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both 'sangatte' and 'sangette'
both 'armpit' and 'arm pit'
chilled; always swim around and 'excercise'
journalists who 'acompanied'
Punctuation:
water; at the same time double the body up.[,]
championship for many years by following his teachings[.]
can[,] throw your arm around his neck
Thirdly.[,] Continue
SWIMMING
SCIENTIFICALLY TAUGHT
[Illustration: FRANK EUGEN DALTON]
SWIMMING
SCIENTIFICALLY
TAUGHT
A PRACTICAL MANUAL FOR
YOUNG AND OLD
BY
PROF. FRANK EUGEN DALTON, P.S.A.
_Instructor in Scientific Swimming at the Dalton Swimming
School, and Originator of the Dalton Method_
AND
A CHAPTER ON ADVANCED STROKES
BY
LOUIS C. DALTON
_Of the Dalton Swimming School_
_WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS_
FIFTH EDITION
[Illustration]
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
NEW YORK AND LONDON
COPYRIGHT, 1912 AND 1918, BY
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
(_Printed in the United States of America_)
Revised Edition, Published May, 1918
Copyright under the Articles of the Copyright Convention of the
Pan-American Republics and the United States, August 11, 1910
TO MY FATHER
THE LATE CAPT. DAVIS DALTON
who swam the English Channel from Cape Grisnez near Boulogne, France, to
Folkestone, England, August 16-17, 1890; whose enthusiasm and unflagging
interest in all matters pertaining to swimming and life-saving have been
excelled by none, and who was a faithful practitioner of the methods
herein set forth, this book is affectionately dedicated by his son,
THE AUTHOR
PART I--INTRODUCTION
PAGE
THE IMPORTANCE OF SWIMMING 15
LEARNING BY THE BOOK 22
PART II--VARIOUS KINDS OF STROKES
THE BACK STROKE 27
THE DALTON STROKE 37
THE BACK AND DALTON STROKE 39
THE BREAST STROKE 41
CHANGING FROM BACK TO BREAST STROKE 53
NEW PART II--ADVANCED STROKES
BY LOUIS C. DALTON
THE SIDE STROKES 56
THE TRUDGEON STROKE 60
THE SINGLE OVER-ARM STROKES 62
THE ENGLISH RACING STROKE 66
THE DOUBLE OVER-ARM STROKE 68
THE CRAWL STROKE 70
PART III--FLOATING, DIVING AND SCIENTIFIC
SWIMMING
TREADING WATER 81
FLOATING 84
DIVING 89
SWIMMING LIKE A DOG 106
PLUNGING 107
SCULLING 109
SWIMMING BACKWARD ON THE CHEST 110
THE WASHING TUB 112
THE PROPELLER 113
THE TORPEDO 115
THE CATHERINE WHEEL 117
ROLLING 119
SWIMMING LIKE A PORPOISE 121
THE PENDULUM 124
SOMERSAULTS 127
DOUBLE SOMERSAULTS 129
WITH ONE LEG OUT OF WATER 131
SWIMMING WITH CLOTHES ON 132
WITH HANDS AND FEET TIED 134
OVER AND UNDER 136
SWIMMING UNDER WATER 139
MONTE CRISTO SACK TRICK 142
NOTABLE FEATS BY CELEBRATED SWIMMERS 144
PART IV--WATER POLO
WATER POLO 153
PART V--CRAMPS, HOW TO SAVE LIFE,
RESUSCITATION, ETC.
CRAMPS 181
HOW TO SAVE LIFE 182
RESUSCITATION AFTER RESCUE 187
HALL'S METHOD OF RESUSCITATION 189
SYLVESTER'S METHOD 191
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Frank Eugen Dalton _Frontispiece_
Fig. 1. The Back Stroke--First Arm Movement 29
Fig. 2. The Back Stroke--Second Arm Movement 30
Fig. 3. The Back Stroke--Third Arm Movement 31
Fig. 4. The Back Stroke--First Leg Movement 32
Fig. 5. The Back Stroke--Second Leg Movement 33
Fig. 6. The Back Stroke--Third Leg Movement 34
Fig. 7. Floating Position 35
Fig. 8. The Dalton Stroke 37
Fig. 9. The Breast Stroke--First Arm Movement 41
Fig. 10. The Breast Stroke--Second Arm Movement 42
Fig. 11. The Breast Stroke--Third Arm Movement 43
Fig. 12. The Breast Stroke--The Leg Movement Exemplified Out of the Water 44
The Breast Stroke--Teaching with Trolley and Instructor 47
Fig. 13. The Breast Stroke--The Leg Movement 49
Fig. 14. The Breast Stroke--The Start 48
Fig. 15. The Breast Stroke--Second Position 50
Fig. 16. The Breast Stroke--Third Position 51
Louis C. Dalton 54
Fig. 17. The Side Stroke--First Position 57
Fig. 18. The Side Stroke--Second Position 58
Fig. 19. The Side Stroke--Third Position 59
Fig. 20. The Trudgeon Stroke--First Position 60
Fig. 21. The Trudgeon Stroke--Second Position 61
Fig. 22. The Single Over-Arm Stroke--Second Position 63
Fig. 23. The Single Over-Arm Stroke--Third Position 64
Fig. 24. The English Racing Stroke 66
Fig. 25. The Double Over-Arm Stroke 69
Fig. 26. The Crawl Stroke 71
Fig. 27. The Crawl Stroke--Bent Knee Position 73
Fig. 28. The Crawl Stroke--Legs First Position 75
Fig. 29. The Crawl Stroke--Legs Second Position 76
Fig. 30. The Crawl Stroke--Breathing Position 77
Treading Water 83
Floating Position 85
Incorrect Floating Position 86
Easy Floating Position 87
Teaching Diving to a Beginner 91
A Bad Dive 93
Correct Position in Mid Air 94
Correct Position on Entering the Water 95
Mrs. Frank Eugen Dalton--Position for a Dive 97
The Standing-Sitting Dive 98
The Back Dive 99
The Dolphin Dive 101
The Australian Splash 102
The Neck Dive 104
Swimming Like a Dog 106
Correct Position for Long Plunge in Water 108
Swimming Backward on Chest 110
The Washing Tub 112
The Propeller 113
The Torpedo 115
The Catherine Wheel 117
Rolling 119
Swimming Like a Porpoise 122
The Pendulum 125
Forward Somersault 127
Double Somersault 130
One Leg Out of Water 131
Over and Under 137
Monte Cristo Sack Trick 142
Water Polo 161
Water Polo--Diagram 177
The Best Method of Saving Life 184
Sylvester's Method--Figure 1 191
Sylvester's Method--Figure 2 192
Sylvester's Method--Figure 3 193
Tail-piece 195
PART I
INTRODUCTION
THE IMPORTANCE OF SWIMMING
That all persons ought to know how to safeguard themselves when in deep
water is becoming more and more recognized as time passes. While
swimming is probably the oldest pastime known to man, and has had, and
still has, its votaries in every country, civilized or uncivilized, it
is curious that this most useful science should have been so much
neglected.
For an adult person to be unable to swim points to something like
criminal negligence; every man, woman and child should learn. A person
who can not swim may not only become a danger to himself, but to some
one, and perhaps to several, of his fellow beings. Children as early as
the age of four may acquire the art; none are too young, none too old.
Doctors recommend swimming as the best all-around exercise. It is
especially beneficial to nervous people. Swimming reduces corpulency,
improves the figure, expands the lungs, improves the circulation of the
blood, builds up general health, increases vitality, gives
self-confidence in case of danger, and exercises all the muscles in the
body at one time. As an aid to development of the muscular system, it
excels other sports. Every muscle is brought into play.
In other important ways it is a useful, and even a necessary
accomplishment; no one knows when he may be called upon for a practical
test of its merits. The _Slocum_ steamboat catastrophe in the East
River, New York, several years ago, gave a melancholy example of what
better knowledge of swimming might have done to save the lives of
passengers. That awful tragedy, which plunged an entire city into
mourning, was too appalling to have its details revived here, but,
regardless of the fact that the life-preservers on board were found
unfit for use, the loss of life would have been made much smaller had
the unfortunate passengers known how to keep their heads above water
until help arrived. Millions of people are transported yearly by river
craft, and just for lack of knowledge of how to swim a repetition of
the _Slocum_ disaster might occur any summer.
Only about 20 per cent. of the entire population of the United States
know how to swim. A visit to any of the beaches along the Atlantic coast
will convince any one of this fact. There is no excuse for this
ignorance, especially in a city like New York, with miles of water front
and fine beaches at its very door; nor is there excuse in other places
where an ocean, lakes and rivers afford opportunities for swimming.
Swimming is a tonic alike for muscle and brain. The smallest child and
the weakest woman can enjoy it equally with the strongest man. When
slaves of the desk and counting-house are looking forward for an all too
brief vacation and seek the mountains or seashore to store up energy for
another year's work, they should know how to swim. Poor, indeed, is the
region which can not boast of a piece of water in which to take an
invigorating plunge.
The importance of being able to swim was very generally recognized in
ancient times, notably by the Romans. Roman youth, as early as the
Republican era, when trained to bear arms, were made to include in
their exercises bathing and swimming in the Tiber, where competitions
were frequent. Cassius in his youth became renowned as a swimmer.
Shakespeare, in a familiar passage, describes a race between him and
Julius Cæsar, Cassius being made the speaker:
"I was born free as Cæsar; so were you:
We both have fed as well, and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores,
Cæsar said to me, 'Dar'st thou, Cassius, now,
Leap in with me into this angry flood
And swim to yonder point?' Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow; so, indeed he did.
The torrent roared; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside
And stemming it with hearts of controversy;
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæsar cried, 'Help me, Cassius, or I sink.'
I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tiber
Did I the tired Cæsar: And this man
Is now become a god."
Macaulay, in one of his "Lays of Ancient Rome," describes the scene
which followed after Horatius had been left alone to face the troops of
Lars Porsena, his codefenders having escaped across the bridge:
"Never, I ween, did swimmer,
In such an evil case,
Struggle through such a raging flood
Safe to the landing place,
But his limbs were borne up bravely,
By the brave heart within,
And our good father Tiber
Bore bravely up his chin."
It was not until the nineteenth century that swimming really became a
science. In fact, it was only within the last half-century that a real
awakening to its importance occurred. At the present day swimming has
come to be regarded as an indispensable adjunct to the education of the
young. In many parts of Europe it forms part of the school curriculum.
Of such paramount importance is it there held to be that, on entering
the army, the first thing taught a young recruit is swimming. On this
side of the Atlantic its importance is becoming more evident daily.
That the benefits to be derived from it have manifested themselves to
municipalities is evidenced by the fact that, in addition to free
swimming baths on the water front of New York in summer, there have been
established several indoor bathing pavilions which are open and
accessible all the year round.
Swimming, aside from its importance as a possible means to
self-preservation in case of shipwreck, the upsetting of pleasure-boats,
or any of the numerous accidents that so frequently happen on the water,
and also, on occasion, as a means of saving life, is not only one of the
best physical exercises known, but when one swims for exercise he is
also conscious of receiving great pleasure. Most other forms of
exercise, after they have been participated in for some time, are apt to
become something like efforts, or even hardships. Swimming, on the other
hand, continues to be exhilarating.
Unfortunately, those who have been best able to teach the science of
swimming, because of having technical knowledge and proficiency, have
not made systematic attempts to disseminate knowledge through scientific
methods. In this respect the author claims to differ with most other
instructors. He has endeavored, in this work, to treat the subject
scientifically and to use simple and concise language. His success as a
teacher is attested by thousands of pupils who have acquired the
principles of a system long known as the Dalton system.
LEARNING BY THE BOOK
The question is often asked whether it is possible for a person to learn
to swim by studying a book or a series of articles. Much depends on the
person. In the case of a very nervous person, it is improbable that this
may be satisfactorily accomplished, for it is then absolutely necessary
that a pupil must have an instructor, in order, at the start, to obviate
dread of the water.
Where this dread of water or nervousness does not exist in any marked
degree, study of a work such as this may be of unlimited advantage. By
carefully following its instructions it will be possible to become a
very fair swimmer without the aid of an instructor or any second person.
Naturally, it is not claimed that a majority of such self-taught
swimmers will ever become experts at the art, altho even this is
possible in a great many cases; but there is a moral certainty that,
with the exception of the aforementioned nervous beginners, a fair
knowledge of the science of swimming may be attained in this manner.
Numbers of very good swimmers have had no other tuition than which came
from study of a book. Especially is this true when following the
directions outlined in this book in the matter, first, of practising
keeping the eyes and mouth open under water, which will eliminate all
nervousness; and, second, in practising the movements used in the breast
and back strokes, which are of inestimable aid when actually taking to
the water.
Of course, where the swimmer desires to attain true scientific knowledge
of the art, the beginner needs the aid of an instructor who may watch
for and correct any faults noticeable, for the simple reason that bad
habits once contracted are more difficult to eliminate later on.
If the lessons herein set forth are carefully followed, there is no
reason why, with the exceptions before mentioned, one should not become
a good swimmer.