Bladders are greatly favoured by some teachers, but we can not say anything in their favour, because they have a tendency to putrefy, and quickly become unpleasant to use after having been soaked in the water. Both corks and bladders are usually attached to a rope or band about a yard in length, the pupil being required so to fix the band across the chest as to allow the bladders or corks to pass to the back under the armpits ; and thus, when he leans forward on his breast to take the stroke with the hands, he is supported on the surface.
A swimming-belt of a far less bulky nature has recently been tested in various parts of the country on learners in different stages of proficiency, and has been found to answer the purpose remarkably well. It has been constructed in a most careful and scientific manner, is not too large, and does not give an undue amount of support. It is so well made that, when used, it tends to balance the body of the learner in the required position. This belt consists of four six-inch and three nine inch air-tight cylinders about two inches in diameter. These are laced together with a thin webbing, the three larger canisters being placed in the centre and the smaller equally divided on either side of them. A loop, which passes round the neck of the learner when in use, is attached, and two long tapes are fixed to each end of the belt. These are passed round the body and tied in front. This kind of belt is not open to the objection which attends the use of corks, buoys, or bladders, as the appliance cannot possibly slip from its position. Its supporting power is sufficient for a person weighing from ten to twelve stone, but its buoyancy can be reduced by the simple expedient of removing one or more of the canisters. This is, in itself, a very great recommenda tion, because as the pupil gets proficient the teacher may, by reducing the number of air-tight cylinders employed, compel him gradually to trust more and more to his own powers. This belt is a very convenient one for the teacher.
Some kind of assistance, we repeat, is desirable when learn ing to swim, even if it be only that experience gained by watching good swimmers, or friendly hints from experts. Im provement is then only a question of time, practice, and perse verance. If practice can be obtained without undue exertion, the learner is more likely readily to grasp the fundamental rules which govern fast swimming, and to acquire, at the time when it is most needful, the proper movement of the limbs. Nothing is more disheartening to a man than to improve rapidly up to a certain point, and then be unable to gain the slightest fraction in speed over a given distance. Yet, in most instances, with
a healthy body, if proper care had been taken at the start, and careful tuition instead of what may be termed water dragging lessons' given, the swimmer would have eventually become faster. Those instructors who are careless in their study of the art are themselves to blame, for it is one of the most difficult tasks possible for a man, after he has once acquired a style, to alter it.
In his work on Swimming Drill,' published in England in t875,, Lieut. Torkington, R.H.A., states that This plan of instruction was first tried, with some measure of suc cess, in the French army, where it was introduced by D'Argy, Chef de Bataillon, 18th Light Infantry Regiment, and afterwards in the German army, being introduced by Von Wins II., captain in the 7th Brandenburg Infantry, where the following preliminary trials took place : Two men from each of three companies of the zoth Fusilier Regiment at Brandenburg were chosen as average men, who could not swim. For four days they were drilled twice a day, for three quarters of an hour at a time, and on the fifth day, having mastered the motion, they were taken to the bathing-place. Two of them overcame the difficulties at once, and in half-an-hour could swim well ; one man swam on the next day, one on the seventh, and two on the eighth. The last two men had a great fear of the water, and it took them some time to get the necessary confidence.
Two companies of the 32nd Regiment at Erfurt were then taught, and out of 131 men ninety-one learnt to swim well, twenty five moderately, and only fifteen were untaught during the drill season.
Professor T. J. Hartelius, M.D., Principal Lecturer at the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute, Stockholm, in his work entitled ' Home Gymnastics,' gives a short method of acquiring the art of swimming by means of a land-drill. The work was translated into English by C. Lavring, by special permission of the author, and published here in 1881, and in 1883 the same translation, without any alteration, was published again in Philadelphia. Under the Hartelius method the directions and commands are not so concise and clear as those of Lieut. Torkington, and, further, the space required for the practice of the exercises is much larger. There are faults to be found in both systems ; but if the two were carefully collated with that now used in the German army, a very effective method might be formulated.