[1] See Sir Arthur Mitchell's _The Past in the Present_ (Edinburgh,
1880).
[2] The preparation of tow for spinning differs in essential features
from the processes above described. Tow from different sources, such
as scutching tow, hackle tow, &c. differs considerably in quality and
value, some being very impure, filled with woody shives &c., while
other kinds are comparatively open and clean. A preliminary opening
and cleaning is necessary for the dirty much-matted tows, and in
general thereafter they are passed through two carding engines called
respectively the breaker and the finisher cards till the slivers from
their processes are ready for the drawing and roving frames. In the
case of fine clean tows, on the other hand, passing through a single
carding engine may be sufficient. The processes which follow the
carding do not differ materially from those followed in the
preparation of rove from line flax.
LINEN-PRESS, a contrivance, usually of oak, for pressing sheets,
table-napkins and other linen articles, resembling a modern office
copying-press. Linen presses were made chiefly in the 17th and 18th
centuries, and are now chiefly interesting as curiosities of antique
furniture. Usually quite plain, they were occasionally carved with
characteristic Jacobean designs.
LINER, or LINE OF BATTLE SHIP, the name formerly given to a vessel
considered large enough to take part in a naval battle. The practice of
distinguishing between vessels fit, and those not fit, to "lie in a line
of battle," arose towards the end of the 17th century. In the early 18th
century all vessels of 50 guns and upwards were considered fit to lie in
a line. After the Seven Years' War (1756-63) the 50-gun ships were
rejected as too small. When the great revolutionary wars broke out the
smallest line of battle ship was of 64 guns. These also came to be
considered as too small, and later the line of battle-ships began with
those of 74 guns. The term is now replaced by "battleship"; "liner"
being the colloquial name given to the great passenger ships used on the
main lines of sea transport.
LING, PER HENRIK (1776-1839), Swedish medical-gymnastic practitioner,
son of a minister, was born at Ljunga in the south of Sweden in 1776. He
studied divinity, and took his degree in 1797, but then went abroad for
some years, first to Copenhagen, where he taught modern languages, and
then to Germany, France and England. Pecuniary straits injured his
health, and he suffered much from rheumatism, but he had acquired
meanwhile considerable proficiency in gymnastics and fencing. In 1804 he
returned to Sweden, and established himself as a teacher in these arts
at Lund, being appointed in 1805 fencing-master to the university. He
found that his daily exercises had completely restored his bodily
health, and his thoughts now turned towards applying this experience for
the benefit of others. He attended the classes on anatomy and
physiology, and went through the entire curriculum for the training of a
doctor; he then elaborated a system of gymnastics, divided into four
branches, (1) pedagogical, (2) medical, (3) military, (4) aesthetic,
which carried out his theories. After several attempts to interest the
Swedish government, Ling at last in 1813 obtained their co-operation,
and the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute, for the training of gymnastic
instructors, was opened in Stockholm, with himself as principal. The
orthodox medical practitioners were naturally opposed to the larger
claims made by Ling and his pupils respecting the cure of diseases--so
far at least as anything more than the occasional benefit of some form
of skilfully applied "massage" was concerned; but the fact that in 1831
Ling was elected a member of the Swedish General Medical Association
shows that in his own country at all events his methods were regarded as
consistent with professional recognition. Ling died in 1839, having
previously named as the repositories of his teaching his pupils Lars
Gabriel Branting (1799-1881), who succeeded him as principal of the
Institute, and Karl Augustus Georgii, who became sub-director; his son,
Hjalmar Ling (1820-1886), being for many years associated with them. All
these, together with Major Thure Brandt, who from about 1861 specialized
in the treatment of women (gynecological gymnastics), are regarded as
the pioneers of Swedish medical gymnastics.
It may be convenient to summarize here the later history of Ling's
system of medical gymnastics. A _Gymnastic Orthopaedic Institute_ at
Stockholm was founded in 1822 by Dr Nils Åkerman, and after 1827
received a government grant; and Dr Gustaf Zander elaborated a
medico-mechanical system of gymnastics, known by his name, about 1857,
and started his Zander Institute at Stockholm in 1865. At the Stockholm
Gymnastic Central Institute qualified medical men have supervised the
medical department since 1864; the course is three years (one year for
qualified doctors). Broadly speaking, there have been two streams of
development in the Swedish gymnastics founded on Ling's
beginnings--either in a conservative direction, making certain forms of
gymnastic exercises subsidiary to the prescriptions of orthodox medical
science, or else in an extremely progressive direction, making these
exercises a substitute for any other treatment, and claiming them as a
cure for disease by themselves. Modern medical science recognizes fully
the importance of properly selected exercises in preserving the body
from many ailments; but the more extreme claim, which rules out the use
of drugs in disease altogether, has naturally not been admitted. Modern
professed disciples of Ling are divided, the representative of the more
extreme section being Henrik Kellgren (b. 1837), who has a special
school and following.
Ling and his earlier assistants left no proper written account of
their treatment, and most of the literature on the subject is
repudiated by one set or other of the gymnastic practitioners. Dr
Anders Wide, M.D., of Stockholm, has published a _Handbook of Medical
Gymnastics_ (English edition, 1899), representing the more
conservative practice. Henrik Kellgren's system, which, though based
on Ling's, admittedly goes beyond it, is described in _The Elements of
Kellgren's Manual Treatment_ (1903), by Edgar F. Cyriax, who before
taking the M.D. degree at Edinburgh had passed out of the Stockholm
Institute as a "gymnastic director." See also the encyclopaedic work
on _Sweden: its People and Industry_ (1904), p. 348, edited by G.
Sundbärg for the Swedish government.
LING[1] (_Molva vulgaris_), a fish of the family Gadidae, which is
readily recognized by its long body, two dorsal fins (of which the
anterior is much shorter than the posterior), single long anal fin,
separate caudal fin, a barbel on the chin and large teeth in the lower
jaw and on the palate. Its usual length is from 3 to 4 ft., but
individuals of 5 or 6 ft. in length, and some 70 lb. in weight, have
been taken. The ling is found in the North Atlantic, from Spitzbergen
and Iceland southwards to the coast of Portugal. Its proper home is the
North Sea, especially on the coasts of Norway, Denmark, Great Britain
and Ireland, it occurs in great abundance, generally at some distance
from the land, in depths varying between 50 and 100 fathoms. During the
winter months it approaches the shores, when great numbers are caught by
means of long lines. On the American side of the Atlantic it is less
common, although generally distributed along the south coast of
Greenland and on the banks of Newfoundland. Ling is one of the most
valuable species of the cod-fish family; a certain number are consumed
fresh, but by far the greater portion are prepared for exportation to
various countries (Germany, Spain, Italy). They are either salted and
sold as "salt-fish," or split from head to tail and dried, forming, with
similarly prepared cod and coal-fish, the article of which during Lent
immense quantities are consumed in Germany and elsewhere under the name
of "stock-fish." The oil is frequently extracted from the liver and used
by the poorer classes of the coast population for the lamp or as
medicine.