_Gymnastics._
§ 65. Gymnastics is the art of systematic training of the muscular
system. The action of the voluntary muscles, which are regulated by the
nerves of the brain, in distinction from the involuntary automatic
muscles depending on the spinal cord, while they are the means of man's
intercourse with the external world, at the same time re-act upon the
automatic muscles in digestion and sensation. Since the movement of the
muscular fibres consists in the change of contraction and expansion, it
follows that Gymnastics must bring about a change of movement which
shall both contract and expand the muscles.
§ 66. The system of gymnastic exercise of any nation corresponds always
to its way of fighting. So long as this consists in the personal
struggle of a hand-to-hand contest, Gymnastics will seek to increase as
much as possible individual strength and adroitness. As soon as the
far-reaching missiles projected from fire-arms become the centre of all
the operations of war, the individual is lost in a body of men, out of
which he emerges only relatively in sharp-shooting, in the charge, in
single contests, and in the retreat. Because of this incorporation of
the individual in the one great whole, and because of the resulting
unimportance of personal bravery, modern Gymnastics can never be the
same as it was in ancient times, even putting out of view the fact that
the subjectiveness of the modern spirit is too great to allow it to
devote so much attention to the care of the body, and the admiration of
its beauty, as was given by the Greeks.
--The Turners' unions and halls in Germany belong to the period of
subjective enthusiasm of the German student population, and had a
political significance. At present, they have been brought back to their
proper place as an Educational means, and they are of great value,
especially in large cities. Among the mountains, and even in the country
towns, a special institution for bodily exercise is less necessary, for
the matter takes care of itself. The attractions of the situation and
the games help to foster it. In great cities, however, the houses are
often destitute of halls or open places where the children can take
exercise in their leisure moments. In these cities, therefore, there
must be some gymnastic hall where the sense of fellowship may be
developed. Gymnastics are not so essential for girls. In its place,
dancing is sufficient, and gymnastics should be employed for them only
where there exists any special weakness or deformity, when they may be
used as a restorative or preservative. They are not to become Amazons.
The boy, on the contrary, needs to acquire the feeling of
good-fellowship. It is true that the school develops this in a measure,
but not fully, because it determines the standing of the boy through his
intellectual ambition. The academical youth will not take much interest
in special gymnastics unless he can gain preëminence therein. Running,
leaping, climbing, and lifting, are too meaningless for their more
mature spirits. They can take a lively interest only in the exercises
which have a warlike character. With the Prussians, and some other
German states, the art of Gymnastics identifies itself with military
concerns.--
§ 67. The real idea of Gymnastics must always be that the spirit shall
rule over its naturalness, and shall make this an energetic and docile
servant of its will. Strength and adroitness must unite and become
confident skill. Strength, carried to its extreme produces the athlete;
adroitness, to its extreme, the acrobat. Pedagogics must avoid both. All
immense force, fit only for display, must be held as far away as the
idea of teaching Gymnastics with the motive of utility; e.g. that by
swimming one may save his life when he falls into the water, &c. Among
other things, this may also be a consequence; but the principle in
general must always remain: the necessity of the spirit of subjecting
its organism of the body to the condition of a perfect means, so that it
may never find itself limited by it.
§ 68. Gymnastic exercises form a series from simple to compound. There
appears to be so much arbitrariness in them that it is always very
agreeable to the mind to find, on nearer inspection, some reason. The
movements are (1) of the lower, (2) of the upper extremities; (3) of the
whole body, with relative striking out, now of the upper, now of the
lower extremities. We distinguish, therefore, foot, arm, and trunk
movements.
§ 69. (1) The first series of foot-movements is the most important, and
conditions the carriage of all the rest of the body. They are (_a_)
walking; (_b_) running; (_c_) leaping: each of these being capable of
modifications, as the high and the low leap, the prolonged and the quick
run. Sometimes we give to these different names, according to the means
used, as walking on stilts; skating; leaping with a staff, or by means
of the hands, as vaulting. Dancing is only the art of the graceful
mingling of these movements; and balancing, only one form of walking.
§ 70. (2) The second series embraces the arm-movements, and it repeats
also the movements of the first series. It includes (_a_) lifting; (_b_)
swinging; (_c_) throwing. All pole and bar practice comes under lifting,
also climbing and carrying. Under throwing, come quoit and
ball-throwing, and nine-pin playing. All these movements are
distinguished from each other, not only quantitatively but also
qualitatively, in the position of the stretched and bent muscles; e.g.
running is something different from quick walking.
§ 71. (3) The third series, or that of movements of the whole body,
differs from the preceding two, which should precede it, in this, that
it brings the organism into contact with a living object, which it has
to overcome through its own activity. This object is sometimes an
element, sometimes an animal, sometimes a man. Our divisions then are
(_a_) swimming; (_b_) riding; (_c_) fighting, or single combat. In
swimming, one must conquer the yielding liquid material of water by arm
and foot movements. The resistance met on account of currents and waves
may be very great, but it is still that of a will-less and passive
object. But in riding man has to deal with a self-willed being whose
vitality calls forth not only his strength but also his intelligence and
courage. The exercise is therefore very complicated, and the rider must
be able perpetually to individualize it according to the necessity; at
the same time, he must give attention not only to the horse, but to the
nature of the ground and the entire surroundings. But it is only in the
struggle with men that Gymnastics reaches its highest point, for in this
man offers himself as a living antagonist to man and brings him into
danger. It is no longer the spontaneous activity of an unreasoning
existence; it is the resistance and attack of intelligence itself with
which he has to deal. Fighting, or single combat, is the truly
chivalrous exercise, and this may be combined with horsemanship.
--In the single combat there is found also a qualitative modification,
whence we have three systems: (_a_) boxing and wrestling; (_b_) fencing
with sticks; and (_c_) rapier and broad-sword fencing. In the first,
which was cultivated to its highest point among the Greeks, direct
immediateness rules. In the boxing of the English, a sailor-like
propensity of this nation, fist-fighting is still retained as a custom.
Fencing with a stick is found among the French mechanics, the so-called
_compagnons_. Men often use the cane in their contests; it is a sort of
refined club. When we use the sword or rapier, the weapon becomes
deadly. The Southern Europeans excel in the use of the rapier, the
Germans in that of the sword. But the art of single combat is much
degenerated, and the pistol-duel, through its increasing frequency,
proves this degeneration.--