UC-NRLF B 3 &^y 2SD m ^^ \imL LieR.ARV j oi- Tin: j University of California. | OIKT OF" i PACIFIC THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. I zAccessiou Class pacific theological ^gminai^H ALCOVE, SHELF, "S PRESENTED BV EXPOSITION OF THE MOYEMENT-CUPiE. \ AN EXPOSITION SWEDISH MOYEMENT-CURE. EMBRAOLNTx THE HISTORY AM) PHILOSOPHY OF THIS SYSTEM OF IfEDICAL TREATMENT, WITH EXA3IPLES OF SINGLE MOVEMENTS, AND DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR USE IN VARIOUS FORJIS OF CHRONIC DISEASE, FORMING A COMPLETE JLAJfUAL OF EXERCISES : TOGETHER WITH A SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPLES OF GENERAL HYGIEXE. BY GEO. H. TAYLOR, A.M., M.D., PBINOIPAL PHYSICIAN TO THE EEMEDIAL HYGIENIC INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK CITY Nrtu ¥orU: Fowler and ^Vells, Publishers, No. 308 BEOADWAY. 1 SCO. ,u^: ft f^^^ Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, by GEO. H. TAYLOE, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New Yorli. Da VIES & Kext, STEREOTYPEES AND ELECTIIOTTPERS, 113 Nassau Street, ]V. Y. 3lo t)is JFricntis, PROF. GABRIEL BRANTIXG, FOR FOETT-FIYE TEARS DIRECTOR OF THE SWEDISH CENTRAL GYMNASTIC INSTITUTE, AND HERMAI SATHEKBURG, M.D., PROFESSOR OF OETHOPOEDIC SURGERY IN THE CAROLINIAN MEDICO- CHIRURGICAL INSTITUTE, STOCKHOLM, AS A TESTIMONIAL OF GKATITUDE FOR THEIR KIND PERSONAL INSTRUCTIONS AND GENEROUS HOSPITALITY, ^Ijis matli, BEING AN ATTEMPT TO CARRY OUT, IN A NEW DIRECTION, THOSE PRINCIPLES TO THE ELUCIDATION AND PRACTICE OF WHICH THEY HAVE SO ASSIDUOUSLY AND SUCCESSFULLY DEVOTED THEMSELVES, IS AFFECTIONATELY AND RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY _ 84551 PREFACE. To do what he can to encourage and assist people in a rational endeavor to acquire and maintain an intelligent control of their entire physiological being — to bring into and keep in healthful and effective play all the complex machinery of their organism, has been the sole aim of the writer in this work. The importance of the agency proposed to effect this is conceded in general terms by all ; it never was disputed, indeed. But this admission, so freely and so gi^acefully rendered, amounts to very little ; it is not much better, really, than a virtual confes- sion of inability to rebut the arguments directly or indirectly advanced in every sound physio- logical treatise. The plan of the present work, so far as I am Vlll PEKFACE. aware, is quite new, no attempt having been hitherto made to analyze single movements^ with a view to the production of such a combination of effects as are wanted to meet the various pathological needs of the system. This object, I am quite certain, has been, at best, very imper- fectly accomplished ; but I would feign indulge the hope that I have at least done the work of a humble pioneer, in breaking the ground and throwing out some hints and suggestions that may prove useful to the future laborer in this wide and fertile field. The Author can not but hope, too, that he has furnished to his medical readers some food for thought that may lead to results in their prac- tice that shall more than compensate for the time and strength expended in the work. To a thorough understanding of all the prin- ciples of the MovEMENT-CcTEE, au intimate ac- quaintance with Anatomy and Physiology^ and, indeed, with medical science generally, is abso- lutely essential. Of course, skill in diagnosis^ and in the practical application of these princi- ples in the treatment of the countless ills of hu- man flesh, can be acquired only by long and patient training and study. I do not expect, for I know it would be quite impossible in the nature PREFACE. IX of things, to turn every good-natured person wlio may do me the kindness to peruse these chapters into a good doctor. I should be entirely satis- fied — the height of my ambition would be reach- ed — could I but prevent a few hundreds of my Christian fellow-men and women from maldng had doctors of tJiemselves, I have not endeavored to shake my reader's faith in the wise, prudent, conscientious, and learned physician. No one honors him more than does the writer. Blessed, say I, is the man or woman who has a good doctor^ but more blessed he lolio can do ivithout him ! To enable my reader so to do has been my main aim in the preparation of this manual. In Part I. is given what I conceive to be the more important principles upon which is based the practice of the Movement-Cure. These prin- ciples are mostly simple deductions from phys- iological science, and the cui^e is only the prac- tical application of demonstrated jDhysiological truths In Fart 11. are given a number of examples of the method of carrying these principles into practice. In Part III. the pathology of various common chronic affections is briefly discussed, and certain 1^ PKEFACE. means of preserving the healtli and improving the strength are noticed. Part IV. contains a concise statement of some of the relations of the system to temperature^ air^ foocl^ lights lieat^ etc., with observations upon the superior advantages of obeying the laws of life, with a view to the maintenance or the restora- tion of health and vigor, over irrational and in- discriminate drug dosing. GEO. H. TAYLOR. No. 67 West SSth Steeet, New Yoek. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PEINCIPLES CONNECTED WITH THE USE OF MOVEMENTS. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. PAGE Physical Self-Training, and the Classes of Persons for whom it is specially needful 17 1. After Duplicated Movements \ 19 2. Those who are but Slightly AflFected by Disease 20 8. Sedentary Persons ' 21 4. Persons Enoaged in Mental Toil 21 5. Young Students of both Sexes 22 6. Tendency to Diminish the Drug Practice 24 CHAPTER n. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF MOVEMENTS. Movements among the Chinese 32 Movements in India 39 Movements among the Greeks and Romans 41 Biography of Ling. 47 'Ling's Statements of Principles 53 The Movement System in Stockholrfi 59 Testimony of Philosophers— Dally, Hoffman, Rousseau, Pliny, Galen, Plato, Bacon, Georgii 62 CHAPTER III. THE RELATIONS OF CHEMICAL AND MOLECULAR CHANGES TO THE ORIGIN OF FORCE IN THE BODY. Importance of First Principles 68 These Forces a Product of Vital Action 71 Different kinds of Motion 77 Reciprocity of Actions 80 The System as a Reservoir of Force 82 Description of Muscle. 83 Physiological Effects of Exercise 85 Effects of Musculay Contraction on the Local Circulation 86 Effect on Respiration 87 Effect on the Secretions 88 Effect on the Excretions 89 Effect on Absorption 89 Effect on the Quality of the Blood 90 Effect on the Digestion 90 Effect on the Organizing Process 91 Movements Stimulate the Vitalizing Processes , 92 Co-ordination of Motions by the Nerves 93 The foregoing Effects 96 84551 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTEK IV. MOVEMENTS, AND THE PEINCIPLES GOTEENING THEIE APPLICATION. PAGE Definition 9T Different kinds of Movements, Active and Passive 93 Single and Duplicated Movements 99 Concentric and Eccentric Movements 102 General and Localized Movements 105 Influence of Movemen's in Regulating the Forces of tlie Body 109 Relations of tiie Action of the VVill and of the Muscles in Movements 112 Movements as a Specific Medical Agency 116 Movemeots ms related to Pathology 120 Province of Movements 121 Morale of Movements 122 CHAPTER Y. MOTEMENTS COMPARED WITH GYMNASTICS. The Muscles a Medium of Language, and of the Manifestation of Character . . 129 CHAPTER YI. DIRECTIONS FOR PRESCRIBING AND APPLYING MOVEMENTS. Time Considered 135 Manner 136 Pvhythm 136 Exertion 137 Number 137 Order 13S Eelation to Diseased Parts 139 Eegions of the Body 140 CHAPTER Yn. TERMINOLOGY OF POSITIONS. Importance of System 142 Positions and Movements 144 Commencing Positions 145 Principal Positions of the Trunk 145 Standing Positions— Erect, Fall, and Bent Standing 145 Kneeling Positions — Erect and Fall Kneeling 146 Sittina: Positions— Sitting, Short, and Long 146 Lie-Sitting, Half-Lying.^Fall and Stride Sitting 147 Lying— Forward. Backward. Sidewise, Trunk, and Leg 147 Head-and-Heels, Elbows-and-Toes, Sidewise and Balance Lying 148 Hanging 148 Positions of the Arms and Legs 14S Arm Positions seen in a Front View of the Body 150 Arm Positions seen in a Side View of the Body 152 Leg Positions 154 Lower Leg Positions 155 Stride, Walk, Step-Standing, and Foot-Support-Standing 155 Squat and Leg-Angle Positions 156 CONTENTS. XUl fart ®to0. EXAMPLES OF SINGLE MOVEMENTS. CHAPTER VIII. EEGION OF THE FEET. PAGE Kemarks on Movements of the Feet 157 Examples of Movements of the Region of the Feet 160 1. Standing, Feet-Extinding IGO 2. Toe-Support, Half-Standing, Ileel-rressing 161 3. AVing-Walk, Toe Wall-Standing, Foot-Eending 162 4. Long Sitting, Feet Sidewisc-Bending 16i Long-Sitting, Feet-Kotation 163 Foot-Percussion 164 Foot-Eotation (Passive) 165 Support Half- Standing, Leg-Swinging 166 CHAPTER IX. EEGIOX OF THE LEGS. Eemarks on Movements of the Legs 167 Walking 167 Examples of Movements of the Legs 170 Wing-Stride-Standing, Curtseying 170 Half-Standing, Curtseying 171 Balance-Standing, Curtseying 172 Wing-Kneeling, Knee-Stretching 172 Half-Standing, Alternate Twisting 173 Wing- Walk, Forward-Fall-Standing, Knee-Bending 374 Leg-Angle, Half-Standing, Leg-Clapping 174 Region of the Hips 17o Eemarks on the Region of the Hips 175 Wing-Stride, Short-Sitting, Leg Outward-Stretching 176 Leg-Angle, Half-Standing Knee-Stretching 177 Wing-Recline, Support-Sitting, Knees-Raising 177 Half-Standing, Leg Forward-Raising 178 H;df Standing, Leg Backward-Raising 179 Half-Sianding, Leg Sidewise-Raising 179 Forward-Fall, Head-Support-Standing, Leg-Raising ISO Half-Standing, Leg-Rotation 181 Wing-Sitting, Double Leg-Twisting ISl Legs- Angle, Lie-Sitting, Knees-Stretching 182 Shelter Trunk-Backward -Lying, Legs-Raising 1-^3 Kick Backward-Lying, Legs-Separation 184 Sidewise-Lying, Lt*g-Raising 184 Backward-Lying, Legs-Rotation 185 W^ing Leg-Angle Half-Lying, Knee-Stretching 185 Thigh-Rotation 186 Chine-Knocking 187 CHAPTER X. EEGIOX OF THE TEUXK. Remarks on the Region of the Trunk 183 Movements of the Digestive Organs 189 Movements of the Respiratory Orgaiis ; . . . . 193 Stretch-Stride Short- Sitting, trunk Forward-Sidewise Falling 198 Stretch-Stride Short-Sitting, Trunk Backward-Sidewise Falling 199 Stretch-Sitting, Trunk Backward-Falling 199 Half-Stretch, Half-Wing, Stride Short-Sitting, Trunk Si lewise Bending 200 XIV CONTENTS. PAGE Ilalf-Stretch, Half-Wing, Stride-Sitting, Trunk-Twisting 201 Shelter Stride-Sitting, Cliange-Twisting 202 Yard-Sitting, Arms Swaving 203 StrL-tcli-Stri(K'-Knceliiig. "Trunk Backward-Bending 2n4 Half Strttcli. Ilaif-Wing. Keclined Stride-Kneeling, Trunk-Twisting 206 Ilalf-Sirctcli, Il.iir-Wiiig, Walk-Kneeling, Trunk-Twisting 206 Arm.— Anirle, INclincd Kneeling, Arms Stretching 207 Rark-K.clinr.l Stride-Kneeliiig, Arms Backward-Striking 208 WiiiLC Stridf-lviK-rliiig, Ringing 208 Yar.i Stride Jviieelinir, Swaying 209 Stride-Sitting, Arms Sidewise-Kaising 210 Stretch Half- Walk, Half Krietling, Trunk Backward-Bending 211 Ilalf-Wing, Half-Curve (weight held) Step-Eeclined-Standing, Trunk Sidewise- Bending 211 Half- A ing, Half-Stretch, Step Standing, Trunk Sidewise-Bending 212 Half-Stretch, Half-Wing, Half-Kick, Eeclined Standing, Trunk Sidewise-Bend- ing 213 Half-Stretch, Eeclined Kick-Standing, Trunk-Twisting 213 Shelter Long-Sitting, Trunk Forward-Bending 214 Arms-Angle, Half-Kick (foot supported) Eeclined-Standing, Arms-Stretching. . 214 Yard-Eeclmed, Half-Kick Standing, Swaving 216 Half-Stretch, Half-Wing, Walk, Trunk Sidewise-Bent, Standing, Trunk-Twist- ing 216 Yard Walk-Standing, Trunk Backward-Bending 21T Upward-Sidewise Stretch Doorway-Standing, Walking 217 Shelter, Sidewise-Bent Stride-Standing, Trunk Eotation 218 Head-aiid- 1 1 eels Lving, Holding 219 Elbow-and-Toes Lying, Holding. 220 Elbow-and-Leg Sidewise-Lying^ Hips Eaising 221 Shelter Baek-Lving, Head-and-Legs Eaising 222 Back Lying, Holding 222 Wing-Suide Leg-Angle Standing, Trunk Vibration 223 Operations upon the Digestive Organs 223 Kneading, Snaking, Stroking, Circular Stroking, Point Pressure, Clapping 224 Agitation of the Abdomen and Diaphragm 226 CHAPTER XI. EEGION OF THE AEMS. Eemarks on this Eegion 227 Stretch Backward-Lying, Weight-Holding 229 Eack Grasp, Forward Fall-Standing, Arms Angling 230 Stretch-Grasp Standing, Hip Eotation 231 Half Stretch Grasp Standing, Arm Twisting 232 Yard Stride-Sitting, Arms Twisting 232 Standing, Arms Eotating. 233 Hanging, Swinging 234 Swing-Hang-Standing, Trunk Eotating 236 Trunk Forward-Fall Hanging, Holding 237 Backward- Fall Elbows Support Lying, Holding 238 Half-Stretch Support Half Standing, Stretching 239 Stretch-Stride Standing or Star-Standing, Stretching 240 CHAPTER Xn. EEGION OF THE HEAD AND NEOK. Eemarks on the Eegion of the Head and Neck 241 Head Turnin 242 Head Forward Bending 242 Head Backward Bending !...!!!.'.!.'. 243 Head Backward Bending and Twisting (Screw-Raising).*. .....'........'.'.'. CONTENTS. XV fart %\xtt THE PATHOLOGY OF SEVERAL FORMS OF CHRONIC DISEASE. CHAPTER Xin. THE EELATIONS OF MOVEMENTS. PAGE Kemark 246 Indigestion, Dyspepsia 247 CHAPTER XIV. NERVOUSNESS. Nervousness 262 Seminal Disease 271 Neuralgia 273 CHAPTER XV. Scrofulous Aflfections 277 CHAPTER XVI. Pulmonary Affections— Consumption 286 CHAPTER XVn. Paralysis of the Nerves of Motion 300 CHAPTER XVin. CONSTIPATION, DIARRHEA, AND PILES. Constipation 808 Diarriiea 315 Piles 31T CHAPTER XIX. Deformities of the Spine 320 CHAPTER XX. Female Diseases 323 CHAPTER XXL MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS OF MOVEMENTS. MoTements to Kemove Fatigue 340 To Stop Nose-Bleed 341 To Induce Vomiting 342 To Remove Chilblains 348 To Relieve Headache 344 Worms in Children 345 Hernia 346 Prolapsus of the Womb and Bowels — 347 To Relieve Backache 347 Amenorrhea 347 To Excite Action of the Lower Bowels 347 XVI CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXn. DIFFERENT EFFECTS OF VAEIOIJS COMMON EXEECISES UPON PEESONS IN HEALTH. PAGE Walking 348 Running 348 Dancing 349 Sewing 349 Agricultural Labors 350 Painting, etc 351 Study 351 CHAPTER XXni. MOVEMENTS ADAPTED TO THE USE OF SCHOOLS. Order of Command for Free-Sitting Movements 355 !art imx. HYGIENE. CHAPTER XXIV. THE PHILOSOPHY OF HYGIENE. Food 36S Quantity 353 Quality 360 Salt 362 Preparation of Food— Cooking 363 Proper Times for Eating 364 Drinks 366 Milk 366 CHAPTER XXV. TEMPEEATUEE. Physiological Effect of Heat and Cold 36S Origin of Colds 371' Effect of Continued and Great Extremes 373 Importance of Cold 374 The Water-Cure 374 The Cold Bath 375 The Warm Bath 376 The Hot Bath 377 Local Baths 377 Effect on the Nerves 378 Compresses 379 The Air Bath 879 The Cold General Bath 880 Eeaction 3S1 Shower and Douche Baths 3sl CHAPTER XXVI. Light 383 CHAPTER XXVn. Mental Hygiene 3S6 A MANUAL OF EXERCISES PART I. PEINCIPLES COXKECTED WITH THE USE OF MOVEMENTS. INTRODUCTORY. Physical Self-teaiotng, aub the Classes of Persons FOR WHOM IT IS SPECIALLY JSTeedful. — ^Therc are not in nature nicer or wiser adaptations of means trends, than are exhibited in the arrangements* of the miman sys- tem for the maintenance in perfect order and health of its functions. Such provision implies the reverse of chance or accident as its controlling cause, and in fact intelligence in the arrangement of its activities and relations, if indeed safety and perpetuity be the object contemplated in it. That all may have to a certain and sufficient extent the control of their own physical systems, will scarcely be denied ; for it is on this fact that human actions and human responsibility are based. The acknowledgment of this evidently throws the responsibility for his health, efficiency, and happiness upon his own shoulders, where every man should feel that it belongs. . 84551 18 INTEODUCTOEY. The moral and intellectual natures of man have ever been regarded as proper subjects for training and de- velopment, in order to secure their due healthful exercise. The physical system is manifestly a subject for corresponding attention ; and its right to this ad- vantage should be recognized, and receive in civilized communities no less regard. That physical culture should claim the precedence, would seem to be indi- cated by the fact that the physical is prior in the order of development, not only as respects the individuals who is, through the physical^ fitted for his destiny as an intellectual being, but also in the progressive un- folding of the powers of the race. Physical culture, then, should be promoted both as a science and as an art. in all the numerous applica- tions of which it is susceptible, till it assumes a posi- tion in the public esteem commensurate with its im- portance. The particular form it shall ta]?:e, and the modes of carrying it out, will long remain a matter of abstract md experjmentaj investigation; each person interested contributing something of his experience and thought toward the realization of the grand objecj^ — the highest efficiency and well-being of mankind,, physical and moral. This subject is one that receives much superficial at- tention. It is one concerning which an abundance of "vague and glittering generalities" have been ex- pressed, but only a very few practical precepts or defi- nite directions given. While all seem familiar with the subject of exercise, in its relations to the health, but very few admit that they are prepared to meet, with suitable applications, any given case requiring treatment- The feeble person and the invalid are con- stantly advised to take exercise. The popular lecturer, INTRODUCTORY. 19 books, friends, physicians unite in confirming the dic- tates of his common sense in this respect; but the in- quirer looks ahnost in vain to all these sources for any definite and satisfactory information based on physi- ology and the laws of life, such as will tell him liow the remedy operates, and also liow it should he applied. The i:)resent treatise, it is hoped, will assist in sup- plying the needs here referred to, in the several direc- tions now to be named. 1. The class of persons who will best understand the meaning as well as the method of the present treatise, consists of those who have been, or are, under my medical direction. Indeed, this is the class that loudly call for the work, and who have constantly spurred me on to its completion. After receiving for a while a full prescription of duplicated movements, until their health has become much improved, such persons require, at every stage of their progress toward the goal of perfect health, directions for self^eatment — for a continuation, in a modified form, of the measures previously employed. I have felt, as others have and will, the need of such particular directions as each patient may require, and which this treatise is an attempt to furnish. In this way, the purposes of both physician and patient are equally served, and the desired object of extending the practice of movements in a do- mestic way is to a limited extent realized. But the reader must understand at the outset, that the move- ment-cure can be practiced in this way (/lily to a limited extent, both on account of the obscure nature of the diseases for which it is applied, and also from the kind of processes which it employs. The present treatise is therefore confined to the dis- 20 INTRODUCTORY. ciission of a few single movements. With those who have had a previous training with the duplicated move- ments^ the directions herein contained will be of the greatest service, not only for the purpose of carrying on the curative processes to results of greater perfec- tion, but also for preventing a recurrence of the com- plaint, since it is the prime object of the treatment to secure to the invalid the intelligent and permanent command of himself. 2. There is in the community a very large class of persons who might be called half-invalids — ^persons who do not possess a satisfactory amount of health, but who at the same time feel that they are not the proper subjects for medical care. Such persons feel that they are forewarned of disease, and would gladly attempt to avert it, could they obtain such directions for doing so as would meet the approbation of their reason or instinctive sense of physiological propriety. Current ^edical practice takes no cognizance of these cases ; or if it does, it is in such a way as often to confirm the subject in serious and prolonged disease. Aware of this fact, many keep aloof from medical advice of any kind, and insist that suffering in any of the more moderate forms is less a misfortune than the habit of gulping drugs for the palliation they afford. For per- sons of this class, it is evident that it is not drugs, but such easily performed self -training as that of which examples and directions are here given, that is i-e- quired. By this means, the abundant latent powers which they possess are developed into activity and harmony, and they soon rejoice in health, while the neg- lect or continued misdirection of these would eventually have degenerated into grave, and perhaps fatal, disease. INTRODUCTORY. 21 3. Besides these, there are many whose avocations are sedentary, yet such as require the continued and often severe employment of a part of their muscles. /This tends to an undue and disproportionate activity of some parts of the body to the detriment of others. Such avocations constitute in many constitutions a potent cause of ill health; but the ill effects of them can, in general, be easily counteracted by a recourse to such means as are prescribed in this treatise. Per- sons suftering from the causes here alluded to, will be enabled to remove fatigue and congestion from the parts of the body that have been abused by too con- tinuous exercise, and thus to prevent the occurrence of the grievous symptoms so commonly resulting from such causes. 4. Persons of literary and of husiiiess habits require a similar aid to preserve them from falling into habit- ual ill health. The habit of this class of persons is, to employ all the available forces of their ^organism through a particular channel — the brain and nerves, and of course to excite nutrition chiefly in a single de- partment of their organism. This is contrary to the laws of the system, and ill consequences are necessa- rily ere long felt. This disproportionate use and un- balanced nutrition, whereby one set of functions is heightened, is, of course, to the detriment of another set of functions, which, becoming reduced in power, are, at last, literally starved out. Examples of this class of persons are met with everywhere, and gener- ally recognized at sight. It is to be hoped the time will come when such physiological abuse will meet the general reprehension it so much deserves. The principles advocated, and the practical examples 22 INTRODUCTORT. afforded in this work, are adapted to obviate all such unfortunate results. Persons whose tastes or necessities lead them to employ the nervous department of their being chiefly, may^ if they choose to learn how^ counter- act any disproportionate nervous wear, and by attend- ing to its cultivation, maintain their physical vigor. 5. As a necessary element in the education of the young, 2)1iysical culture should hold a place co-ordi- nate with that of the intellect — 'it should be a part of all academic training. For the want of this culture, educational means and appliances too often defeat their own 2)urposes ; for the due co-ordination of the powers of the body, under the order of civilizational develop- ment, can not with safety be left to chance. If we are to judge of the utility of institutions of learning by many of the specimens of manhood which they turn out, our decisions respecting them can not be unquali- fiedly favorable. Sadly true will this appear when we come to set against the fulfillment of the highest hopes of parent, teacher, and friend, in regard to intellectual advantages, the destruction of the power to use them. "With physical health broken down, and stamina de- stroyed, we are led to inquire if the advantages are not quite counterbalanced. "We are at least justified in making the inference, that the irrocesses tending to such results are radicaUy defective. The hardy team- ster or plowman, with few intellectual resources, has, with nothing to boast of, in fact, besides an excellent physique, in the comparison, plainly the best of it; for though the college youth has satisfied the ambirion of his friends in the matter of intellectual culture, his success j^roves of little avail as a source of rational enjoyment, or as contributing to the world's advance- INTRODUCTORY. 23 ment ; since he lias at the same time acquired a fear- ful drawback in the form of the life-lease of a narrow chesf, shrunken and flabby muscles, and a general dys- peptic or consumptive habit. While learning was being put into him, his natural i^luck was driven out of him — an exchange of very questionable advantage. With females, the case is even worse. The girl is sacrificed to society's conventionalisms, senseless and even vicious though they may be ; while the boy may rudely thrust these aside. Many of the world's lead- ers have acquired the power to be such, by shocking their friends in their boyhood. But, her parents or teachers knowing nothing nor caring for vital laws, the girl is restrained in the opportunities for bodily activity that nature would seek ; and by the time that her edu- cation is ''finished," she is rendered, physically, thoroughly useless, both from want of powder and of disposition to be otherwise. Regardless of the neces- sary physical conditions, her intellectual powers can not be sustained ; and, in too many instances, she is ren- dered incapable of reaching or appreciating the higher ends of life, and becomes satisfied with a merely senso- rial existence. We may conclude, then, that the prevalent amount of disease among females is not a sacred birthright de- rived from the providential constitution of things, but that it is acquired^ and follows as the necessary conse- quence of the inharmonious action of the organism, imposed by the customs of society and the neglect of bodily cultm-e. It is thus that the chlorosis, the ner- vousness, the dyspepsia, the deformity of spine and chest, the loss of the attractions that should belong to the sex, and divers other afSictions, so common with females, are fully accounted for. 24 mTEODUCTOKY. It may be said that physical training, when subjected to rules, is unnatural, and that this matter is better left to the spontaneous suggestions of nature. I would reply to this, that if so, all education, any training, is equally " unnatural." The object of all true culture is to aid the designs of nature ; and our plans must be carried out conformably to her laws, in order that we may attain satisfactory results. We are pur- posely so constituted as to be susceptible of improve- ment in every department of our being ; and such im- provement becomes a duty we owe ourselves. Civili- zation proceeds by steps ; and when any custom or mode of life exists that is attended by unwholesome effects, it is an indication that further knowledge is re- quired for their counteraction ; for that civilization is faulty which does not prevent the evil results of any habits that cultivated society may impose. The prmGi2Jle of cultivating the body along with the mind, so as by preserving the health to render mental culture available, is far from being new. It has been often recognized and put in practice ; and laudable and successful examples have existed both in ancient^ and in modern times. But it has been culpably overlooked or slighted by us, the American people ; and for such neglect we, as a nation, are now receiving the castigation necessary to correct our short-comings in this respect. 6. It need not be concealed that the influence of the principles of physical culture, such as it is my present * The Greeks made the education of their children of boih sexes an affair of state —it -was done at the public expense. In this way they became the type of the hu- man race in its best characteristics. In form they were all but perfect ; in courage unequaled ; they excelled in the arts and sciences ; in polite literature, in poetry and history, they are still our masters. Their theory of education, and the practical re- sults of it, ^vere better than ours at this day.— De. CHAPiiAS. IXTRODUCTORY. 26 purpose to inculcate, is to a considerable extent inimi- cal to the interests of the current medical practice. So far as this influence is based upon the timth^ it must inevitably prevail, and to a certain extent will enable us, eventually, to dispense with the old style of medication. It must be conceded, upon a little reflection, that current medical science does not answer the require- ments of the age. Its scope is too narrow — it does not attempt to supply the most pressing wants of a civilized community. For the chief want is, not some mighty cure-all^ much less the faltering, unsatisfactory attempts at curing, so exhausting to the limited vital resources — but to be kept well. In spite of the antiquity and respectability of the medical art, the community is not restrained througli its influence from wasting in the most prodigal manner its precious boon of health. The popularity of the received medical practice de- pends on the common belief, that there really exists a connection, yet not well understood, between the drug and certain curative results. It is plain that the im- plied promise to cure thus furnislied, so far as credence is given it, in eflTect lessens the fear of the pain, which is the penalty of physiological misdeeds ; and thus the barrier to the perpetration of such acts is taken away. Such credence is palpably demoralizing in its influence, for it not only countenances the infringement of physio- logical law, but discourages the desire to understand, and to practice according to the dictates of a correct physiology. It behooves us to look more closely than is the gene- ral habit, to the principles involved in drug-practice. Suppose all the expectations and hope held out by the 2 26 INTEODUCTOKY. administrator of this means of cure to be completely fulfilled, would it not discourage inquiry in regard to physiological relations, and really offer a premium to indulgence and the consequent physiological crime? Does not the assurance of delivery from danger anni- hilate the fear of it, and are not men ready to rush in- to danger in proportion to their belief in speedy and complete delivery? To what else are we to refer the general ignorance and misunderstanding of the laws of health, but the indifference to such knowledge, which medicine, indirectly, to be sure, bnt powerfully, inculcates ? Let us contrast this princij^le with its opposite, viz., that there is no scape-offering for physiological sin, but that suffering and diminished power are its due, direct, and inevitable consequences. Must not this stimulate to such inquiry as would lead to exact knowledge, rigid care, and correct practice? Self-preservation and self-interest, which it is impossible to despise, would tend directly to this result. It is apparent that the true physician has a higher duty resting upon him than those who bear that name are accustomed to acknowledge, namely, that of carry- ing instruction to the popular mind in regard to the natural capabilities and requirement-s of the body, so as to enable men to preserve their powers, and to repel the first insidious approaches of disease. There is scarcely any discreet physician or well-informed person who will not admit that the department of hygiene that is here advocated and rendered practical, is the most powerful of agencies in securing this desirable result. Upon the physician rests plainly a duty in this matter, because the duty confessedly exists, and it can fall to no one else. Here is opened a broader field for his INTEODUCTOKY. 27 labor than he now enjoys, and one compatible with the dictates of a noble and generous mind. 7. The importance of the special hygienic system of movements^ for the recovering invalid, for the weakly, for those whose position requires too little or improper kinds of exercise, for youth of both sexes, and for pre- venting disease, must be manifest to all. But that the subject is invested with an interest which is strictly medical, in the highest sense of that term, will not be so readily admitted. It is conceived by the author, that the importance of movements as a curative resource is hardly second to that of any other heretofore brought before the public. It is the purpose of the present treatise only to supply some hints toward a practice based on the phenomena of motion in the body. And in order to render it useful for the purposes above indicated, it is restricted to Avhat I have denominated single move- ments. This limitation, while it fits the treatise for the use of a larger number of individuals in the commu- nity, renders it, at the same time, imperfect as a medical guide^ and confines its applications to a limited number of diseased conditions. In short, the w^ork aims to do nothing more than to introduce the idea of the remedial application of movements, which, to be complete, must employ also, and perhaps chiefiy, the duplicated move- m^ents^ of which there is an account here included. Movements have incontrovertible remedial effects, and may therefore be considered a legitimate remedial agent. The application of this system has been known and practiced to a limited extent in all ages ; and in modern times it has been much extended, and has received the appellation of the Movement- Cure. 28 INTRODUCTORY. This practice is not pretended in any quarter to be a universal panacea, nor to include all that is valuable in the present domain of medical art. It is an in- valuable contribution to a system of practice based on physiology, which, to be complete, will embrace, by separate and distinct methods, every avenue through which the health of the body is influenced, either from external or internal causes. The tendency of current medical practice is to narrow down medical means to the use of drugs; whereas these are but o?ie of the many kinds of agents that affect the health of the body. All the variations and perturbations of the health are a true record of the effects of the slighter variations in the use of the materials and of the forces that are adapted by nature to functional employment, and that, acting together in appropriate adjustment, 23roduce that condition which is termed health. An enumeration of these elements available to the restoration as well as to the maintenance of the health would include many forces and agents that have to do mainly with man as an animal^ such as heat, cold, •food, drink, labor, recreation, rest, and all the inter-re- lations and adjustments of these, considered both in reference to their effect upon the vegetative life, and the animal functions of the body. This system regards man as a spiritual being — recog- nizes all the various influences that operate upon his intellectual and moral life flowing from physical causes, and the power of the mind over the exercise of functional acts of the body, of every kind. The fact that man is subject to these relations, and that they directly modif}^ and control his health, is undoubted. How this control is to be exercised as a remedial means has not yet been shown ; except, perhaps, in such a INTEODUCTORY. 29 fragmentary way as does not admit of any organic construction. The practice of duplicated movements^ wherein the mental powers of "both the invalid and friend co-operate to the production of certain effects, afibrds many new facts and interesting illustrations of the control of the mental and nervous states over those functional acts of the body that constitute the health ; and such as may lead to higher results than have yet been conceived — in building up, indeed, what may be called a system of moral medicine. But the Movement- Cure, as a specialty of medical practice, depends entirely on purely physiological oneans for the accomplishment of its purposes. It may be considered as a means of enabling the natural ten- dencies of the system toward health to act more power- fully and effectually. It points out the means of di- recting tlie corporeal energies into just those channels in which they are most needed, in order to perfect the balance of the physiological processes. It enables the system to develop and maintain its forces in greater amount, because it employs them naturally and w^ith- • out undue waste. And because the Movement-Cure thus limits itself to a realm of facts concerning which there is no question, it has a right to expect the ap- proval of physicians of all the different schools, even of those advocating opposing theories. It requires as- sent only to the plainest and most obvious facts and in- ferences of physiology. In the Movement-Cure, all physicians meet on common ground and blend their differences. This proves, we hold, that the practice is founded in common sense^ as well as upon the rigorous deductions of science and experience ; and that the rapid dissemination of its principles and practice may be prophesied with a degree of certainty. 30 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PRACTICE OF MOVE- MENTS. The desire of men to become more complete, comely, vigoroiis, and healthy — to approach as nearly as possible to the ideal man — has existed in all ages, and has impelled them to make special efforts to secure these ends. Tlie suggestion of the necessary means would seem to arise from an instinct of our nature ; and these evidently consist in simply calling into action the power v:hose improveinent we desire — or in giving direction to the capabilities of which we are in conscious possession. Such a process is based on anatomy and physiology, and is limited by these sciences ; and it deals with the very instruments and laws of vitality. In recent times, the term " movements" has been employed to designate the processes by which this control of the bodily powers is secured. Theoretically, then, movements are capable of being reduced to an art, hygienic and remedial, as perfect as the principles upon which the natural operations of the body are based ; and though, as a training or healing art, it may always have been successfully practiced, yet that success be- comes necessarily more perfect, as less empirical, when it employs the facts and principles developed by mod- ern research in physiology. THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 3cl In glancing at tlieliistorj oiinovements^ tlie reader will wonder loliy an art so easily practiced, the elements of, and the demand for, which exist in the constitution of every one, while its principles are so fnndaniental and leave so little room for improvement, should not in modern times have come more generally into popular favor. The answer to this inquiry will be found in the fact of the maze of obscurity that has prevailed in the general mind in regard to the true curative value of drugs. But while all possible things have been both asserted and denied in regard to drugs, the value of movements has never heen denied or questioned^ but only at times neglected^ in the general interest with which the popular mind has invested the other ques- tions. In the last few centuries, chemistry has at each of the successive epochs of its development, furnished medicine w^ith the means of toying with the credulity, the hopes and fears of the suffering public ; and it requires all of the present amount of knowledge, and more time than has elapsed, to enable the scientific, supported by the popular mind, to turn the influence of the full-fledged science into its pi'oper channels, to consummate a revolution that may be delayed, but must eventually be realized. The employment of movements for hygienic and medical purposes is by no means a new thing, but is, on the contrary, older than any other means j^roposed for the same purpose. Movements have been employ- ed in every age, and if not suggested by the natural instincts of the rude mind, their imperfect use is very soon suggested by experience. Among Indian and African tribes, various manipulations, flagellations, etc., have been practiced, generally connected with super- stitious rites, incantations, prayers, etc., to which more 32 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF enlightened people attribute tlie least portion of tlie benefit that is obtained. It is well known that certain movements produce vertigo, nausea, palpitations of the heart, and various other effects corresponding to actions that are brought about by chemical means. And so a primitive people, even, would make a beginning that would soon become extended with their extending experience, till checked by their ignorance of the gen- eral scientific principles underlying what they rudely practice. Such primitive people, who know nothing of the brain wear, the confinement, and the defective exercise connected with the in-door and sedentary occupations of civilized society, have no need of other physical training than results from the chase and the dance^ to which they are always devoted. But as civilization is developed, which always implies training, the physical powers must also be trained to maintain the general harmony, and if not by accident, then by design ; or the constitution suff'ers in the way we see it so apt to do in old and enfeebled nations. Thus it happens that there is developed from causes naturally and inevitably operating, a system of regu- lating the health, and overcoming diseases by the em~ ployment of movements. But this system has, with but few exceptions, been practiced in an incomplete manner, owing to the imperfect development of chem- ical and physiological science, upon wdiich such a prac- tice is necessarily founded. Move:ments among the Chinese. — The traditional history of this people affords us many instructive exam- ples of the employment of various exercises -to preserve and restore the health. This history informs us that the THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 83 iinmidity of tlie atmosphere and the stagnant waters were considered a prolific sonrce of epidemic and en- demic diseases, and that the efficient means of prevent- ing these consisted in regular exercises of the body, by a kind oi gymnastic dance. These movements tend to produce action from the center to the circumfer- ence of the body, or centrifugal — an action very appropriate for the renewal of the functions of the liver, and to give tone and vigor to the whole economy. This matter was considered so invportant as to he under governmental regidation. The Cliinese writers support this practice with the tradition that the life of man depends on a union of earth and heaven, together with the use that the crea- ture makes of these. A subtile material, they think, circulates in the body ; if then the body is not in action, the material accumulates ; and, according to their theory, all diseases come of such obstruc- tion. The devotion of the Chinese to bodily exercises suggested the fundamental principle, which in China has always been considered the basis of progress and moral development, viz., that of self-development. It appears that the Chinese have long practiced an art of medical movements, which they denominate the Cong Fou. The meaning of this term is, simply, the art of exercising the hody. and its application to the treatment of disease. Says P. Amiot, a missionary, " Yolnmes might be written of the traditions, stories, and extravagant virtues of the Cong Fou^ which are implicitly believed ; even the majesty of the throne not exempting many emperors from a stupid credulity. Notwithstanding the priestly superstitions connected with it (for the priests persuade the people that it is a 2* ■ 34 HISTOKICxU. SKETCH OF true exercise of religion), it is really a very ancient prac- tice of medicine, founded on principles, and potent in many diseases." From the statements of the learned missionary and others are deduced these conclusions : 1st. That this art is founded on a genuine experience and original scientific principles, and may be freed from the superstitions and charlatanry that at the present day surround it — that it dates back to Hoang-Fi, 2698 years before the Christian Era. 2d. It consists of three essential particulars, to wit : a. Various positions of the body. h. Rules for varying these attitudes. c. During these exercises and attitudes, a manage- ment of the respiration according to certain rules of inspiration and expiration. 3d. This method has its own proper technical lan- guage. ttth. It does really effect the cure and relief of many diseases. 5th. The Chinese of every ranh eagerly resort to this remedy when every other means of cure has heen tried in vain. Thus it is affirmed that the Cong Fou has really all the characters and pretensions of an ancient scientific mode of medical practice. " The priests (who are the physicians) enter into an extensive detail of the positions of the body in all their shades of variation. These are so numerous, that we do not fear to say that all the postures and attitudes of comedians, dancers, tumblers, and artistic figures are but a small portion of those which have been in- troduced into this practice. The different modes of stretching^ folding^ raising^ falling^ lending and ex- THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 36 tending^ sejyarating and approaching^ the arms and legs, in the standing, sitting, and lying positions, form a prodigious variety." M. Amiot proceeds, at considerable length, to ex- plain the methods and principles of this Chinese sys- tem of medical movements, and the diseases and symp- toms for which it is applicable ; and from this account the following is extracted : " Tlie Cong Fou consists in certain positions in which the body is placed a certain length of time, in which the patient breathes in j^ecnliar methods. These methods must be chosen and combined accord- ing to the disease that is treated. "The morning is the proper time for the treatment; after the night's repose tlie circulation is more equable, tlie secretions more balanced and uniform. Persons pletlioric or charged with humors are always profited by fasting in the evening ; and this is absolutely neces- sary in certain diseases. "In practicing the movements, the body is either com- pletely or partially clothed, and has weights upon the head and shoulders, according to the complaint ; and in the respiration, the mouth should be half full of saliva or water. ^ "The physical and physiological principles concerned ' seem to be ftiese : " 1. Tlie mechansim of the body being entirely hy- draulic, with a free circulation of the fluids, health con- sists only with the proper equipoise of these fluids in their reciprocal relations ; and to restore health, this equilibrum must be established. " 2. As the air constantly enters into the blood and vital fluids through the lungs, tempers and purifies it and preserves its fluidity, these last qualities can only 36 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF be maintained through respiration, and of course are restored by the same instrumentality. " From these two principles thej draw conclusions after their own fashion, which we will give for what they are w^orth. "1. As the circulation of the fluids of the body has to overcome the two great obstacles of weight and fric- tion, all that tends to diminish these, aids to establish the circulation which is disturbed. " 2. As the motion and impetus of the air increases the fluidity of licpiids, and thus facilitates their move- ments, therefore all that tends to increase or diminish the force of the air in the body must increase or re- tard the circulation. "These principles and deductions being understood, the disciples of the Cong Fou enter into very lengthy details in order to show the sympathetic correspond- ence of the difierent parts of the human body, the action and reaction of the great organs of the cir- culation, of the secretion, and of the digestion of food. '^Theory. — ^The Chinese physicians make use of reasoning like the following, after the principles and consequences above expressed. There are two essen- tial parts of the Cong Fou — the flrst emb^ces the po- sitions and attitudes that are given to the body, the second the manner in which the respiration is accel- erated, retarded, or modified. *^ 1. If we regard the circulation of the blood and fluids as being opposed by their gravity or their fric- tion, which tends to retard the flow, it is evident that the degree in which the body is straight or bent, lying or raised, the feet and hands stretched or folded, raised, lowered, or bent, ought, in the hydraulic mechanism, to THE PKACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 37 effect a physical change, either to retard or to facilitate the circulation. " The horizontal position being that which diminishes the weight most, is therefore most favorable to the circulation; while the erect position, on the contrary, augments the weight to its utmost, and must, neces- sarily, render the circulation most difficult ; for the same reason, the position, according as the arms, the feet, or the head are raised, inclined, bent, etc., ought to af- fect the circulation more or less. " This is not all ; that which hinders the circulation in one part, gives more force in the direction in which the obstacle does not exist; and hence the fluids are made to overcome the engorgements that obBtruct its passage. " Another fact is this, that when the circulation has been hindered in a part, the greater is the force and impetuosity of the current when the obstacle is re- moved. " It follows that the different postures of the Cong Fou^ well directed, ought to produce a salutary relief in affections that arise from an embarrassed, retarded, or interrupted circulation. Now what are the affec- tions that have other causes ? Except fractures, bruises, etc., it is difficult to find other than these causes to de- range the organization of the human body. " 2. It is certain that the heart is the grand power concerned in the circulation, and the force it exhibits in producing and maintaining it is one of the wonders of the universe. " It is also certain that there is an obvious connec- tion, continually existing, between tlie movements of the heart, in filling and emptying itself of blood, and the movements of dilatation and contraction of the 38 HISTOPJCAL SKETCH OF lungs, which fill and empty themselves of air by in- spiration and expiration. Their connection is so inti- mate, that the beats of the heart increase and diminish directly in proportion to the increasing and retarding of respiration. "Xow, if more air is inspired than is expired, or the contrary, its volume should increase or diminish the total mass of the fluids of the body, and recruit or cur- tail more or less the blood of the lungs ; if the respira- tion is hastened or retarded, the result should be a quickening or retarding of the heart's action, so that both the mode of the circulation in the different parts of the body and the volume of the fluids of the body are controlled by the respiration," etc."^ It would appear from the above extract, that the Chinese were acquainted at an early day with the cir- culation of the Uood^ and tolerably versed in the mechanism of the body. And although, in the light of modern science, their reasoning in medical matters appears to a degree fallacious, one can not but be per- suaded that their practice of the movements must have been salutary and efficient; and that this primitive practice, suggested by the most obvious facts pertaining to the constitution, when imj)roved upon and modified by modern science, would be infinitely more salutary and efiicient. The eftect of increased respiration would now be explained by the well-known oxydizing powei- of the air upon the blood, and its consequent elimina- tory eftect upon the system oppressed with incom- pletely oxydized matters. The patrons and priests of the Cong Fou^ let it be said to their credit, seem to have had in mind the higher ends of existence — the good of the soul. * CiXEsiOLOGiE : on. Science du 3fouvement. Par N. Dally. THE I'KACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 39 Tliey believed the true mode of ministering to it to be primarily through the bod3\ P. Amiot says that the Chinese "regarded the Cong Fou as a true exercise of religion, which, by curing the body of its infirmities, liberates the soul from the servitude of the senses, and gives it power of accomplishing its wishes on earth, and of freely elevating itself to the pjerfection and perpetuity of its spiritual nature in the Tao^ the realm of the great creative Power." Movements in India.^ — Intermingled with the super- stitious religious practices of the ancient Indians there' were also many bodily exercises, bearing a great re- semblance to those of the Chinese. The most promi- nent among them was the retention of the air in respiration. They insisted that air produced the same effect in the body that fire produces upon metals ex- posed to its infiuence, namely, to imrify it. The Greek physicians entertained similar ideas, and had rules for the application of a similar practice. The retention of the air, said they, will increase the heat of the in- ternal parts, dilate the capacity of the chest, strengthen the organs of respiration, clear the chest of its impuri- ties, enlarge the pores, attenuate the skin, and drive out moisture through that membrane. It was from these well-known powers of this move- ment, that it was employed to purify the mouth, throat, stomach, chest, intestines, and to remedy yawning, hiccough, laryngitis, cough, asthma, gastritis, and en- teritis ; while in the intervals of movements, and after each series of exercises, friction w^as employed as an auxiliary means. A Greek historian who was on a mission to India, in the third century before our era, relates that "among 40 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF the Brahmins there is an order of physicians who rely chiefly upon diet and regimen, together with external processes, having great distrust of any more powerful means. For this reason it was said that they called charms to their aid. Probably these external pro- cesses were a system of therapeutic movements. An order of Brahminites exists at present whose chief medical recourse is hygienic shampooing. The English who reside in India frequently give ac- counts of the shampooing and friction, which they find a great source of delight as well as of health. The person receiving the operation is extended on a seat, while the operator manipulates his members, as he would knead dough for bread. He then strikes him lightly with the side of the hand, applies perfume and friction, and terminates by cracking the joints of the fingers, toes, and neck. After this operation, the sub- ject experiences a sensation of ineffable happiness and energy. It is said that the Indian ladies seldom pass a day without being thus shampooed by their slaves. In India, \\\q best qualified practitioners belong to Brahminic families, with whom the art of treating dis- ease was liereditary ; and there is every indication that the sacerdotal orders, who were faithful observers of primitive traditions, secretly possessed some Yedic treatise upon the art, of which the preceding is the substance of fragments that have come down to us. Thus it is seen, that the oldest nations of the world fully believed in and practiced various external me- chanical operations upon the body, both as a luxury, and to relieve them of their, chronic ailments. And whatever superstition of a religious nature was con- nected with these operations, by these or other and ruder peo^^le, no one is jprepared to assert that they THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 41 were inefficacious. All that was required was a larger amount of the science of physiology with whicli to direct and extend the application, to render tliis re- source legitimate and complete. MoVEMEIs^TS AMONG THE GeEEIvS AND RoMANS. In the remains of statuary that have descended to us, we have ample demonstration of the a]3preciation the ancient Greeks had of perfectly developed and beautiful physical forms. These representations in marble are enduring monuments of the perfection of the phys- ical education of that people. Even without these evidences, we feel from the character of their literature that such must have been the case ; for it is impossible to connect the idea of physical weakness and deformity with such sound philosophical and poetical genius as they possessed. At the very mention of Greek^ there arises in the imagination of the student a robust and beautiful human form, as near to perfection as it is possible for any child of Adam to aj)proach. The Gymnasium was, with the Greeks, the place for both physical and intellectual culture. The training of body and mind went hand in hand. It was in the gymnasium that persons of all ages daily congregated; and while some were reciting poetry or delivering lec- tures on philosophy, others were performing, or criti- cising the performance of, various exercises adapted to develop all their physical parts and powers, or to qual- ify them especially for arms. Probably no Greek town of any importance was destitute of these schools of exercise. The education commenced at the seventh year, and consisted of music, grammar, and physical training. Some authors assert that as much time was employed 42 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF in the culture of tlie body, as in that of tlie mind. In Sparta, the idea of pliysical culture overtopped eveiy other, and the excess to whicli it was carried excluded that attention to letters which obtained at Athens and the other Grecian states. Even the women were subjected to treatment simi- lar to that which men received. For, said the law- givers, " female slaves are good enough to stay at home and spin ; but who can expect a splendid off- spring, the appropriate gift of a free Sj^artaii woman to her country, from mothers brought up in such occu- pations '?" The Olympic games were a perversion of the ob- jects of exercise, and produced efiects in opposition to those contemplated by rational movements ; for they stimulated to excess single faculties for the purpose of winning a prize, instead of producing general excel- lence and power. Xeither true liealth nor power are possessed by athletes, no matter Avhat astonishing feats tliey may be able to perform. The Ilomans were less appreciative in regard to movements as an educational or as a curative means. The genius of that people was eminently warlike, and they slighted everything that did not look directly to the promotion of physical force for loarlike ^urjposes. No soldiers were better developed by educational drill than the Eoman, both for feats of arms and for en- durance. The Eomans had gymnasiums also ; but these were perverted, especially in the later days of the empire, to exhibitions of the most brutal and degrading soi-t, such as Duo-ilistic shows, and encounters with wild and ferocious animals. To the preceding accounts we may add the fol- THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 43 lowing extract, relating to ancient "movements," mainly derived from Oribasius, a Greek physician of the fonrth century. " By the term exercise the ancients understood phys- iological movements pursued according to determined rules. Tiiey prepared for exercise by special frictions. They divided movements according to their effects, into three kinds : " 1st. Movements which proceed from within, having their orighi in the depths of the body, and depending on the will of those that produce them ; these are ac- tive movements. " Of these there are several kinds. One requires the exertion of force, as iising the spade, driving four horses at once, raising a weight and holding it at arm's length, walking up a steep ascent, climbing a rope, clinching the fists close, stretching the arms, and main- taining them in this position for a long time, resisting the efforts of one trying to lower the extended arms. " There was also used in the jjalestrcc (part of the gymnasium) many other movements that required the exertion of power, but all were directed by the pedo- tribe^ or director of movements, a 23erson as different from the gymnast as a cook is from a physician. '* Other movements were rapid, but neither intense nor violent; as the mock combat, gesticulation, the play with the corycos and the little ball ; running in a circle that constantly diminished till a point was reached ; walking upon the points of the toes, raising the arms and causing them to move very rapidly, alternately forward and backward. Other rapid movements not requiring exertion, performed in the 2xdestra^ consisted in rolling^ either together or alone. 44 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF " A third kind are violent movements, consisting of sncli exercises as nnite force with rapidity of execu- tion. " The following may be classed as violent : nsing the spade, the lance, leaping constantly without resting, throwing heavy projectiles, or working rapidly in heavy armor. " 2d. Movements that proceed from exterior causes, or ^;>«.55'«'y^. Among these, in general, are sailing, the motion of horse and carriage riding, movement in beds susj)ended, or with foot supports ; in the cradle or their nurse's arms, for infants. " Friction may also be classed among exercises that come from exterior sources. Pressures and pinchings also belong to the same class. Many other movements are included in the kneadings that the ancients em- ployed so frequently. " 3d. Mixed moveonents^ or those which proceed partly from exterior and partly from interior sources. Hiding is given as an example, for while one is shaken by the vehicle, he must also maintain his posture and his form erect by his own exertions. " They mention also other kinds of movements, such as speaking, hallooing, breathing, retention of breath, dancing, slow walking with stretching the legs, upon the feet, toes, or heels, up or down an artificial hill, in the sand or soft earth, the play of grace-hoops, swim- ming, jumping, etc. All these are of the active kind. " ^Yrestling, in which there is established an action and reaction between two persons, appertains to mixed movements. There should be reckoned in this class friction, with retention of the breath to stretch the muscles of the chest, and to relax those of the abdo- THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 45 men, or conversely, and the effect of the applica- tion of a ligatnre, which causes the part to become dis- tended, or when the same effect is produced by certain movements. " It is evident that these movements are of a mixed kind, both concentric and eccentric; and that the ancients, to have made applications so ingenious to each particular organ of the body, as well as to the entire organism, must have had a knowledge of the different physiological effects of movements. " "We are reminded every day, in our more intelligent applications of these principles, of our indebtedness to the sagacity and patient efforts of the ancients. " Each of these kinds and species of movements, we see, had its distinct rules and its supposed physiological effects. These effects were modified according to posi- tion of the body, upright sitting, lying, or as bent in different ways, forward, backward, or to either side. TJiey were sometimes slow, sometimes quick, sometimes moderate, but ahoays regular. The movements being general or partial, precise in their quantity, quality, duration, rhythm, etc., and the director of the ancient exercises being a skillful physician, knew how to adapt them to the age, constitution, or disease of the individual." In modern times, the literature pertaining to the science of movements in its various branches has been very abundant. But most of it has either related to special topics, or its applicability in special cases and forms of disease or exigencies of the system; or else it has been of too general and philosophical a char- acter to be of popular use, and has not included such practical directions as are demanded for successful general application. There has heretofore been so 46 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF great an intermixture of error in tlie prevailing physio- logical systems, as to prevent the simple, obvious, and eminently practical truth from shining clearly out and exerting its due influence. The philosophical reader will readily appreciate the causes that have prevented so manifestly true and suc- cessful a practice as the movement from becoming para- mount. Men are ever inqniring. As the reward of these struggles of the growing mind of man, new truths and new ways leading to truth ar6 constantly disclosed. Each of these naturally fills the mind with high hopes in regard to the ultimate results of present knowledge and effort. Inorganic chemistry yielded its riches to the modern physician ; and as its facts preceded those of vital chemistry, he naturally made a misapplication of them ; for his practice is an outgrowth of, and is limited by, his knowledge. Neither the chemist nor the metaphysician could form a correct statement of physiological truth, and so practice must necessarily remain empirical to a great extent, waiting for the new light that shall bring out those elemental truths that are instinctively seized upon by all primi- tive people. The current medical practice has for its foundation these scattered, incongruous, and shifting facts; but so greatly modified is it, however, by the additions of more modern science, that now it seriously threatens to lead us back at last to the first principles of physiology as the only reliable basis after all. Tiie system of Li7ig^ though probably invented by him, is really but the collecting together, on a philo- sophical plan, of the fragments that had long existed. It comprehended, as it were, by an instinctive grasp, all the truth that had been previously realized at vari- THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 47 ous times and places. What in China, Hindoostan, and Greece had been but empiricism, he put upon the ground on which his successors and followers may hope to build a system of philosophical accuracy. Biography of Lixg."^ — The present state of the science of remedial treatment by movements, and the development of this doctrine, is intimately connected with the life of Ling, so that his biography is necessa- rily a part of its history. Peter Henry Ling was born on the 15th of ^N'ovem- ber, 1766, at Smaland. His father, who was a curate, died soon after his son's birth, and his mother, who married again, died a short time afterward. Possessing no remembrancer of his father, except a small portrait, which he received from his mother, as a souvenir of love and reverence, the growing boy passed the days of his childhood under the too severe training of a capricious tutor. The young Ling was afterward sent to the schools of Wexio for further instruction. Here he soon distinguished himself for his great talents, and his energy and devotion to study. When Ling left the schools, he saw life open before him in its roughest aspects ; he found himself exposed to incessant vicissitudes, reduced at times to absolute poverty and want. During this period he resided for the most part in Upsala, Stockholm, Berlin, and Copenhagen ; but it is not known in what manner he was emj^loyed. All we know is, that he studied at Upsala, and passed his theological examinations jit Smaland, in December, 1T9T: afterward he was tut( r in several families ; at one time at Stockholm, at au- * Extracted from Rothstein. 48 IIISTOKICAL SKETCH OF other in the country. Suddenly he left Germany, and went to Denmark. In 1800 he studied in Copen- hagen, and the following year took part in the naval battle against Nelson, as a volunteer in a Danish ship. He afterward returned to Germany, and passed on to France and England, whence he returned to Copen- hagen, with a perfect knowledge of the languages of these diiferent countries. During this period he received on different occa- sions military appointments, the character of which are unknown to us. It is said that during his travels he was frequently reduced to the most trying circum- stances, even suffering the pangs of hunger. At one time he was glad to shelter himself in a miserable lodging in a garret at Hamburgh ; he was even forced to wash, with his own liands, his only shirt. These privations, hov/ever, did not depress him; although without means, the desire of continuing his travels, to develop and improve his knowledge, buoyed him up, and enabled him to surmount all difficulties. He was proud of his ability to endure privations, and to do without what are thought by most to be indis- pensable necessaries. The same impulsive energy which previously in- duced him to take part in a sea-fight, determined him to study the art of fencing during his second sojourn at Stockholm. Two fencing-masters, French refugees, had founded there at this time a fencing-school. Ling was there every day, and his great skill in this art soon became notorious, and his passion for it grew with his skill. He was now only at the commencement of that career which was already providentially marked out for him, and which from deliberate choice, and with characteristic energy, he steadily pursued. His reflec- THE PKACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 49 tions upon fencing, and liis own experience (for he suf- ered then from gout in his arm), taught him to infer the wholesome effects which may be produced on the body, as well as the mind, by movements based on rational principles ; and he began to realize that fenc- ing, however valuable as an exercise, could not accom- plish all that w^as desirable. About this time the idea struck him that an harmo- nious development of the body, of its powers and capa- bilities, by suitable systematized exercises, ought to constitute an essential ]3art in the education of a people. The realization of this idea now became his grand aim, the more so as he pictured to himself the bril- liant image of mankind restored to health, strength, and beauty. Ling thought not, like his predecessors, of merely imitating the gymnastic treatment of the ancients, but he aimed at its reformation and improve- ment. At this period of Ling's life begins that part of his history which for us possesses the deepest interest. Quite unknown, but attracting the attention of every one by his appearance, he made his debut at Lund in the spring of 1805. Versed in several modern lan- guages, and a thorough master of fencing, he began to teach them both, and being proud of all that con- cerned his fatherland, he lectured with enthusiasm on the old IS'orse poetry, history, and mythology. Li the same year he was appointed professor of fenc- ing at the University, and began at once to re-fit the fencing- saloon connected with it, and prepare it for several gymnastic exercises, which were commenced without delay. He soon excited the attention not only of the inhabitants of Lund, but of the other towns in the kingdom. 3 50 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF Ling wished to put gymnastics in harmony with na- ture, and began in 1805 to study anatomy, physiology, and the other natural sciences. The high value he set on these studies, and the enthusiasm with whicli he pursued them, are forcibly expressed in his own words. " Anatomy, that sacred genesis, which shows us the masterpiece of the Creator, and which teaches us how little and how great man is, ought to form the con- stant study of the gymnast. But we ought not to con- sider the organs of the body as the lifeless forms of a mechanical mass, but as the living, active instruments of the soul." Ling looked on anatomy and physiology as the essen- tial and necessary basis of gymnastics. But according to his idea, these and other natural sciences were not at all sufficient for the gymnast, whose aim is the eleva- tion of man, in his corporeal and mental nature, to the ancient heau-ideal. He must, therefore, know what effects movements produce upon the bodily and psycho- logical condition of man, a knowledge which can be obtained only by investigating human nature as a whole, and by the most careful and untiring analysis of details. ISTot only to himself, but to others also, must the gymnast be able to give an account of the application of his art. Ling opened a new field for physical inves- tigation, hitherto untried, and almost unknown, even to the most learned physicians and naturalists. He conducted his researches with the most scrupulous exactness, and in the most earnest manner frequently recommended his companions to do the same. He did not acknowledge a new movement to be a good one until he was able to render an exact account of its effects. His intention was not merely to make gym- THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 61 nasties a branch of education for healthy persons, but to demonstrate it to be a remedy for disease. Herein we find the exphanation of the strong pubhc interest taken in Ling's ideas. Laymen who had al- ways looked upon bodily movements as a deception, in their sickness, anxious for the re-establishment of their health, were easily induced to seek relief for their ailments by the new method, and were not disappointed. The curative movements were first practiced in 1813, while Ling remained at Stockholm ; but before this time they were neither disregarded nor treated with neglect at Lund. During his stay at Stockholm, a change fortunate for Ling's nsefulness took place, which, in the improve- ment of his circumstances, extended itself rapidly. At first he was appointed master of fencing at the military academy in Carlberg, near the Swedish capital. Soon afterward he became the director of the Central Insti- tution, founded at his own suggestion. He projected such an establishment at Lund, and addressed, in 1812, the Minister of Public Instruction, soliciting the sup- port of the Government. He received the following- answer : — "There are enough of jugglers and rope- dancers, without exacting any further charge from the public treasury." This did not at all diminish his zeal, for after his arrival at Stockholm he had the happiness (in consequence of the propositions he personally made, which were examined by a royal commission) to be appointed by a royal ordinance, with a regular salary of 500 rix-dollars, as the founder and director of this Institution, for the setting out and preparation of which not more than 200 rix-dollars were voted. The royal ordinance, issned in the year 1814, states that the statutes proposed by Ling, and presented to 52 HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF the commission, were coniirmed and legally established. Active and indefatigable, Ling continued his attempts at realizing his great ideas with these scanty facilities, and pursued his philanthropic efforts with a disinter- estedness and self-denial which can be attributed only to his enthusiasm for the cause, and to his noble patri- otism and humanity, l^ot only by the zeal and cir- cumspection with Avhich he performed his duty as director, but by the manner in which he taught and practiced his art, the public were at last forced to acknowledge his merits, and its importance. Although in the last days of his life he may have seen his task still incomplete, he was yet able to enjoy a feeling of satisfaction, in comparing the degree of perfection his art had already attained with the state in which he found it at the beginning of his gymnastic career. The important increase of public support which was accorded to the Institution in the year 1834, was a mark of the increasing general favor conferred on him and it by his country. His sovereign raised him to the dignity of a Professor, and Knight of the Order of the IvTorth Star. He thankfully accepted both, but used neither the title of the iirst nor the in- signia of the latter. He was much gratified by the proof of the love of his friends and pupils, when on a festive occasion they presented him with a silver medal. He had the deeper gratification of seeing at length his ideas realized, his art established in Sweden, made use of in every grade of society, and incorporated, as an important element, in the education of the people. Ling's gymnastics were introduced many years ago, not only into all the military academies of Sweden, but into all town schools, colleges, and universities, even into the orphan institutions, and into all country THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 53 schools. In the rooms of the Central Establishment at Stockholm, persons of every condition and age, the healthy as well as the sick, executed, or were sul3Jected to, the prescribed movements. The numbei- of those who adopted their use increased every year, and among them were physicians who, in the beginning, had been the most opposed to Ling. In the Central Institution clever teachers are edu- cated, and no one obtains a diploma, or an official license to act as a practical teacher, without having finished the course, and passed an examination in anat- omy, physiology, and the bodily movements. Ling being convinced of the unity of the organism, and of the importance of the mechanical and physical laws to be observed in its education and remedial treat- ment, based his system on these truths. He says : " It is perhaps not readily understood that a move- ment, or a mechanical action, is competent to affect interior portions of the organism. It is necessary first to understand that the human system is a unit^ com- plete and indivisible. It can not exist in distinct j)arts, for then it would not be one organism, but several. All that we find in the body, wdiether inherent, or for- eign matter, in any movement, to whatever extent, engages in each displacement of any one part, and this implies a corresponding change in neighboring parts, according to the extent of the primary action. "Every little act of changiog the attitude, or the re- lation of the members of the body, an exterior press- ure upon a nerve, a vein, or muscle, nmst necessarily produce a displacement of neighboring parts, and pro- duce an action more or less sensible upon organs, in tl e proportion of their distance and intensity, resembling those wave-circles we notice on the surface of water. 54 HISTOIilCAL SKETCH OF "Experience shows that the different professions affect differently the physical and moral stamina of those engaged in them. It shows ns that a very slight pressure upon a nerve irritates it, that a greater press- ure produces pain, and if we add still to the pressure, engorgement, and at last paralysis is produced. It is well known that a certain position is more convenient than all others for the ease of the body and the tran- quillity of sleep. Do not persons affected with inter- nal maladies find that they are more comfortable in some positions than in others, and therefore seek those positions ?" Ling arrived at these results by repeated experi- ments and by direct observation, being nearly always himself the subject of his trials. Still young, and af- fected with a grave disease of the lungs, and already given up by physicians, he noticed the favorable in- fluence that the movements produced upon his health. In the course of these experiments he succeeded in curing himself of a disease that had been deemed in- curable. He w^as thus enabled to corroborate the ob- servations he had made upon the effect of movements of the body in general, and so to progress in the estab- lishment of his system. Observation and experiment soon led him to the following law: " Nutrition^ or muscular develoj)ment of any jpart of the hody^ occurs in direct relation with the activ^ movements to which the jMrt has 'been sidjjectedP His researches and persevering studies upon the skeleton, muscular attachments, etc., led him at last to a great law, and enabled him to draw the correct in-* ference therefrom. Hence the discovery of a series of * movemen-s capable of provoking muscular contrac- THE PRACTICE OF M0\':E:\rENT8. 65 tioBS wherever the hygenic or therapeutic needs indi- cate them. He gives the following definition of movement: Every exercise of ^ohich the direction and duration are determined^ is a movement. Each movement^ according to Ling, is an idea ex- pressed hy the hody. Ling contended that mechanical agencies could be employed therapeutically as well as chemical and gal- vanic agencies, as it is an established fact that the "living fiber equally reacts from mechanic as from chemical or galvanic excitation." He summed up his experiments on the motory phe- nomena of the human organization in this formula: "To render any movement definite and exact, a point of departure, a point of teoimination, and a line through which the body or ^wj portion of it must pass, are to be clearly and severally determined as well as the velocity and rhythm of the motory act itself." The following are the general laws which Ling has laid down in his treatise on physical development : 1. Every just attempt to develop the powers of the human being — mental or corporeal — is properly educa- tion. 2. Every movement should have proper relation to the organization of the body; whatever transgresses the laws of that organism is irrational. 3. Tlie sphere of the activity of the muscles and the laws of gravitation determine the limits of a movc-^ ment of the body. 4. Every movement, however simple and slight it- may appear to be, acquires its character from the na- ture of the wliole organism, and each part of the body, 56 HISTOKICAL SKETCH OF within the limits of its own function and office, ought to participate in that movement. 5. To arrive at a healthful development of the bodj, it is necessary to begin at the primitive type of each movement ; this study should be exact, and can never be considered trifling or unimportant by any one who knows that every movement is either simple or com- posite. 6. In physical order, as in moral order, simple things are the most difficult to apprehend, thence one can not too zealously study simple movements. T. A movement is nothing worth if it is not correct^ that is, if it is not in conformity with the laws of the organism. 8. The body, whose diflferent parts are not in harmony, is not in harmonious accord with the mind. 9. The aim of movements as a science is the proper development of the human organism. 10. Correct movements are such as are founded on the character and temperament of the individual to be developed thereby. t/ 11. Tlie organism can only be said to be perfectly developed when its several parts are in mutual har- mony, corresponding to the different individual pre- dispositions. 1^12. The possible development of the human body must be limited by the faculties, mental and bodily, belonging to the individual. %/' 13. A faculty may be blunted by want of exercise, but can never be utterly annihilated. y 14. An incorrect and misapplied movement may pervert the development of such a faculty. Conse- quently an incorrect movement tends rather to the dis- THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 57 advantage than to the gain of the harmonious devel- opment of the body. 15. All one-sided development impedes tlie practice of corporeal exercise ; general and harmonious devel- opment, on the contmrj, facilitates it. •^10. Stiffness or immobility, in any part of the or- ganism, is, in most instances, only an over-development, which is always attended by corresponding weakness in other parts. •^17. The over-development of one part may be di- f'' minished, and the weakness of other parts remedied, by equally distributed movements. IS. It is not the greater or lesser power of any part that determines the strength or Aveakness of an indi- vidual, so much as the proportion and harmony of the several parts. Congenital and accidental disorders are not considered here, of course. 19. A real and healthful power consists in a simul- taneous action of the several parts (or in action and re- action). In order tliat m.otion and power may be developed to their highest point, they must co-oj^erate simultaneously in all parts. 20. Perfect health and physical power are conse- quently correlative terms ; both are dependent on the harmony of the several parts. 21. In corporeal development, commencing with the simplest, you may gradually advance to the most com- plicated and powerful movements; and this without danger, inasmuch as the pupil has acquired the instinct- ive knowledge of what he is or is not capable. Some of Ling's physiological and therapeutic views are contained in the following statements : "The vital phenomena may be arranged in three principal or fundamental orders: 1st, Dynamical 3- 58 HISTOKICAL SKETCH OF jpheiiomena^ manifestations of the mind, moral and in- tellectual powers. 2d, Chemical 2)henomena^ assimi- lation, sanguification, secretion, nutrition, etc. 3d, Mechanical iihenomena^ voluntary and organic; respi- ration, mastication, deglutition, circulation, etc. "The union and harmony of these three orders or phenomena characterize a perfect organization, and every vital act is accomplished under their combined influence. , "The shares these jDhenomena take in a certain vital act give it its peculiar character. If any serious de- rangement occurs in any of the phenomena, the result is always a disturbance of the vital functions, which we call disease. "The state of the health depends, accordingly, on the degree of equilibrium and harmony existing be- tween the functions of those tissues or organs in which these three orders of phenomena occur. " When this harmony is deranged, in order to re-es- tablish it, we should endeavor to increase the vital ac- tivity of those organs whose functions have a relation to that order of phenomena whose manifestation is de- creased or weakened." In accordance with these views, he includes among therapeutic means three different kinds of influence on the human organism. 1st, Cheraical agencies / 2d, Physical and mechanical agencies ; 3d, Dynamical agencies. And he observes that the physician has ac- cordingly to regulate, not only the food and medicine requisite for the sick, but also position during resting, and the manner in which the irritable mind is to be calmed. Due attention to these matters is necessary to constitute a rational treatment of disease. Ling was a man of unwearied energy and unceasing THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 59 activity. He had but few lioiirs to spare for the enjoy- ment of domestic life, for which no man had a keener relish. It was with reluctance that he wrote on the subject of his art ; he preferred to practice and teach it. He was a poet of eminence, of whose genius his nation may well be proud. His poetical writings have been collected in hve volumes, consisting of ejpic^ dramaticy and lyrical pieces ; the latter are very popu- lar at this day. He took pleasure in dictating verses to his young friends ; and it is recorded of him that his flow of verse was so rapid that they often could not keep up with him, a thing which not seldom provoked an outbreak of impatience from the poet. During his last years he suffered much bodily pain, but habitually walked from his country seat, Annelund, to Stockholm, through the last summer of his life, besides performing his fatiguing jDrofessional labors. He conversed on his death-bed till the last hour, and gave instructions re- garding the science to which he had so nobly devoted himself through a long life. He died on the 3d of May, 1839. A fine cast of Ling's head may be seen in the cabi- net of Prof. Rezius, of Stockholm, the celebrated Swedish ethnologist. It is remarkable for its great length and height, as well as for its general intellectual expression. The Movement System in Stockholm. — The Swedish capital contains about 95,000 inhabitants, and it has several public institutions for the practice of move- ments. Having resided there for some time for the purpose of studying the system at its fountain-head, I will give a brief account of the most prominent of these institutions as I found them. 60 HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF The Central Gymnastic Institute. — This is tlie orig- inal establishment founded by Ling in 1813 under the royal patronage. Professor Branting, the present di- rector, is the immediate successor of Ling. He has lived at the institution as patient, pupil, and director for forty-four years. He is a man of extensive med- ical reading, a j)i'ofound anatomist and physiologist, conversing easily in nearly all the European languages, and of a bountiful and sympathetic nature. Ling's widow also resides there, and two or three of his children assist at different responsible posts in the institution. This establishment consist of several buildings, adapted to the different purposes in view, on a large plot of ground, in a central portion of the city. The locale, originally an armory, belongs to the govern- ment, and the director and teachers are salaried from the same source. The especial objects contemplated at this institution are the following: 1. The training of boys to health and the perfecting of their physical powers. 2. The instj-uction of teachers of the schools, throughout the kingdom, in the modes of physical de- velopment by movements. 3. The instruction of youths in sword and bayonet exercise. 4. The instruction of officers and teachers in practi- cal anatomy and in physiology, as connected with the application of movements for the purposes of their professions. 5. The treatment of the sick by tlie exclusive means of movements. This latter department, in both the male and female THE PRACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 61 divisions, is under Professor Branting's personal super- vision. A yearly report is made to the goveruinent, setting forth the progress of the institution in each of its departments. The total number of persons that avail themselves of the advantages of the institution is about fifteen hundred each year, of whom about 350 are invalids. The number of patrons is constantly vary- ing, but is much greater in winter, when about twenty teachers are required for all the different departments. Dk. H. Satheebukg's institution enjoys a medical reputation equal, if not superior, to that of the Cen- tral Institute ; and it receives more patients, its purposes being entirely medical. It maintains a free clinique for a limited number of patients, in consideration of which it receives a large governmental stipend. Orthopedic surgery is the branch to which Dr. Sather- burg makes application of the movements^ and with ex- traordinary success. This institution requires about the same number of assistants as the Central. There are generally one or two other institutions of the same kind, but on a smaller scale, in Stockholm. There is scarcely any chronic disease known that is not successfully treated at these institutions. I might mention a case that I witnessed of blindness, from amaurosis^ to all appearance completely restored. K'umbers of cases of deformity are constantly under treatment, w^hich are in general quite restored before leaving. Pulmonary catarrh, chlorosis, and all diseases of weakness ai'e treated with eminent success. LiSiitutions of a similar kind, but generally without governmental support, are scattered throughout north- ern Europe, The one at St. Petersburg is on a magnifi- cent scale, far excelling anything else of the kind, and is patronized by the royal family. The director 62 IIISTOEICAL SKETCH OF receives a salary of 10,000 roubles. The whole num- ber of institutions in Europe based on Ling's system is about thirty. To these historical statements we may append the corroborative testimony of several distinguished philos- ophers, physicians, and others, of both ancient and modern times, in regard to the utility and efficacy of this system. Dally. — "Physical and mechanical agents excite, augment, or diminish in organic bodies, as in inorganic bodies, light, heat, electricity, and magnetism. " The intimate relation of these fluids, still too slightly appreciated, has given occasion to partial and incom- plete applications of mesmerism, electro-vitalism, elec- tro-therapeutics, and, quite recently, to odic-force and tellurism. " Artificial movements, deduced from a knowledge of physics and mechanics on the one hand, and physi- ology and pathology on the other, are certainly, of all agents, the most rational and the most powerful for controlling by their action in the interior of the organs, in the gases, the fluids, and the tissues, the development of the so-called imponderable fluids essential to life. " Movement is one of the primordial products of life and the regulator of all vital conditions. Artificial movements are the agents most specially adapted to excite natural, physiological, vital, organo-biological action, by which the human machine performs its functions, is developed, preserved, and repaired. "These are the ordinary bases of physical education, of hygiene and therapeutics — bases at once traditional and establislied by modern experience in a man- ner the most thorough and positive, and which, in THE PRACTICE OF MOVE]yiENTS. 63 tlieir essentially medical point of view, M. Bonnet dis- tinguislies by that beautiful and legitimate title, ' treatment of diseases by the exercise of functions.' " Hoffman. — " We can not perfect the art of healing till we learn to apply mechanics and hydraulics to medicine. " Experience furnishes materials, but they ought to be worked up according to the rules of mechanical science, and the only way to introduce exactitude in medicine is not to admit as proved that which does not rest upon irrefutable principles. It is thus medicine may be raised, as well as geometry, to the rank of the exact sciences, and it is not less susceptible of a logi- cal or geometrical precision than any branch whatever of the mathematics." J. J. RorssEAu. — " It is a pitiable error to suppose that exercise of the body is injurious to the operations of the mind, as though the two actions were not in- tended to go together, and that the one ought not to direct the other. " Do you wish to cultivate the intelligence of your pupils, cultivate the power that controls it. Exercise the body continually, make it robust and healthy, to make a wise and rational individual." Pliny. — '' The mind is stimulated by movements of the body." Galen. — " All the powers of the soul are increased and renewed by exercise. " It is necessary to place health under the auspices of labor. ^* The greatest danger to health results from complete inactivity. In the same manner the greatest benefit results from moderate exercise." Speaking of his own manner of life, and which he 64: HISTORICAL SKETCH OF had caused to be adopted also "by one of his friends, he thus discourses of movements : " We make it a duty to take exercise and to avoid improper food, and in this manner we have been very many years, even to this time, exempt from diseases." Akistotle. — A long time before Galen, Aristotle, re- plying to this question, ''Why is it good hygiene to di- minish the quantity of food and increase^xercise?" says, " The cause of disease is the excess of excretions which result from the excess of nourishment, or from the want of exercise." The great and venerable Hippocrates remarks : " He who eats without taking exercise can not be well." And adds, "Perfect health results from a just and constant equilibrium between alimentation and exer- cise." This illustrious author also says, " Those who do not eat to satiety, and are diligent in labor, preserve excel- lent health." Yegece informs us, that military men consider that the daily exercises contribute more than medicines to the maintenance of health in the soldiers. Of the good Abbe Saint Pierre, author of the Projet de paix perpetuelle^ member of the Academie Fvanoais^ and the inventor of a kind of elastic fauteuil which he names Tremousoir (movement apparatus), upon which one may perform hygienic movements similar to those of equitation, Maupertuis, his successor in the Academie, relates the following anecdote : " A geome- ter proposed, on one occasion, to relieve certain organs where the blood accumulated, for the purpose of causing it to flow into other organs, to make use of centrifugal force, wliich he proposed to secure by means of a whirling machine." THE PRACTICE OF ^rOYEMKNTS. 65 It was a very rational idea, that of thus exciting in the human organization the centrifugal and centripetal fv)rces for the purpose of modifying at will that organi- zation which Ruysch, in his enthusiasm as an anato- mist, declared to be only a tissue of vessels. Plato. — "A good education is that which assures to the body all the beauty, all the perfection, of which it is capable. "To secure this beauty, it is only necessary that the body should be developed, with perfect symmetry, from the earliest infancy. "The first stages of development are always most controlling and most enduring. "If the exercise does not keep pace with the growth of the body, it becomes subject to I know not how many infirmities." This is all very well ; but, to obtain this result, it is necessary to know precisely the means ; it is necessary, in the first place, to study hygienic movements, as re- lated to the anatomy and physiology of the body ; otherwise all is uncertainty and ignorance, and the experimenter is blind to the true nature of the means which he puts in practice, as of the result which he wishes to obtain. Bacon. — "The human organization, so delicate and so varied, is like a musical instrument of complicated and exquisite workmanship, and easily loses its har- mony. Thus it is with much reason that the poets unite in Apollo the arts of music and of medicine, per- ceiving that the genius of the two arts is almost iden- tical, and that the proper ofiice of the physician con- sists in tuning and touching in such a manner the lyre of the human body as that it shall give forth only sweet and harmonious sounds." 66 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF "While discussing the means of prolonging the ordi- nary term of human life, he tluis writes : "The living man wastes continually, and continu- ally also repairs his- loss. But this reparative power becomes exhausted, and the man dies. To diminish the activity of the forces which weaken and destroy, to maintain the powder which repairs, to soften the in- durated parts, which are opposed to the reparative powers, this is to prolong human life, as far as the organization of the body will permit." As to the different kinds of exercises which con- tribute most to preserve or restore health, no physician has yet been sufficiently specific. Although there is scarcely any predisposition to any disease which may not be corrected by certain well-adapted exercises, it may be mentioned, by way of example, that bowling is valuable for diseases of the kidneys; archery, for those of the lungs ; exercise in the open air, whether on foot or in a carriage, for a weak stomach, et cetera. "Everything in its own turn,'' to the end of the long list of ills to which our flesh is heir. A random, indis- criminate application of these means is rather hurtful than beneficial. Quackery is as injurious here as in any other department of practice. Geoegii. — " The education of the mind and that of the body are alike in this, that they both demand a special method, founded upon the physiological action of their respective organs. " Hence, as education, moral or intellectual, should have for its object the exercise of those faculties whose action is deficient, so jphysical education should con- stantly tend to produce and maintain an equilibrium between the functions of the body, and to have for its end the harmony of all its operations. \ THE PEACTICE OF MOVEMENTS. 67 " Having, then, need of a perfect body, let us try to secure that blessing by keeping up the equilibrium of the functions ; let us multiply in ourselves the points of intelligent contact with the whole of nature, and we shall see the princely powers of the soul displayed in all their magnitude and dignity. " The actual state of man may be considered as the product of the educational discipline to which the species has been submitted, from the most remote period, and also as a lamentable proof of his departure from the line of rectitude, and of the degree of it thus far." 68 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. THE RELATIONS OF CHEMICAL AN^D MOLECULAR CHAN"GES TO THE ORIGIN OF FORCE IN THE BODY. Importance of First Principles. — It is needful to study the nature, origin, and relations of the powers of the body in order to become j)i'operly qualified to direct them healthward. For it is . evident that the kind of health we possess must be determined by the kinds of actions that are going on in the elementary constituents of our physical being ; since it is on these actions that the development of the powers of the body depends. In other words, bodily health is refer- able to conditions back of those symptoms, or good or ill feelings which we superficially regard as constitu- ting the health ; namely, to those primary motions of elementary matter that are concerned in organic growth and physiological manifestation; the sensorial indications being the last result of a series of actions, of which health and happiness constitute the result. Hence, all medical control of the health, of whatever name or origin, essentially consists in a control of these elementary actions, inasmuch as the causes of good or ill health, as we have seen, reside in these. Such med- ical practice as does not recognize the changes induced by its agency on these primary actions, as the basis and explanation of its jDower, is empirical. It appeals chiefly to the sensations, which are ever to be dis- THILOSOPHY OF MOVEME^'TS. 69 trusted in the invalid, and in tlie end always prove un- Avorthy of reliance. AVliile the invalid is made com- fortable bj means of a drug, he is to be satisfied that its effects are good, and is disinclined to investigate further. Medical science must remain untrustworthy, and continue incompetent to command the regard of the philosophic mind, so long as it overlooks scientific prin- ciples in its search for remedies, and is not ashamed to ignore the first truths of physiology, or pour contempt upon the simplest dictates of enlightened reason. To establish and maintain two great forces is the main object of all the operations of the human system. These are the 'mechanical and nervous forces. All the corporeal functions and actions, of whatever kind, are subservient to these chief purposes; and in the muscu- lar and nervous systems it provides organs or instru- ments through which these powers are manifested. The one set of organs includes the great mass of the flesh of the body covering the skeleton, while the other set is, by its filaments, extensively and minutely dis- tributed to the muscles, as well as to all other parts, besides existing in distinct local masses, in the head and central portions of the body. The nervous forces are of several distinct kinds or classes, each sustaining peculiar relationships to the organism, but all asso- ciated in one grand unit. These classes are, the senso- rial and intellectual, relating to the mind ; the reflex, connecting the mind and senses with the muscles, the medium of mechanical power; and the organic, relat- ing to the various agencies concerned in the processes of growth. These powerful instruments are evidently tlie means intended for the manifestation of the individuality and distinctive character of the man, the grade and quality 70 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. of liis being. It is throiigli tliese that lie impresses surround iiig tilings, acts upon tliem in a tliousand ways, modifies tlieir relations to assist his purposes, and secures through their use the objects of his own de- sires. It is through the use of these agents, also, that he fathoms the designs of nature and of God, discover- ing the laws that appertain to surrounding things and to his own spiritual nature. The possession of these powers fulfills in him his utmost desires, and he can covet nothing more as respects the quality of these powers. They are capable of a progressive and al- most limitless expansion, at least this may be said of those belonging to the nervous system. But they may act inharmoniously, feebly, painfully, or antagonist- ically. The latter condition constitutes disease. As a man's possibilities of power in this mortal state can not be realized without instruments, so will they find imper- fect expression through imperfect instruments. Hence we must go to the source of these manifestations, if we would correct or improve them whenever they are im- perfect or defective. To improve these capabilities, and to train them to their proper uses, is, in short, to put an individual in possession of himself. Ill health is evidence of loss of such control ; medical efiPorts are merely endeavors to restore this control. In order to acquire balance and perfection in the powers of the mind, the necessity of training them by due exercise, we have seen, has been acknowledged in society in all its grades, from the most rudimental up to the most civilized. This is everywhere the burden of the precept, and is taught in the examples of the most advanced minds. This principle is the basis of THILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 71 all wise education ; it is that wliicli raises men from the condition of the savage, who knows only to supply his immediate animal wants by the most simple and direct means, to that of civilized society, with its manifold resources for, and high appreciation of, intellectual en- joyments — to that, indeed, of philosophers, and ex- pounders of the most important truths of life and nature. The importance of this training by exercises is also conceded by most men — it is, indeed, so generally ad- mitted as to make any argument in its favor apj^arently unnecessary for the purpose of arousing a proper sense of its value as a means of cure. The obligation to labor, in some sphere of genial activity, w^as kindly imposed on all men by nature at the beginning, and a sufficient penalty is sure to be visited upon all who transgress this primal law. Men in all states of so- ciety fully understand this principle ; but they recog- nize it only in a general way, and scarcely ever in- quire as to the laws of exercise, its bounds, and its special applications. The physical exercise imposed by the necessity of supplying food and shelter, and of compassing the various ends of ambition, has served very tolerably the coincident but incidental purpose of developing both the physical and moral manhood of the race. Yet the laws respecting the effects upon the instru- ments of these powers themselves, and upon the con- nected and dependent functions produced by the dif- ferent modes of manifesting the bodily powers, are generally too imperfectly understood to be made avail- able. These Forces a Peoduct of YriAL Action. — ^Though 72 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. we may not define correctly what life is^ yet we may understand wdiat it does^ and what are the conditions of its highest development. The powers above de- scribed are the last products of a series of operations referable to this principle. These operations are con- ducted through material agencies, are chemical in a certain phase of their effects, and are influenced by the chemical nature of the agents that take part in them. The development of life and of the forces here considered is inseparably connected with ele- mental changes that are continuously going on in the system. . These changes are kept in continuance by constant supplies of new material, which enjoys only a temporary residence in the body, being excluded from it in connection with the evolution of the above-named forces, giving place to fresh material of a similar kind that is as constantly provided. Vitality is an endow- ment of matter of the most transient kind ; it is little more than the expression of the changes matter under- goes while in the body, both in regard to forin and chemical composition. Hence it is apparent that what- ever influence modifies the health, whether for good or for ill, efiects this result by modifying in some way those elementary changes whereby vital power is evolved. The vital acts through which animal power is mani- fested may be included under the general term, nutri- tion. The term nutrition covers the total process whereby the integrity of the organism is preserved, during its interstitial changes. It consists of many dis- tinct actions, whether chemically or physiologically considered ; but these are resolvable into two general classes, which, in health, are nicely balanced. These acts are variously named construction and dest/ruction PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 73 of organic forms ; assimilation and disintegration ; composition and decomposition, etc., etc. In effecting these functional acts two distinct classes of materials are employed in the body, both of which are conveyed to the scene of vital activity by the blood. These are food and oxygen ; one entering the blood through the stomach, by means of digestion, the other through the lungs, by respiration. The general office of these materials is to maintain the actions that produce the two classes of effects under consideration, the food to build up, and the oxygen to change, by its chemical power, the composi- tion of organic bodies, and to reduce them, at last, to the state in which they find their exit from the body. \Ye may be able better to appreciate the extent of these operations by estimating the quantity of the materials that are employed in conducting them. Ac- cording to Draper, the water taken into the system of a man weighing 140 pounds, in the course of the twenty-four hours amounts to 4.1 lbs. ; the dry food, 2.25 lbs. ; the oxygen, 2.19 lbs. ; the whole amounting to about eight and a half pounds of material every day, furnished the system to sustain its powers. A propor- tionate amount, we discover, is discharged from the body in the same time, there being no increase of its weight. But in the mean time these materials have become greatly changed in consequence of chemical combinations with each other. About a pound and a half of water has been produced in the course of these combinations, half a pound of carbon has been dismissed through the lungs, and a great variety of or- ganic and earthy salts have been concocted in the sys- tem and drained off by the kidneys. To convey oxy- gen and nutriment to the changing structures, -about 4 74 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. twenty-live pounds of blood have been kept in unceas- ing circulation through all, even to tlie minutest channels of the body ; and about twenty-one pounds of solvent juices have been poured into the digestive canal to effect the solution of the food, to be again ab- sorbed into the blood. But a view of the results and the means of transforma- tion in the body conveys but a very inadequate concep- tion of the amount and extent of the change produced. For the final eliminatory product is generally the last result of a series of changes that must occur in regu- lar order. So the food and oxygen received into the system enter into many distinct states of union, dur- ing their residence in the system, each of which is necessary to the advancement of the vital interests, while it forms a step toward their final dismissal from the body. At each of these stages of jDrogress, malign influences will cause a deviation of the action, as wcLl as of the product of action, from the physiological standard; the healthful process will be arrested, and other actions are substituted, which defeat the great end of evolving the forces mentioned ; the perfect evo- lution of which it is the aim of all physiological actions to accomplish. Disease is a deviation from the usual and prescribed processes of atomic change. Since the chief intention of the processes within the body is either to build up or to demolish, it follows that all the influences brought into relation with the organism must tend to promote one or the other of these results. Such is the normal intention of food and oxygen, both of which are received into the system in about equal quantities by weight. The product of the digestion of food is employed in the organizing pro- cesses, while the oxygen aids in dissolving the organ- PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. T5 ized molecule into a soluble or volatile form, whereby its egress from the system is determined. According to the physiological plan of the system, such matters are applied to these specific purposes, and thus fulfill the intentions of ]N^ature in respect to the development of the forces of which we are treating. When the influences exerted upon the physiological processes are such as to promote equally and properly these actions of waste and renewal^ through the use of the legitimate materials prescribed by the laws of or- ganization, health is the necessary consequence. The theory and practice of the principles concerned in the maintenance of health are included in the term Hy- giene. By Remedial Hygiene is understood the intelligent application of certain principles and agents for the restoration of lost or impaired health. The employ- ment of Movements is a powerful means of directing or enforcing nutrition. Movements are a device for aid- ing the organism in its elforrs to derive sustenance from suitable materials, and for assisting the exit of waste matters ; and they thus constitute a special application of hygiene ; while hygiene, in general, embraces the means that in health are influential to control the waste and renewal of the body. All substances incapable of supporting the growth of the vital parts, if not absolutely neutral in their re- lations to them, will modify and generally accelerate the wasting processes of the body. Such, indisputably, are the eff'ects of drugs. When the living molecule is forced into unwilling contact with a drug which has been introduced into the system, one of two eff'ects must ensue : the natural affinity of the molecule for oxygen is increased, or else it is impressed by the 76 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. chemical or mechanical power of the foreign and un- friendly substance. The peculiar symptoms that appear are either the result of the unusual waste and of the consequent rapid evolution of the reserve powers of the organ, or the quality of the intermediate forms of wast- ing matter is made to differ more or less widely from that of the normal and usual series of products ; thus rendering the ejection of these matters less easy, dis- tending, as a consequence, the capillaries of the part, and impressing both its organic and sensitive nerves in a peculiar and painful manner. The cases of spon- taneous or accidental disease, and the artificial effects produced by drugs, are admitted to be very similar. Hence, drugs are classed accordingly as their effects correspond with certain pathological conditions ; but they may be considered as in general favoring the chemical changes in the body, sometimes accelerating, sometimes impeding the manifestation of power, but never promoting any conditions calculated to induce the production of that power, by contributing to the j^rimary organizing processes. But this organic growth is the first condition for the manifestation of vital power, and, indeed, one without which such power can not be manifested in any degree. To the securing of health, then, it appears to be in- dispensable that the interstitial changes taking place in the body shall be those which can proceed only in a normal condition of the organism. To effect this pur- pose, the incentives to the changes must be physio- logical in their nature. Tlie existence of the profession of medicine rests upon the general belief in or on the tacit consent of the world to the notion that the operations of the human system can be favorably excited or controlled by the employ- PHILOSOPHY OF move:ments. 7v ment of various agents ; and accordingly the ingenuity of man has always been severely tasked for tlie discov- ery of such agents ; but to this day the toil and search have been unrewarded l)y any result universally satis- factory. These remedial means have generally been of a character calculated either to promote, as their primary eflect, the disorganizing 02:)erations of the body, or else to produce certain chemical effects with- out necessarily effecting the desired elimination of the refuse products, carlonic acid^ water, and urea ; afford- ing also no assistance to the organized agencies. Better results must be attained when the means em- ployed shall directly evolve the proper product, which shall be at once liberated from the system, and in the same act shall promote in the highest practicable de- gree the activity of the organizing or reproducing forces. "W^e must confine our researches, in pursuance of this purpose, to an investigation of the conditions of perfect health, instead of vainly searching for some won- derful specific, or panacea, or divine balsam among sub- stances whose demonstrable effect on vitalized matter is only and forever to deteriorate and destroy. DiFFEEENT KiNDs OF MoTioN. — The clicmical changes, or changes of quality in the organic tissues of the body, always imply change of place or motion. By motion, all vital phenomena are accomplished. But this mo- tion consists of many kinds, or is presented to us in different phases, each bearing its individual relation, and being equally indispensable to the welfare of the vital whole. ^ * Beclard gives the following summary of the natural internal movements of the body, a careful perusal of which will be advantageous to the studious reader : Cerebro~spinal anis in the region of the neck: movement of alternate razsing' 2inA falling ; a kind of oscillation of the encephalic mass. 7s PHILOSOPHY OF M0VE:MEXT3. 1. The first variety of triese motions is that already described as being conducted among the elementary constituents of the body, and involving changes in the composition of organized parts ; this is chemical action. Here motion occurs through the displacement of the ultimate atoms, and, as we have said, it \& the inevita- ble consequence of such displacement. Chemical action proceeds within the system on a scale of magnitude of which the sensible products af- ford us but an imperfect indication, since we can know only the last of a series of actions of which chemical power is the first cause. Some of these actions are but the concomitants of vital changes, of which vitality only supplies the conditions, the action itself being, meanwhile, independent of vitality. We might in- stance the metamorphosis of tissues, on the one hand, and the oxydation of hydro-carbons on the other, as Spinal and sympathetic movement of the nervous fibers from the circumference to the center, and from the center to the circumference ; movements reflex and sympathetic ; movements of undulation and vibration, of quivering, of shuddering. Hespiration, inspiration, and exjAration. Eelated with inspiration : inhaling, expanding Eelated with expiration : voice, speech, singing, crying, whistling, explosion of breath in excretory efforts, yawning, coughing, laughing, sneezing, sighing, sob- bing, hiccough. Fenstaltlc movements of the stomach, commencins at the large curve, and Anti- peristaltic a' the small. The revolution is completed in two or three minutes. Concentric movement is that which takes place in the circular fibers of the lesser end of this organ. Small Intestine. — Progressive movement of the alimentary mass, conducted by the loui?itudinal and circular fibers of the intestine. The contraction is local, and moderate in force. The movements of the large intestines resemble those of the small, but are slower. Organ of the Circulation. Heart: m.oxevL\eni of systole findi of diastole. These movemen's are correlative, and resemble those of a forcing-pump, the contraction of the walls of the heart answering to the operations of the piston, and plugged by its valves. Movements of tension and distention; of torsion, pulsation ; of shock, palpitation. Arteries and capillaries : eccentric circulation. Veins : concentric circulation. Movements of electricity, contraction, compression, tension, distention, resist- ance, remittence, intermittence, rubbing, etc. PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 79 interesting examples of these varieties of chcniical action. 2. Growth^ or the reproduction of the wasting parts of the body, under the inspiration of vitality, may also be regarded as a peculiar kind of action, involving unceasing motion. In this action, the materials of growth, existing in a soluble state in the blood, are discharged through the membranes of the vessels, and the elementary constituents rearranged in a new form, generally without a very material change in their pro- portions. The matter in this instance assumes, under certain mysterious laws, the primary organic forms which, by repetition, build up or reproduce the various organs. 3. Muscular action, it has been discovered, results from a motion of contractility peculiar to the cells con- stituting muscular fibrillse. These motions are found to be merely results of a change in their shape, by flat- tening of the little cells in such a way that while their length is diminished, their diameter is augmented. 4. The above motion, so inconsiderable in itself, re- sults at last in that most conspicuous of corporeal mo- tions, namely, that of a change of place effected by the whole body or of one or more of its members. When a muscle contracts, we knovv^ it carries the whole mass of bones, nerves, vessels, areolar tissue, fluids, etc., of which the moving part is composed, along with it through space, besides changing, in some degree, the relations of these parts to each other. 5. To the fluids of the body is imparted a motion by this muscular action. This motion of the blood is in fact required as a means of inducing this very muscular action. And the circulation of the blood throuMiout the system is supported by the joint action of the 80 PHILOSOPHY OF MOYEMEin'S. coiintless and constant motions taking place in the substance of the various tissues. 6. By means of the force communicated by the mus- cular action of their walls, the contents of the canals of the body are caused to flow in regular tides through these or£:ans in the direction of the outlets. In this way those matters for which the system has no use are ejected. 7. The walls of the chest and of the arterial blood- vessels have an established and rythmical motion in health. The one is designed to refresh the blood, and the other mainly to assist the circulation of this fluid throughout the body. Recipkocitt of Actions. — 'Tlie different motions of which the body is the sphere, constitute that connected series of activities which it is the function of Physiol- ogy to explain. Their action is wonderfully compli- cated, and they all have a part to play in the develop- ment of that grand mechanical force^ the countless muscles and nerves with which our bodies are supplied. An impediment to the fuMllment of any one of these actions necessarily vitiates them all, just as one defect- ive link weakens the whole chain. In one respect these simultaneous motions resemble the successive elemental actions of the chemical state, before alluded to. All interference with the regular vital processes renders imperfect those several conditions of organic growth upon which all power absolutely depends. An important principle is now to be noticed, to wit, that the expenditure of power is neces^niry to its very evolution. This expenditure is the phenomenon con- templated in the entire train of actions above alluded to, and without this there can be no mechanical mo- PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. * 81 tion, no molecular motion, no organic and no chemical action ; and no demand, therefore, made npon the di- gestive organs, or npon the respiratory function. The reader must not infer from this statement that all function ceases with the cessation of voluntary mo- tion, or with the suspension of the will. Provision is made against any such fatal accident. In the economy of the system it so liap])ens that a large amount of its muscular action is carried on involuntarily for the si^ecial furtherance of its organic operations. This is particularly true of all the rythmical motions, snch as the movements of the chest, diaphragm, and abdom- inal mnscles in respiration ; of the heart and arteries ; of the alimentary tube, etc. While, then, the living body may be regarded as an admirablv arrano'ed theater in which these various motor forces have their full and harmonious play, mus- cular motion must be considered as the great main- spring of all the others. It certainly sets in operation many kinds of action ; many seem to depend on it as their chief stimulant, and others appear to radiate from it as from a central force. By this far-reaching power of its own it controls to a good extent all the motions of the alimentary atoms, and disposes of them to the highest advantage of the whole system. J^ature, in her arrangements for the welfare of her children, saw fit to select motion as a chief means for the maintenance of the physiological harmonies of the body, and for the restoration of these harmonies and the health they confer, in cases in which the latter have been lost through accident or imprudence.* * Leehmann corroborates this view of the influence of motion in the following passage : '• Albinus took no superficial view of the organic activity in nature, when he established the axiom, that the essence of vital force consisted in motion. 4.^ 82 PHILOSOniY OF ilOYEMENTS. The System as a Reseryoik of Force. — ^The system, in health, is capable of siq^plying force at a certain rate^ determined by the degree of perfection in whicli its organic processes are conducted. These processes are always, with more or less effect, engaged in pro- ducing force. J^ow, if this force be expended in a single channel, the production will probably about equal the expenditure ; but if in several channels at the same time, the expenditure must not only exceed the production, but will even exhaust the reserved sup- ply which the healthy system always possesses. This state of things is denoted by the feeling we call fa- tigue. In the invalid, the force production is more or less limited. This is a necessary result of disease. Hence, such exercises as involve a large portion of the system at one time are harmful, because they are sure to ex- haust the reserve fund of force, which is not readily restored by the defective organic processes, and so the disease will be increased in our very efforts perhaps to quell it. But if the exertion be confined to a single instrument or organ, or to a single set of muscles, the expenditure of force is made to correspond more nearly with its production ; the system is not fatigued, but is refreshed, because the movements have helped to sup- Even if this expression be far too general for organic action, it can not be denied that -we assume life to exist wherever we perceive a constant alternation of phenomena and incessant changes induced by the constant motion of the molecules of the or- ganized body, as well as of the organs themselves. ***** " Metamorphoses are continually developed in the material substrata of the body. Physical forces continue to act upon matter after it has attained its position of equi- librium, for it is only by opposite actions that equilibrium exists. ****** The case is very different when motion occurs in oriianized bodies, for here we find a tendency to persistence; everything that is brought into the line of the direction of these concurrent forces is impelled to a similar motion, and equilibrium will not be produced, for equilibrium is rest, and in rest there is no life, and in equilibrium there is death."— Vol. ii., pp. 210, 211. I'HILOSOPHY OF M')\EMENTS. 83 ply the true and proper conditions for the production or augmentation of the life-power. Desckiption of Muscle. — Tlie mere fact of muscle entering so largely into the composition of tlie system, would indicate to any mind its importance in the physical economy. This tissue constitutes more than half of the weight and bulk of the body. It has but a single function, and that is, as it is technically termed, contraction^ or the approximation of the extremities ; for experiments show that the bulk is unvarying. By contracting, and in proportion to the vigor of the con- traction, muscle is capable of moving the bones and other appendages with which it is connected. It also Icrms the walls of the hollow organs, and, by contract- ing, lessens the caliber of such organs, and impels their contents onward. The muscles are crowded with blood- vessels, the larger trunks of which pass through, and the smaller are distributed within them for the supply of nutrient matter. They are connected together by an areolar structure, consisting of elastic filaments, forming a network around them, which serves the double purpose of at once binding them together and ^*^- ^- keeping them separate. ^':iJ Muscular fiber, showing the cells ; a aa, the '' ± waves of contraction, showing the flattening of the cells ; b b b, similar waves, engaged in still stronger contraction, traveling along the fiber, and causing it to be thicker at the con- tracting portions. Muscle is visibly distin- guished from other structures by its red color. Masses of muscle are divided longitudi- nally into parallel fibers, visi- 84: PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. ble to the naked eje, whicli are again divided into exceedingly minute iibrillse ; and these fibrillge are crossed by transverse stripes wbicli seem to divide each of them into microscopic dimensions. These cubes are the ultimate muscle-cells. In the act of contraction these cubes are flattened, and at the same time become proportion ably broader. The contraction of a muscle is effected by the con- traction separately of the fibers of which it is com- posed. These fibers act through only a portion of their length at the same moment ; the contractions seeming to travel from one portion to another of the fibrils, each portion becoming relaxed as the action travels beyond it. This becomes an important fact in the curative application of movements, as we shall see. Muscular contraction never takes place independ- ently of an exciting cause or stimulus. The power efi*ecting this act is derived from the nerves distributed to the muscular structure. Tliese nerves for the volun- tary muscles have their origin in the spinal axis, and are also generally connected with the seat of the will. So that impressions received from without the body by the sensitive nerves, and those originating in the mind, are capable of directly inducing muscular action, and consequently motion, in all the organs that are connected with them. M. Beclaed gives thus, with much clearness, the chemical phenomena which attend muscular contrac- tion : " The muscles develop a certain quantity of heat at the moment of contracting. The researches of MM. Bequerel and Beeschet, and those more recent of M. Helmholtz, have placed the fact beyond doubt, that the muscles during their contraction, as aJso during their PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 85 state fifrej^ose, absorb oxygen and form carbonic acid. > During contraction, the absorption of oxygen and cx-> halation of carbonic acid is doubled." MM. Du Bois-Eaymond, Liebig, Yalentine, and Matteueci have demonstrated satisfactorily the fact by placing the members of an animal in a space ex- posed to a known gaseous composition. The che mical phenomena of oxydation are then manifested in- the muscles, and these phenomena increase during contrac- tion. M. Helmholtz caused a musclar group to contract by aid of a powerful induction-current for a long time, till exhaustion occurred ; he then examined the chemi- cal constitution of the muscular fiber, and found that the soluble materials contained in the muscle (creatin, creatnine, and inosic acid) had increased in proportion when compared with other muscles that had been in repose of the same animal. Du Bois-Raymond proved, on the other hand, tliat when a muscle remains for a long time at rest, it has a neutral reaction, and that its reaction becomes acid after repeated contrac- tions. The absorption of oxygen increases in a con- ^ tracting muscle, and the action has the effect of trans- '\ forming a part of the muscle into an oxydized product, and this oxydation is the cause of the elevation of tem- ^ perature observed. In muscular action, generally, the products of com- bustion formed in the muscles pass toward the blood, and are carried off by the excretory passages ; we have also seen that, in exercise, the products of expiration and the products of urinary secretion are increased. Physiological Effects of Exercise. — It will be necessary to particularize at some length the more di- rect and distinct effects of muscular contraction, in or- 86 PHILOSOPHY OF MOYEIMENTS. der to bring out more clearly to the mind its claims to attention as an im^Dortant hygenic and remedial agent. Effects of Musculae Contkaction ois" the Local Circulation. — Muscular Contraction affords powerful aid to the local circulation of the parts in which it takes place, in several distinct ways. 1st. Materials pass from the arterial to the venous side of the circulation according to a law common to all vital tissues. This occurs at a rate directly proportionate to the vital ac- tivity. 2d. The effect of the pressure of the con- tracting muscle upon the blood-vessels that penetrate it, or that are contiguous, is to hasten the flow of the contents of these vessels. The tendency to displace- ment of these contents can only operate in the direc- tion allowed by the valves of the veins ; that is, in the heari-ward direction. At the moment the contraction ceases, the vessels of the part contain less blood ; but the pressure from the arterial side instantly supplies the part more abundantly, so as to distend the vessels. This is the condition favorable for the effusion of the N\\dX plasma of the blood for the nutrition of the acting part ; thus providing for a rej^etition of the act. 3d. JSTot only the blood, but the intermuscular juices are renewed by the act of muscular contraction, for the com- pression to which these organs have been subjected com- pels all the fluids to change place like the contents of a wetted sponge ; and the previously mentioned circum- stances give direction to the fluids thus set in motion. The benefit derived from these effects on the circu- lation is by no means confined to the muscles. All other organs connected with the blood-vessels that supply the muscles participate freely in the same advantages ; and it would seem that this is the ap- PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 87 pointed way in wliicli to secure the nutritive supply in its perfection to the tissues generally. The mucous membrane, skin, intervening areolar structure, nerves, and. other anatomical constituents of the body, share equally in the advantages thus at- tained. It would seem to be the province of the mus- cles, numerous and powerful as they are, not only to secure their own health by the exercise of their func- tion, but to minister to the good of all other structures ; for all depend alike for their nourishment upon a common reservoir, whose distribution could not be efficiently maintained without the assistance so largely rendered by the muscles. Effect on Respiration. — Increased respiration oc- curs simultaneously with every muscular effort. This follows from the fact that arterial hlood^ of which oxy- gen is an important ingredient, is essential in every muscular contraction; for in each contraction oxygen is required probably, as a second result, to effect the destruction of the acting muscular molecule ; hence the necessity of a continual supply of this principle through respiration. It will be noticed that an in- creased inspiratory effort does not succeed, but imme- diately precedes the muscular exertion, and is simul- taneous with the suggestion of the will, which it seems to render more vehement and energetic. As the arm is raised to strike, the breath is drawn in ; and if a strong blow is contemplated, the glottis is for a mo- ment closed, and a strong pressure is exerted upon the contained air of the chest, to force, as it were, the blood to take in an increased quantity of the power-liberating element. This involuntary " holding the breath" is without doubt a very important aid to the respiratory 88 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. act. It at the same time expands the chest, and aids, by pressure of tlie respired air, tlie sohition of tlie oxygen. In respiration there are two things to be considered : tlie mobility of the walls of the chest, and the nervous arrangement by which this mobility is controlled. The nerves of respiration act independently of the con- sciousness in their ordinary operation ; but every effort of the will increases their action by the stimulus it affords the muscles of the chest. Whether the eifort of the will be directed to the muscles of any part of the body, or is confined to mental operations — in each case waste is produced, and the employment of an amount of oxygen is implied proportionate to the mag- nitude of the exertion. It may be remarked that there are other circumstances that influence respiration, as diet ; but this is true of temperatare especially, and respiration is deep just in proportion to the rapidity with which the body loses its heat. But respiration is entirely a raechanical action. It is performed by the muscles of the chest and abdomen, and the degree of perfection with which it is performed is determined by the condition and habits of the organs performing it. If these muscles are badly nourished and imperfectly used, oxygen can be supplied to tlie blood to support the bodily need only in limited quan- tities. So it turns out that the amount of work a man can do is not so much dependent on his muscle as on his hreathing cajMcity. If he can breathe well he can generally work well ; if short-winded, though he may have the muscles of an Ajax, he will be left be- hind to a certainty in the race of life. Effect on the Secretions. — Anything that pro- rillLOSOPIIY OF MOVEMENTS. 89 motes renewal of the blood of the capillaries, promotes secretions ; for whatever be the nature of the secreted jn-oduct, or its origin, it is derived primarily from the blood of the capillaries, distributed to the membrane whose involutions form the secreting gland. The qual- ity of the secretion will greatly depend, of course, on that of the blood whence it is derived, which, again, is subject to variation from many causes under the con- trol of motion or exercise. Effect on the Excretions. — Muscular action power- fully urges the blood into the skin and lungs, the two principal excretory organs, whence its excretory pro- ducts are readily eliminated. The same action results in the production of an important element of the uri- nary excretion, without which this fluid can not be of normal quality. The channels for the egress of this principle are also kept free and open by exercise. It is now well understood that the most common cause of constipation of the bowels is want of general muscular tone, and especially want of action in the tube through which the alvine discharges are conveyed. The expulsion of the contents of the bowels is only effected by muscular action, to induce which, the tube and the abdominal wells work conjointly, and too frequently tug in vain. Effect on Absoeption. — Kutritive matters, after being reduced to a fluid state by digestion, are pre- pared to pass the digestive boundaries into the blood. But there must first be a demand in the tissues for the materials. The unceasing wastes caused by muscular action, and the ex]3enditure of the blood constantly taking place, must be made good with materials from 90 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. the digestive surface. The connection between muscu- lar action and absorption is direct. But local action is also required of the digestive membrane- Hence nature causes the whole alimentarj tube to take on a sort of rythmical, vermicular motion. The ordinary avocations of life accelerate this motion of the canal. But in sedentery occupations the causes of motion from without are lessened, and the health is sure to suffer as a consequence. Absorption from the digestive canal is incomplete, and the digestive organs become clogged, and soon diseased. Physiologists have compared absorption to the passage of fluids of different kinds through membranes, known as osmosis. The conditions for maintaining this physical phenomenon are, that the fluids on the opposite sides of the mer/ibrane shall he of different Jdnds. J^ow the renewal of the fluids of either side of the membrane of the alimentary canal by motion preserves this difference. Effect on the Quality of the Blood. — All the above enumerated processes, namely, nutrition^ respiration^ secretion^ excretion^ absorption^ are the means whereby the blood itself, the great fountain from which life is supplied to the whole body, is maintained in its purity and fitness for its several purposes, l^utrition itself, so far as the blood is concerned, is an excretory act. The very matters destined to supply muscular power and bulk can not be retained in the blood without in- jury to its quality and damage to the health. Tlie force-imparting properties of the blood can not long be maintained therein unless it gives them up as readily as it receives them. Effect on the Digestr^e Pkocess. — Digestion is the PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 91 means whereby food is furnished to the system, as respiration is the means for supplying oxygen. It is not enough that good food be swallowed. Food is not only inert, but positively injurious, miless rendered fluid and made to proceed in the series of changes it is appointed to undergo. At the natural temperature of the body, food must, from its nature, undergo some change ; and if this change is not digestive^ it will be chemical^ with the formation of poisonous products. Many persons are habitually poisoned with food taken even in small quantities, when the conditions for its digestion are wanting or imperfect. Digestion is dependent on the Uood^ its quality and distribution, and on the demand arising in the system for the digested product. If the demand is small, and the amount of food taken be not also proportionably small, the function is injured, and repeated injuries in- flict permanent disease. Exercise, in proper modes, is capable of preventing and of remedying such condi- tions, as is proved by the almost universally good digestive i^ower of the habitual laborer, even when placed under the most unfavorable circumstances. Effect on the Oeganiztng Process. — All mani- festations of force, muscular or nervous, are directly proportionate to the vigor of their instruments, the muscles and nerves ; and it is no exaggeration of the truth to say that we may consider all other functions of the system as contributing to their increase and sup- port. The organization or growth of these instruments is evidently a most essential link in the chain of actions between the digestion of food aud the manifestation of force. Organization, or growth of organic forn:!S, is to a great degree a vegetative act, and takes its character 92 PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. very mncli from the cliaracter of the nutriment afford- ed and the manner of its appropriations. Atomic ab- sorption is necessarily preliminary to the process of renovation ; the destruction of the organized form and the elimiuation of the effete material must precede growth, and muscular exertion is requisite in order to insure the vitalization of the material elements from which natui-e collects what she needs for the continu- ance of her renovating processes. Movements Stimulate the Vitalizing Processes. — The modes in which movements, by their mechanical and chemical effects, contribute to the corporeal wel- fare, has been described, but the last result is of a higher order than any included in these effects. This consists, if we may use the expression, in an aug- mentation of the control exercised by vitality in the system. The body we have considered as the theater of two opposing actions, the organizing^ and the disor- ganizing^ and chemical actions. In the healthy body, those influences which promote the former prepon- derate, secured as they are by voluntary and involun- tary movements habitually conducted, while the inac- tive body becomes diseased, for the simj)le reason that therein actions must transpire among its elementary particles which are purely chemical in their nature, and which must have the effect to deteriorate the or- ganizing vital forces, and consequently vitiate the gen- eral health and sap the strength of the constitution. By means of rational movements, vital action is made to predominate over all opposing or simjDly chemical actions, and health follows as naturally and inevitably as night the day. The part played by drug chemicals in the vital PHILOSOPHY OF MOVEMENTS. 93 domain may be easily understood. The presence of such substances is never uninfluential. Tliey increase to a certainty the amount of chemical change going on in the system ; and notwithstanding the impulse to- ward health that is oftentimes thought to be given, and which is the result of a temporary vital reaction, yet it remains true that the real tendency of the system, under their sway, is necessarily downward, because chemical, and consequently injurious, changes are thereby pro- moted. Co-ordination of Motions by the ISTerves. — Every organ and member of the body performs a distinct office, and its individuality is never merged in that of others. But it is also true that all the diverse parts are connected in an individual whole by means of the nervous system. The nerves, we know, pervade all vital j^arts, and not only preside over the peculiar func- tion of every local element and member, but also cause each to act with reference to, and harmoniously with, all other organs, and with the whole economy. We are well aware, through our sensations, of many things that are going forward in the body ; for the conscious- ness and intellectual functions are influenced through the nerves. The great majority of the operations of the system proceed without the consciousness, and are soon interrupted by it when it is brought to bear on them ; but there is, so to speak, a kind of organic understand- ing maintained between the functions of the different parts harmonizing their motions. Some of the mani- festations of this principle are termed reflex action. A person instinctively draws back from a danger that he sces.^ kears^ and feels. The stomach a;]