Gymnastics in Sweden are also uthe length ened shadow of one man"— Peter Henry Ling (1776-1839). While never attracting a popular following like German gymnastics, those of Sweden are also under government auspices and are universally used in the schools and the army, while since 1814 a Royal Gymnastic Cen tral Institute for the training of teachers has been maintained at Stockholm by the govern ment. Ling put gymnastics into pedagogical, military, medical and aesthetic divisions. He brought the subject within the scientific trend of the century by a careful study of the effects upon the body of various positions and exer cises, and their classification according to these effects. Developments in physiology have modi fied some of Ling's conclusions, but the under lying principles remain. He invented a num ber of pieces of fixed apparatus, notably the stall bars, Swedish horizontal bar (boom) and vaulting box. These pieces of apparatus admit of less freedom and variety of motion than the German apparatus, but lend themselves to more closely graded mechanical progression in the exercises. No light, movable, or so-called calis thenic, apparatus is used in the Swedish work, but much is made of free-hand gymnastics. All exercises are carefully selected for their ef fects upon the physiological functions or bodily posture. The latter is especially emphasized. No exercises are admitted which even tempora rily constrict the chest, embarrass the respira tion or ((produce continuous pressure upon the large vascular or nerve trunks.0 Static con traction of the muscles is much used, however, in holding one part of the body in a given.posi tion (as bending the trunk forward) while an other part (as the head or arms) is exercised. All Swedish gymnastics are taken to command, music being entirely eschewed. These com mands are extremely analytical, practically nothing being left to the initiative of the pupil or to the sub-conscious processes of muscular co-ordination. Many Swedish instructors teach new exercises entirely from command or verbal description as distinguished from imitative methods of presentation.
As introduced in the United States Swedish gymnastics have been characterized by an arbi trary and minute classification of exercises and the arrangement of these in a "day's or lesson, as follows (Posse): (1) introductions, (2) archflexions, (3) heave movements, (4) balance movements, (5) shoulder blade move ments, (6) abdominal exercises, (7) lateral trunk movements, (8) slow leg movements, (9) jumping and vaulting, (10) respiratory ex ercises. The idea of orderly progression in the use of exercises with regard to their physiolog ical and mechanical difficulty is one of the most valuable contributions made to modern gymnas tic practice. For instance, the effect upon cir culation and respiration of exercise of the large muscular groups, as of the thigh and trunk, is much greater than of small groups, as of the arms or legs, and within reasonable limits this effect is intensified by overcoming tesistance as in lifting the weight of the body in jumping or other precipitant exercises. Exercises for these muscular groups therefore bear a logical rela tion to one another. Muscular strength is sim ilarly amenable to progressive development through the application of some of the laws of mechanics. For instance, work of the trunk
muscles is increased by altering the leverage through positions of the arms, and balance exercises are made more difficult by narrowing the base and shifting the centre of gravity. The Swedish medical gymnastics, especially in orthopedic practice and in the form of massage, are widely used.
Physical training in the United States re ceived its first popular impetus from Dr. Dio Lewis, about 1860. Dr. Lewis was not a scien tific worker, but aiming to put the spirit of sport and play into gymnastics promulgated some good all-over exercise in free-hand move ments and with dumb-bells, wands, Indian clubs, bean bags and some apparatus of his own devis ing— the °shoulder pusher° and °iron crown.' This work had an extended vogue throughout the country with both men and women, and was introduced into many schools. Since the Civil War, and especially in the last 10 years of the 19th century and the early 20th century, physical training has undergone a steady advancement in the United States, both in the extent to which it is used, and in the development of the subject itself.
In 1870 and later Dr. Dudley A. Sargent invented a series of pulley weight machines, some 40 in number, which have since held a prominent place in gymnastic equipment. The best known of these is the chest weight machine. By means of these appliances exer cise may be localized to given groups of mus cles, thus developing weak or undeveloped parts of the body. Obviously measurement and gen eral physical examination of pupils is an im portant factor in the thorough use of such a method.
In 1887-88 there swept over the country a popular fad for what was called the Delsarte system. Francois Delsarte (1811-71) was a native of France, whose work to establish laws of expression for the dramatic art probably led to the origination of certain forms of free-hand exercise, aesthetic in character, which have been developed by a number of American workers, though his daughter has expressly denied that he had anything to do with gymnastics. His work was approached entirely from a philosoph ical, as distinguished from a physiological, view point, and the mystic number three and its mul tiples governed the various modes of movement and expression. That every movement and atti tude of the body should express an emotion was a cardinal point. The cause of physical train ing was for a time retarded by the sentimental, languid and unscientific atmosphere which sur rounded much of this work, but with the pass ing of the vogue it is found to have left two distinct types of exercise and certain principles of graceful motion which have permanent value. To make the body flexible, and to free it from habits of muscular tension, relaxing (devitalizing) exercises are used. These con sist in making absolutely limp one part of the body after another, and finally the whole at once, by removing all tension from the articu lations. These exercises are followed by a series of energizing or vitalizing movements, slow and rhythmic. Principles of grace embodied in these include the slow evolution of move ment from one point to the next, and the move ment in opposition (opposite directions) of two parts moving simultaneously. Delsarte's ex pressional work is highly valued in dramatic training.