_Bernardi’s System._
The principal reasons given by Bernardi for recommending the upright
position in swimming are--its conformity to the accustomed movement of
the limbs; the freedom it gives to the hands and arms, by which any
impediment may be removed, or any offered aid readily laid hold of;
vision all around; a much greater facility of breathing; and lastly,
that much less of the body is exposed to the risk of being laid hold of
by persons struggling in the water.
The less we alter our method of advancing in the water from what is
habitual to us on shore, the more easy do we find a continued exercise
of it. The most important consequence of this is, that, though a person
swimming in an upright posture advances more slowly, he is able to
continue his course much longer; and certainly nothing can be more
beneficial to a swimmer than whatever tends to husband his strength,
and to enable him to remain long in the water with safety.
Bernardi’s primary object is to enable the pupil to float in an
upright posture, and to feel confidence in the buoyancy of his body.
He accordingly supports the pupil under the shoulders until he floats
tranquilly with the head and part of the neck above the surface, the
arms being stretched out horizontally under water. From time to time,
the supporting arm is removed, but again restored, so as never to
suffer the head to sink, which would disturb the growing confidence,
and give rise to efforts destructive of the success of the lesson. In
this early stage, the unsteadiness of the body is the chief difficulty
to be overcome.
The head is the great regulator of our movements in water. Its smallest
inclination to either side instantly operates on the whole body; and,
if not corrected, throws it into a horizontal posture. The pupil
must, therefore, restore any disturbance of equilibrium by a cautious
movement of the head alone in an opposite direction. This first lesson
being familiarized by practice, he is taught the use of the legs and
arms for balancing the body in the water. One leg being stretched
forward, the other backward, and the arms laterally, he soon finds
himself steadily sustained, and independent of further aid in floating.
When these first steps have been gained, the sweeping semicircular
motion of the arms is shown. This is practised slowly, without
motion forwards, until attained with precision. After this, a slight
inclination of the body from the upright position occasions its
advancing. The motion of striking with the legs is added in the same
measured manner; so that the pupil is not perplexed by the acquisition
of more than one thing at a time. In this method, the motions of both
arms and legs differ from those we have so carefully described, only in
so far as they are modified by a more upright position. It is optional,
therefore, with the reader, to practise either method. The general
principles of both are now before him.
The upright position a little inclined backwards, (which, like
every other change of posture, must be done deliberately, by the
corresponding movement of the head,) reversing in this case the motion
of the arms, and striking the flat part of the foot down and a little
forward, gives the motion backward, which is performed with greater
ease than when the body is laid horizontally on the back. According to
this system, Bernardi says, a swimmer ought at every stroke to urge
himself forward a distance equal to the length of his body. A good
swimmer ought to make about three miles an hour. A good day’s journey
may thus be achieved, if the strength be used with due discretion,
and the swimmer be familiar with the various means by which it may be
recruited.
Of Bernardi’s successful practice, he says, “Having been appointed to
instruct the youths of the Royal Naval Academy of Naples in the art of
swimming, a trial of the proficiency of the pupils took place, under
the inspection of a number of people assembled on the shore for that
purpose, on the tenth day of their instruction. A twelve-oared boat
attended the progress of the pupils, from motives of precaution. They
swam so far out in the bay, that at length the heads of the young men
could with difficulty be discerned with the naked eye; and the Major
General of Marine, Forteguerri, for whose inspection the exhibition was
intended, expressed serious apprehensions for their safety. Upon their
return to the shore, the young men, however, assured him that they
felt so little exhausted as to be willing immediately to repeat the
exertion.” An official report on the subject has also been drawn up by
commission (appointed by the Neapolitan government), after devoting a
month to the investigation of Bernardi’s plan; and it states as follows:
“1st. It has been established by the experience of more than a hundred
persons of different bodily constitutions, that the human body is
lighter than water, and consequently will float by nature; but that the
art of swimming must be acquired, to render that privilege useful.
“2dly. That Bernardi’s system is new, in so far as it is founded on
the principle of husbanding the strength, and rendering the power of
recruiting it easy. The speed, according to the new method, is no doubt
diminished; but security is much more important than speed; and the new
plan is not exclusive of the old, when occasions require great effort.
“3dly. That the new method is sooner learnt than the old, to the extent
of advancing a pupil in one day as far as a month’s instruction on the
old plan.”
_Treading Water._
This differs little from the system just described. As in it, the
position is upright; but progression is obtained by the action of the
legs alone. There is little power in this method of swimming: but it
may be very useful in rescuing drowning persons.
The arms should be folded across, below the breast, or compressed
against the hips, and the legs employed as in front swimming, except
as to time and extent. They should perform their action in half the
usual time, or two strokes should be taken in the time of one; because,
acting perpendicularly, each stroke would otherwise raise the swimmer
too much, and he would sink too low between the strokes, were they not
quickly to follow each other. They should also work in about two-thirds
of the usual space, preserving the upper or stronger, and omitting the
lower or weaker, part of the stroke.
There is, however, another mode of treading water, in which the thighs
are separated, and the legs slightly bent, or curved together, as in
a half-sitting posture. Here the legs are used alternately, so that,
while one remains more contracted, the other, less so, describes a
circle. By this method, the swimmer does not seem to hop in the water,
but remains nearly at the same height. Pl XXIII. f. 3 represents both
these methods, and shows their peculiar adaptation to relieve drowning
persons.