressed to the Manager of the Cam- 
 den bath was returned through the dead-letter 
 office marked " deceased." For open air bathing, 
 in stagnant water of dubious character, the 
 Hampstead Ponds, or those in Victoria Park, or 
 the Serpentine during early morning, and, bar- 
 ring temporary financial collapse, the Alexandra 
 Park Bath, are available during summer. While 
 swimming races are at times allowed at the 
 "Welsh Harp" Hendon, at the Crystal Palace, 
 and in the Thames. 
 
 In the Appendix will be found a list of 
 London tepid water swimming baths in alpha- 
 betical order, with their addresses and dimen- 
 sions ; these latter have in most instances been 
 tested for this list, in some cases the measure- 
 ments are taken from Dr. Dudgeon's " Swimming 
 Baths of London," published seven years ago. 
 
 Whenever remarkable speed in swimming is 
 quoted on the strength of time taken in a bath, 
 it is of importance to test its exact length, 
 and not accept all that is entered on pro- 
 grammes of entertainment. Thus, with the 
 largest of our baths, that at Brixton, the times 
 reported might prove delusive, unless it be 
 remembered that "for racing purposes" it is 
 called 50 yards long, but being unfortunately four 
 feet less by measurement, the competitors in a 
 500 yard race go 40 feet short of that distance. 
 
Valedictory. 10 1 
 
 The weak point of our baths is their want of 
 depth, the maximum of all but two being six 
 feet only, which offers little facility for practice 
 under water. 
 
 Diving into a clear pool on a fine day, with 
 the sunlight streaming into and illuminating the 
 water, is very enjoyable, but practising in the 
 same pool during dull foggy weather affords 
 comparatively little pleasure. This is just the 
 difference between the modern clear bright look- 
 ing bath lined with white encaustic tiles, and 
 the dismal sort of hole which the ancient ill- 
 ventilated, ill-lighted, and stone or wood lined 
 style of bath presented. 
 
 It is certainly a remarkable fact that while 
 there are more than 40 tepid swimming baths, 
 great and small, in London, there does not exist 
 even one in Paris. Yet, so far as what is called 
 society is concerned, a larger proportion of young 
 Paris can swim than of young London; this 
 arises in part from their having a cleaner river 
 at their doors. During the brief season that 
 their floating baths are on the Seine, the French 
 spend more time, and enjoy more thoroughly 
 life in the water, than is ever witnessed in this 
 country. 
 
 Very much of the credit of our valuable 
 system of tepid swimming baths is due to our 
 parish authorities. The best baths now in 
 London are those of Marylebone and Pad- 
 
102 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 dington. When, therefore, easy strictures are 
 levelled by critics on parochial parliaments, 
 common justice and common sense will surely 
 allow fair credit to those of our vestries which 
 have given practical effect to enlightened views 
 of administration and sanitation, and have 
 estimated the benefits conferred by such in- 
 stitutions as these public baths, by a higher 
 measure than the mere return in pounds, 
 shillings, and pence, to the communities they 
 govern. 
 
 At the Marylebone establishment there are 
 not only the " Gem " bath of 73 feet long for 
 gentlemen, and one of 45 feet for ladies, but a 
 second-class bath of tepid water, 66 feet in 
 length, the admittance to which costs three- 
 pence. Also a third class bath of the same 
 dimensions, the charge for which is two pence 
 only. All of these are admirably light, airy, 
 and clean ; even the third class bath being lined 
 with white enamel bricks. 
 
 The Bath Commissioners appropriately quote 
 on their handbills these words of Dr. Abernethy : 
 
 "Next to eating and sleeping, the swimming bath 
 ranks among the very foremost of the necessaries and 
 supports of life ; it is of far higher consequence, and of 
 more general utility, than any kind of manual exercise, 
 gymnastic or sport. It affects the system more power- 
 fully than these, even in the very points wherein their 
 excellence consists ; and it is applicable in a thousand 
 circumstances where they are not. It does not supersede, 
 
Valedictory. 103 
 
 but it ought to come before these other practices. Time 
 should be therefore found for the bath among the regular 
 occupations of life ; it ought to be a permanent institu- 
 tion, ranking immediately after the prime necessaries of 
 our being. Either daily, or several times a week, should 
 every one repair to it, in some shape or other, either at 
 morn, mid-day, or evening, according to strength and 
 leisure. There certainly does not exist a greater device 
 in the art of living, or a greater instrument for securing 
 a vigorous and buoyant existence. It is one of the most 
 powerful diversions to the current of business occupation ; 
 it can suspend for a time the pressure of our pursuits and 
 anxieties, and return us fresh for the enjoyment of our 
 other delights. To the three varieties of state which our 
 bodies daily pass through, eating, working, sleeping, it 
 would add a fourth, luxurious in itself, and increasing the 
 relish for all the rest. It would contribute to realize the 
 perfect definition of a good animal existence, which is, 
 to have the appetite always fresh for whatever may be 
 before it. The health of the mind must be based in the 
 first place on the health of the body ; mental occupation 
 and refined enjoyments turn into gall and bitterness, if 
 not supported by the freshness and vigour of the physical 
 frame." 
 
 No physician need wish for a better epitaph 
 or a nobler monument to his memory than this 
 practically, if indirectly, accorded to Abernethy 
 by the vestry of Marylebone. 
 
 The plan is throughout the same at the 
 Bayswater establishment, the charges are iden- 
 tical, but the baths considerably larger. 
 
 On the other hand it is matter for regret that 
 
1 04 Plate-Swimming. 
 
 the use of our natural facilities for open air 
 swimming, river, canals, and park lakes, is 
 practically prohibited to the population. Any 
 poor little waif who attempts a clandestine 
 swim in or near London, is hunted off by the 
 police. While bathing even for the privileged 
 few at the restricted corners provided in our 
 parks, is, after eight in the morning, too " shock- 
 ing " to be thought of. 
 
 Seaside " bumbledom " sometimes ' drives 
 away to an inconvenient distance, or an incon- 
 venient hour, all bathing and bathers who can- 
 not afford to hire machines, while, despite all 
 this misdirected repression, there is much coarse 
 indifference to what is befitting a civilized 
 community ; I have seen much that is unbe- 
 coming even in first class baths in this country. 
 Surely the proper remedy is simply to enforce 
 the continental system of decent dress in the 
 water. The very poorest casual who ever bene- 
 fitted by free bathing can afford a pair of 
 " calegons " in some form ; even if as ragged as 
 his everyday habiliments, or perchance in part 
 those habiliments themselves, they would be 
 at any rate as " decent" as his costume in 
 Regent Street. 
 
 When aquatic entertainments are given, and 
 ladies admitted, " university dress " is very 
 properly insisted on, and some sort of costume 
 should at all times be compulsory. 
 
Valedictory. 105 
 
 So might we ultimately overcome that foul- 
 thoughted vulgarity which leads the middle 
 class British Philistine abroad to find cause of 
 offence in ladies and gentlemen, even though 
 fully dressed, entering the sea from the same 
 bathing stations at Dieppe, or Ostend. So may 
 we hope in time to escape his own improprieties 
 when he airs his language devoid of aitches, and 
 his person devoid of drawers, among the gentle- 
 men swimmers at our public baths. 
 
 It is earnestly to be hoped that some pro- 
 vision or protection for common rights in water 
 may be arranged, its reckless pollution more 
 sternly punished, and free bathing places pro- 
 vided wherever natural facilities exist. 
 
 The value of patches of common land to the 
 community is now fully recognized, and the 
 rights of the public have been nobly vindicated 
 by the City authorities and the Metropolitan 
 Board in the Epping Forest and other cases. 
 
 It is fortunate that any have been found 
 honest enough, wealthy enough, and powerful 
 enough, to compel part restitution of such 
 misappropriations ; to speak fearlessly, " judge 
 righteously, and plead the cause of the poor 
 and needy." But for such defence of the inter- 
 ests of the people, there must soon have been, 
 not scores, but many thousands in this country, 
 doomed to live out their lot on earth, from the 
 
1 06 Plate- Swimming. 
 
 cradle to the grave, in squalid dwellings, and 
 paved streets, or roads alternately muddy and 
 dusty, warned against leaving these pleasant 
 paths by threats of prosecution with the utmost 
 rigour of the law. 
 
 If some spot could be allotted for free bath- 
 ing, during the summer months, from steps 
 below the embankment, it would not only be a 
 blessing to many of the poorest in London, but 
 might perhaps hasten that happy time when a 
 peremptory termination will be put to the 
 system of river pollution above the metropolis, 
 which is now perpetuated by the correlation of 
 selfishness, and apathy, ignorance and imbe- 
 cility, in those concerned therewith. 
 
 It may be mentioned in conclusion, that 
 should any of my London readers be desirous 
 of acquiring the accomplishment of plate-swim- 
 ming, they can readily do so by visiting during 
 the summer either the Paddington or Maryle- 
 bone baths ; Messrs. Silver having, by permission 
 of the authorities, arranged to place a small 
 number of plates at each for hire at sixpence 
 the set. 
 
 And should beginners be unable to learn, or 
 work out the system by practice for themselves, 
 Mr. C. Whyte of the former bath, and Mr. J. 
 MacGarrick of the latter, are able and willing to 
 supply them with professional assistance and 
 advice, 
 
Valedictory. 107 
 
 This plan can be extended to any locality 
 required, and the writer will be glad to hear 
 from persons prepared to assist by manufactur- 
 ing, selling, or letting plates, either at home or 
 abroad, not only for localities where licences 
 are required in consequence of special patents 
 having been authorized, but wherever the 
 system promises to be of any public utility, 
 whether for swimming schools, sea coasts, or 
 inland waters. 
 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 LIST OF LONDON TEPID SWIMMING BATHS. 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Address. 
 
 Ho 
 
 3 
 
 ,G 
 3 
 
 ? 
 
 Depth, 
 
 I 
 
 Albany 
 
 York Road, Lam- 
 
 50 
 
 35 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 
 
 beth 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Alexandra 
 
 Bennett Park, 
 
 54 
 
 24 
 
 3i to 5 J 
 
 
 
 Blackheath 
 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 Bermondsey 
 
 Spa Road, Ber- 
 
 34 
 
 26 
 
 3i to 5i 
 
 
 
 mondsey 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 Charing Cross 
 
 Thames Embank- 
 
 135 
 
 20 
 
 3 to 7 
 
 
 
 ment, Northum- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 berland Avenue, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Floating Bath 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Chelsea 
 
 King's Road, Chel- 
 
 60 
 
 25 
 
 3 to 6 
 
 
 
 sea 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 60 
 
 25 
 
 3 to 6 
 
 7 
 
 
 Ladies' do. 
 
 45 
 
 16 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 8 
 
 Davies Street 
 
 Davies Street, 
 
 42 
 
 26 
 
 3i to 5^ 
 
 
 
 Berkeley Square, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 called also u St. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 George's Baths " 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 Endell Street 
 
 Endell Street, St. 
 
 30 
 
 24 
 
 4 to 6 
 
 
 
 Giles', called 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 also " St. Giles 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 and St. George's, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Bloomsbury, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Baths " 
 
 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 4i 
 
 24 
 
 4 to 6 
 
110 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Address. 
 
 ] 
 
 b/D 
 
 \ 
 
 Width. 
 
 Depth. 
 
 II 
 
 Golden Lane 
 
 Golden Lane, 
 
 96 
 
 40 
 
 3 to 5-| 
 
 
 
 Barbican, called 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 also " City of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 London Baths" 
 
 
 
 
 12 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 80 
 
 36 
 
 3 to 5f 
 
 13 
 
 Greenwich 
 
 Greenwich 
 
 51 
 
 18 
 
 3$ to 5* 
 
 H 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 51 
 
 18 
 
 3i to 5$ 
 
 15 
 
 Hammersmith 
 
 Bridge Street, 
 
 60 
 
 25 
 
 3i to 6 
 
 
 
 Hammersmith 
 
 
 
 
 16 
 
 Kensington 
 
 High Street, Ken- 
 
 30 
 
 20 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 
 
 sington 
 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 Lambeth 
 
 1 56, Westminster 
 
 122 
 
 45 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 
 
 Bridge Road,S.E 
 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 H3 
 
 50 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 19 
 
 Marylebone 
 
 Marylebone Road 
 
 73 
 
 26 
 
 4 to 6 
 
 20 
 
 
 Ladies' Bath 
 
 45 
 
 24 
 
 4f to 54 
 
 21 
 
 
 2nd Class | 66 
 
 21 
 
 3f to si 
 
 22 
 
 
 3rd Class 
 
 66 
 
 21 
 
 3l*o 53 
 
 23 
 
 Metropolitan 
 
 Ashley Crescent, 
 
 99 
 
 33 
 
 3* to 5 
 
 
 
 City' Road 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 48 
 
 27 
 
 5 
 
 25 
 
 North London 
 
 Pentonville Hill 
 
 5i 
 
 18 
 
 3 to 4^ 
 
 26 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 35 
 
 21 
 
 4^ 
 
 27 
 
 Paddington 
 
 Queen's Road, 
 
 90 
 
 40 
 
 34 to 54 
 
 
 
 Bays water 
 
 
 
 
 28 
 
 
 Ladies' Bath 67 
 
 30 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 29 
 
 
 2nd Class 
 
 54 
 
 30 
 
 34 to 5 
 
 30 
 
 
 3rd Class 
 
 5i 
 
 30 
 
 3^ to 5 
 
 31 
 
 Pancras 
 
 King Street, Cam- 
 
 57 
 
 23 
 
 34 to 5^ 
 
 
 
 den Town 
 
 
 
 
 32 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 57 
 
 23 
 
 3t to 5$ 
 
 33 
 
 New 
 
 Fitzroy Market, 
 
 90 
 
 28 
 
 3i to 54 
 
 
 
 Tottenham Court 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Road, now build- < 
 
 
 
 
 
 ing 
 
 
 
 
 34 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 54 
 
 24 
 
 3i to 54 
 
Appendix. 
 
 ill 
 
 No. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Address. 
 
 ,-d 
 M 
 
 C 
 
 <u 
 
 Width. 
 
 Depth. 
 
 35 
 
 Poplar 
 
 East India Dock 
 
 42 
 
 26 
 
 3i to 5i 
 
 
 
 Road 
 
 
 
 
 36 
 
 St. George's 
 
 Buckingham 
 
 60 
 
 24 
 
 Z\ to 5i 
 
 
 
 Palace Road 
 
 
 
 
 37 
 
 St. James' 
 
 Marshall Street, 
 
 39 
 
 18 
 
 3 to 5 
 
 
 
 Golden Square 
 
 
 
 
 33 
 
 St. Margaret's 
 
 Great Smith Street, 
 
 32 
 
 24 
 
 3i to si 
 
 
 
 Westminster 
 
 
 
 
 39 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 42 
 
 24 
 
 3i to 5^ 
 
 40 
 
 Surrey County 
 
 Ferndale Road, j 146 
 
 60 
 
 3 to 7f 
 
 
 
 Brixton 
 
 
 
 
 4i 
 
 Tower Ham- 
 
 Church Street, 
 
 69 
 
 30 
 
 5 to 6 
 
 
 lets 
 
 Mile End New 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Town 
 
 
 
 
 42 
 
 
 2nd Bath 
 
 69 
 
 30 
 
 4tos| 
 
 43 
 
 Wenlock 
 
 Wenlock Road, 
 
 171 
 
 30 
 
 4 to 5 
 
 
 
 City Road 
 
 
 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 DIRECTIONS 
 
 RECOMMENDED BY 
 
 THE ROYAL HUMANE SOCIETY. 
 
 IF FROM DROWNING OR OTHER SUFFOCA- 
 TION OR NARCOTIC POISONING. 
 
 Send immediately for Medical Assistance, Blankets, 
 and Dry Clothing, but proceed to treat the Patient 
 INSTANTLY, securing as much fresh air as possible. 
 
 The points to be aimed at are first, and immediately, 
 the RESTORATION OF BREATHING ; and secondly, after 
 breathing is restored, the PROMOTION OF WARMTH AND 
 CIRCULATION. 
 
 The efforts to restore life must be persevered in until 
 the arrival of Medical Assistance, or until the pulse and 
 breathing have ceased for at least an hour. 
 
 I 
 
H4 Appendix. 
 
 TREATMENT TO RESTORE NATURAL BREATHING. 
 
 RULE i. To maintain a Free Entrance of Air into 
 the Windpipe. Cleanse the mouth and nostrils ; 
 open the mouth ; draw forward the Patient's 
 tongue, and keep it forward : an elastic band over 
 the tongue and under the chin will answer this 
 purpose. Remove all tight clothing from about 
 the neck and chest. 
 
 RULE 2. To adjust the Patient's Position. Place the 
 Patient on his back on a flat surface, inclined a 
 little from the feet upwards ; raise and support the 
 head and shoulders on a small firm cushion or 
 folded article of dress placed under the shoulder- 
 blades. 
 
 RULE 3. To imitate the Movements of Breathing. 
 Grasp the Patient's arms just above the elbows, 
 and draw the arms gently and steadily upwards, 
 till they meet above the head (this is for the pur- 
 pose of drawing air into the lungs), and keep the 
 arms in that position for two seconds. Then turn 
 down the Patient's arms, and press them gently 
 and firmly for two seconds against the sides of the 
 chest, see Engravings i, and 2 (this is with the 
 object of pressing air out of the lungs. Pressure 
 on the breast-bone will aid this).* 
 Repeat these measures alternately, deliberately, and 
 perseveringly, fifteen times in a minute, until a 
 spontaneous effort to respire is perceived, imme- 
 diately upon which cease to imitate the movements 
 
 * The above directions are chiefly Dr. R. SILVESTER'S method of 
 restoring the apparently Dead or Drowned, and have been approved 
 by the Royal Medical and Chirurgical Society. 
 
Appendix, 
 
 "5 
 
 I 2 
 
Ii6 Appendix. 
 
 of breathing, and proceed to INDUCE CIRCULA- 
 TION AND WARMTH (as below}. 
 
 Should a warm bath be procurable, the body may be 
 placed in it up to the neck, continuing to imitate 
 the movements of breathing. Raise the body in 
 twenty seconds in a sitting position, and dash 
 cold water against the chest and face, and pass 
 ammonia under the nose. The Patient should not 
 be kept in the warm bath longer than five or six 
 minutes. But it is preferable that artificial respi- 
 ration and friction of the limbs and body with diy 
 flannel or cloths should be first had recourse to, 
 and that the warm bath should not be employed 
 till there is proof of respiration having been 
 restored. 
 
 RULE 4. To excite Inspiration. During the employ- 
 ment of the above method excite the nostrils with 
 snuff or smelling-saits, or tickle the throat with a 
 feather. Rub the chest and face briskly, and dash 
 cold and hot water alternately on them. 
 
 TREATMENT AFTER NATURAL BREATHING HAS BEEN 
 RESTORED. 
 
 RULE 5. To induce Circulation and Warmth. Wrap 
 the Patient in dry blankets and commence rub- 
 bing the limbs upwards, firmly and energetically. 
 The friction must be continued under the blankets 
 or over the dry clothing. 
 
 Promote the warmth of the body by the application of 
 hot flannels, bottles or bladders of hot water, 
 heated bricks, &c., to the pit of the stomach, the 
 armpits, between the thighs, and to the soles of 
 
Appendix:. 
 
 117 
 
 fc 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 
 PH 
 
II 8 Appendix. 
 
 the feet. Warm clothing may generally be ob- 
 tained from bystanders. 
 
 On the restoration of life, when the power of swallow- 
 ing has returned, a teaspoonful of warm water, 
 small quantities of wine, warm brandy and water, 
 or coffee should be given. The Patient should be 
 kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged. 
 During reaction large mustard plasters to the chest 
 and below the shoulders will greatly relieve the 
 distressed breathing. 
 
 APPEARANCES WHICH GENERALLY INDICATE DEATH. 
 
 There is no breathing or heart's action ; the eyelids are 
 generally half-closed; the pupils dilated; the jaws 
 clenched ; the fingers semi-contracted ; the tongue appear- 
 ing between the teeth, and the mouth and nostrils are 
 covered with a frothy mucus. Coldness and pallor of 
 surface increases. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 On the restoration of life, a teaspoonful of warm water 
 should be given ; and then, if the power of swallowing 
 be returned, small quantities of warm wine or weak 
 brandy and water, warm ; the patient should be kept in 
 bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged, except in 
 cases of apoplexy, intoxication, and coup-de-soleil. Great 
 care is requisite to maintain the restored vital actions, 
 and at the same time to prevent undue excitement. 
 
 The treatment recommended by the Society is to be 
 persevered in for three or four hours. It is an erroneous 
 opinion that persons are irrecoverable because life does 
 not soon make its appearance ; as cases have come under 
 
Appendix. 119 
 
 the notice of the Society of a successful result even after 
 five hours' perseverance and it is absurd to suppose 
 that a body must not be meddled with or removed with- 
 out the permission of a Coroner. 
 
 IMPORTANT TO BATHERS. 
 
 Avoid bathing within TWO hours after a meal. 
 
 Avoid bathing when exhausted by fatigue or from any 
 other cause. 
 
 Avoid bathing when the body is cooling after perspira- 
 tion. 
 
 Avoid bathing altogether in the open air if, after having 
 been a short time in the water, there is a sense of chilli- 
 ness with numbness of the hands and feet : but 
 
 Bathe when the body is warm, provided no time is lost 
 in getting into the water. 
 
 Avoid chilling the body by sitting or standing UN- 
 DRESSED on the banks or in boats after having been in 
 the water. 
 
 Avoid remaining too long in the water leave the water 
 immediately there is the slightest feeling of chilliness. 
 
 The vigorous and strong may bathe early in the morn- 
 ing on an empty stomach. 
 
 The young, and those who are weak, had better bathe 
 two or three hours after a meal the best time for such is 
 from two to three hours after breakfast. 
 
 Those who are subject to attacks of giddiness or faint- 
 ness, and those who suffer from palpitation and other 
 sense of discomfort at the heart, should not bathe with- 
 out first consulting their Medical Adviser. 
 
 By order of the Committee, 
 
 LAMBTON YOUNG, Secretary. 
 
1 20 Appendix. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM 
 
 LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION 
 
 DIRECTIONS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Send immediately for Medical Assistance, Blankets, 
 and Dry Clothing, but proceed to treat the Patient 
 instantly on the spot, in the open air, with the face down- 
 ward, whether on shore or afloat; exposing the face, 
 neck, and chest to the wind, except in severe weather, 
 and removing all tight clothing from the neck and chest, 
 especially the braces. 
 
 The points to be aimed at are first and immediately, 
 the RESTORATION OF BREATHING ; and secondly, after 
 breathing is restored, the PROMOTION OF WARMTH 
 AND CIRCULATION. 
 
 The efforts to restore Breathing must be commenced 
 immediately and energetically, and persevered in for one 
 or two hours, or until a medical man has pronounced 
 that life is extinct. Efforts to promote Warmth and 
 Circulation, beyond removing the wet clothes and drying 
 the skin, must not be made until the first appearance of 
 natural breathing ; for if circulation of the blood be 
 induced before breathing has recommenced, the restora- 
 tion to life will be endangered. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 121 
 
 6 
 
122 Appendix. 
 
 II. TO RESTORE BREATHING. 
 
 To CLEAR THE THROAT Place the patient on the 
 floor or ground with the face downwards, and one of the 
 arms under the forehead, in which position all fluids 
 will more readily escape by the mouth, and the tongue 
 itself will fall forward, leaving the entrance into the 
 windpipe free. Assist this operation by wiping and 
 cleansing the mouth. 
 
 If satisfactory breathing commences, use the treat- 
 ment described below to promote Warmth. If there 
 be only slight breathing or no breathing or if the 
 breathing fail, then 
 
 To EXCITE BREATHING Turn the patient well and 
 instantly on the side, supporting the head, and excite the 
 nostrils with snuff, hartshorn, and smelling salts, or 
 tickle the throat with a feather, &c., if they are at hand. 
 Rub the chest and face warm, and dash cold water, or 
 cold and hot water alternately, on them. If there be no 
 success, lose not a moment, but instantly 
 
 To IMITATE BREATHING Replace the patient on the 
 face, raising and supporting the chest well on a folded 
 coat or other article of dress. 
 
 Turn the body very gently on the side and a little 
 beyond, and then briskly on the face, back again, repeat- 
 ing these measures cautiously, efficiently, and persever- 
 ingly, about fifteen times in the minute, or once every 
 four or five seconds, occasionally varying the side. 
 
 \By placing the patient on the chest, the weight of the 
 body forces the air out; when turned on the side, 
 this pressure is removed, and air enters the chest '.] 
 
 On each occasion that the body is replaced on the 
 face, make uniform but efficient pressure with brisk 
 
Appendix. 
 
 123 
 
 d 
 
124 Appendix. 
 
 movement, on the back between and below the shoulder- 
 blades or bones on each side, removing the pressure 
 immediately before turning the body on the side. 
 
 During the whole of the operations let one person 
 attend solely to the movements of the head and of the 
 arm placed under it. 
 
 \The first measure increases the expiration the second 
 commences inspiration. ] 
 
 *#* The Result is Respiration or Natural Breathing; 
 and if not too late, Life. 
 
 Whilst the above operations are being proceeded with, 
 dry the hands and feet, and as soon as dry clothing or 
 blankets can be procured, strip the body, and cover or 
 gradually reclothe it, but taking care not to interfere with 
 the efforts to restore breathing. 
 
 III. 
 
 Should these efforts not prove successful in the course 
 of from two to five minutes, proceed to imitate breathing 
 by DR. SILVESTER'S method, as follows : 
 
 Place the patient on the back on a flat surface, inclined 
 a little upwards from the feet ; raise and support the 
 head and shoulders on a small firm cushion or folded 
 article of dress placed under the shoulder-blades. 
 
 Draw forward the patient's tongue, and keep it pro- 
 jecting beyond the lips : an elastic band over the tongue 
 and under the chin will answer this purpose, or a piece 
 of string or tape may be tied round them, or by raising 
 the lowing jaw, the teeth may be made to retain the 
 tongue in that position. Remove all tight clothing 
 from about the neck and chest, especially the braces. 
 
Appendix, 
 
 125 
 
 P4 
 C/2 
 fc 
 
126 Appendix. 
 
 To IMITATE THE MOVEMENTS OF BREATHING. 
 Standing at the patient's head, grasp the arms just above 
 the elbows, and draw the arms gently and steadily up- 
 wards above the head, and keep them stretched upwards 
 for two seconds. \By this means air is drawn into the 
 lungs} Then turn down the patient's arms, and press 
 them gently and firmly for two seconds against the sides 
 of the chest. \By this means air is pressed out of the 
 lungs.} 
 
 Repeat these measures alternately, deliberately, and per- 
 severingly, about fifteen times in a minute, until a 
 spontaneous effort to respire is perceived, imme- 
 diately upon which cease to imitate the movements 
 of breathing, and proceed to INDUCE CIRCULATION 
 AND WARMTH. 
 
 IV. TREATMENT AFTER NATURAL BREATH- 
 ING HAS BEEN RESTORED. 
 
 To PROMOTE WARMTH AND CIRCULATION. Com- 
 mence rubbing the limbs upwards, with firm grasping 
 pressure and energy, using handkerchiefs, flannels, &c. 
 {By this measure the blood is propelled along the 'veins 
 towards the heart} 
 
 The friction must be continued under the blanket or 
 over the dry clothing. 
 
 Promote the warmth of the body by the application 
 of hot flannels, bottles, or bladders of hot water, heated 
 bricks, &c., to the pit of the stomach, the arm-pits, be- 
 tween the thighs, and to the soles of the feet. 
 
 If the patient has been carried to a house after respira- 
 tion has been restored, be careful to let the air play 
 freely about the room. 
 
Appendix. 
 
 127 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 
128 'Appendix. 
 
 On the restoration of life, a teaspoonful of warm water 
 should be given ; and then, if the power of swallowing 
 have returned, small quantities of wine, warm brandy- 
 and-water, or coffee should be administered. The 
 patient should be kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep 
 encouraged. 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The above treatment should be perseveied in for some 
 hours, as it is an erroneous opinion that persons are 
 irrecoverable because life does not soon make its ap- 
 pearance, persons having been restored after persevering 
 for many hours. 
 
 APPEARANCES WHICH GENERALLY ACCOMPANY 
 
 DEATH. 
 
 Breathing and the heart's action cease entirely ; the 
 eyelids are generally half closed ; the pupils dilated ; 
 the tongue approaches to the under edges of the lips, 
 and these, as well as the nostrils, are covered with a 
 frothy mucus. Coldness and pallor of surface increases. 
 
 CAUTIONS. 
 
 Prevent unnecessary crowding of persons round the 
 body, especially if in an apartment. 
 
 Avoid rough usage, and do not allow the body to re- 
 main on the back unless the tongue is secured. 
 
 Under no circumstances hold the body up by the feet. 
 
 On no account place the body in a warm bath unless 
 under medical direction, and even then it should only 
 be employed as a momentary excitant. 
 
 By order of the Committee. 
 
 RICHARD LEWIS, Secretary, 
 ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION, 
 

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