Dung Fungus. _Agaricus fimetarius._
Dedicated to _St. Gerard_.
~September 25.~
_S. Ceolfrid_, Abbot, A. D. 716. _St. Barr_, or _Finbarr_, first Bp.
of Cork, 6th Cent. _St. Firmin_, Bp. of Amiens, 3d Cent. _St.
Aunaire_, Bp. of Auxerre, A. D. 605.
_Gymnastics._
A late distinguished senator said in parliament, “man is born to
_labour_ as the sparks fly upwards.” This observation is founded on a
thorough knowledge of the destiny from which none can escape. The idle
are always unhappy, nor can even mental vigour be preserved without
bodily exercise. Neither he who has attained to inordinate wealth, nor
he who has reached the greatest heights of human intellect is exempt
from the decree, that every man must “_work_ for his living.” If the
“gentleman” does not work to maintain his family, he must work to
maintain his life; hence he walks, rides, hunts, shoots, and travels,
and occupies his limbs as well as his mind; hence noblemen amuse
themselves at the turning lathe, and the workman’s bench, or become mail
coachmen, or “cutter-lads:” and hence sovereigns sometimes “play at
being workmen,” or, what is worse, at the “game” of war.
Without exercise the body becomes enfeebled, and the mind loses its
tension. Corporeal inactivity cannot be persisted in even with the aid
of medicine, without symptoms of an asthenic state. From this deliquium
the patient must be relieved in spite of his perverseness, or he becomes
a maniac or a corpse. Partial remedies render him “a nervous man;” his
only effectual relief is bodily exercise.
Exercise in the open air is indispensable, and many who walk in the wide
and rapidly extending wilderness of the metropolis have sufficient; but,
to some, the exercise of walking is not enough for carrying on the
business of life; while others, whose avocations are sedentary, scarcely
come under the denomination of sesquipedalians. These resort to
stretching out the arms, kicking, hopping, what _they_ call “jumping,”
running up and down a pair of stairs, sparring, or playing with the dumb
bells: these substitutes may assist, but, alone, they are inadequate to
the preservation of health.
Some years ago a work on gymnastics, by Salzmann, was translated from
the German into English. Its precepts were unaided by example; it
produced a sensation, people talked about it at the time, and agreed
that the bodily exercises it prescribed were good, but nobody took them,
and gymnastics, though frequently thought upon, have not until lately
been practised. In the first sheet of the _Every-Day Book_ public
attention was called to this subject, and since them Mr. Voelker, a
native of Germany, has opened a gymnasium at No. 1, Union-place, in the
New-road, near the Regent’s-park; and another at Mr. Fontaine’s
riding-school, Worship-street, Finsbury-square. The editor of this work
has visited Mr. Voelker’s gymnasium in the New-road; and with a view to
public benefit, and because they will operate a new feature in manners,
he promulgates the information that such institutions are established.
Mr. Voelker’s prospectus of his establishment is judicious. He contends
that while education has been exclusively directed to the developement
of the mental faculties, the bodily powers have been entirely neglected.
“The intimate connection between mind and body has not been sufficiently
considered; for who does not know, from his own experience, that the
mind uniformly participates in the condition of the body; that it is
cheerful, when the body is strong and healthy; and depressed, when the
body is languid and unhealthy?”
Mr. Voelker refers to Xenophon, and to the great promoters of education
in modern times, namely, Locke, Rousseau, Campe, Basedow, Pestalozzi,
and Fellenberg, as authorities for the use of gymnastics; but he says it
was reserved for professor Jahn to be the restorer of this long-lost
art. In 1810, he established a gymnasium at Berlin; and the number of
his pupils, consisting of boys, youth, and men, soon increased to
several thousands. His ardent zeal and indefatigable exertion, and his
powerful and persuasive appeals to his pupils, had such an effect, that
all vied with each other in endeavouring to render their bodies strong
and active. But the rising of the German people, in 1813, suddenly
changed the cheerful game into a serious combat. Professor Jahn, and
such of his pupils as were capable of bearing arms, (many of these being
but fourteen years of age,) joined the volunteers of Lutzen. But few
lived to revisit the place, where they had prepared themselves for
enduring the hardships of war. Most of these young heroes covered the
fields of battle with their corpses from the gates of Berlin to the
capital of their enemies. The exercises, however, were resumed at
Berlin, and had spread through several other towns, when the campaign of
1815 caused a new, but short interruption.
“As a pupil of Jahn’s,” says Mr. Voelker, “I also had the honour of
serving among the volunteers. The campaign being finished, I returned to
my studies: and when I thought myself sufficiently qualified for the
duties of a teacher, I commenced them in 1818. At first I established
gymnastic exercises at the academy of Eisenach, and in the university of
Tubingen. In these establishments, as in all others where similar
exercises had been introduced by professor Jahn or his pupils, a new
vigour was imparted to the scholars. Boys, youths, and men, soon found
more pleasure in exercises which strengthened the powers of their body,
than in pleasures which render it effeminate and weak. By the
consciousness of increased vigour, the mind, too, was powerfully
excited, and strove for equal perfection; and each of the pupils had
always before his eyes, as the object of his exertions, _mens sana in
corpore sano_. Even men indolent by nature were irresistibly carried
away by the zeal of their comrades. Weakly and sick persons, too,
recovered their health; and these exercises were, perhaps, the only
effectual remedy that could have been found for their complaints. The
judgment of physicians, in all places where these exercises were
introduced, concurred in their favourable effect upon health; and
parents and teachers uniformly testified, that by them their sons and
pupils, like all other young men who cultivated them, had become more
open and free, and more graceful in their deportment. Fortune led me to
the celebrated establishment of M. Von Fellenberg; and this great
philosopher, and at the same time practical educator, gave the high
authority of his approbation to the gymnastic science. It would not
become me to state how I have laboured in the academy of that gentleman;
but the recommendations with which he and others have favoured me, and
also the testimonials, for which I am indebted to them, sufficiently
prove that I do not set too high a value upon the utility of this branch
of education. After I had established this system of education there, I
accepted an invitation as professor at the Canton school at Chur, which
I received from the government of the Canton. My exertions there had the
same result as in other establishments, as is fully shown by the
testimonials of the government. The thanks which I received from so many
of my pupils, the testimonials from the directors of those
establishments in which I have taught, my own consciousness of not
having worked in vain, and the invitations of some friends, emboldened
me to come forward in England, also, with gymnastics, on the plan of
professor Jahn, and animate me with the confidence that here, too, my
endeavours will not be fruitless.”
* * * * *
The subscription to professor Voelker’s gymnasium in the New-road and at
Worship-street is, for one month, 1_l._; for three months, 2_l._ 10_s._;
for six months, 4_l._; for a twelvemonth, six guineas: or an association
of twenty gentlemen may pay each 2_l._ for three, and 3_l._ for six
months. Pupils from boarding-schools pay each 2_l._ for three, and 3_l._
for six months; but a number together pay each 1_l._ 10_s._ for three,
2_l._ 10_s._ for six, and 4_l._ for twelve months. Pupils not taking
lessons with the other pupils, pay a guinea for every lesson. Twelve
lessons may be had when convenient for 1_l._ 10_s._
_The Exercises._
I. The preliminary exercises serve principally to strengthen the arms
and legs, and to increase their activity, to give the body a graceful
carriage, to accustom it to labour, and thus prepare it for the other
exercises.
II. Running for a length of time, and with celerity. If the pupil
follows the prescribed rules, and is not deterred by a little fatigue in
the first six lessons, he will soon be able to run three English miles
in from twenty to twenty-five minutes. Some of Mr. V.’s pupils have been
able to run for two hours incessantly, and without being much out of
breath.
III. Leaping in distance and height, with and without a pole. Every
pupil will soon convince himself to what degree the strength of the
arms, the energy of the muscles of the feet, and good carriage of the
body, are increased by leaping, particularly with a pole. Almost every
one learns in a short time to leap his own height, and some of the
pupils have been able to leap ten or eleven feet high. It is equally
easy to learn to leap horizontally over a space three times the length
of the body; even four times that length has been attained.
IV. Climbing up masts, ropes, and ladders. Every pupil will soon learn
to climb up a mast, rope, or ladder of twenty-four feet high; and after
six months’ exercise, even of thirty-four or thirty-six feet. The use of
this exercise is very great in strengthening the arms.
V. The exercises on the pole and parallel bars, serve in particular to
expand the chest, to strengthen the muscles of the breast and small of
the back, and to make the latter flexible. In a short time, every pupil
will be enabled to perform exercises of which he could not have thought
himself capable, provided that he do not deviate from the prescribed
course and rules.
VI. Vaulting, which is considered one of the principal exercises for the
increase of strength, activity, good carriage of the body, and courage,
which employs and improves the powers of almost all parts of the body,
and has hitherto always been taught as an art by itself, is brought to
some perfection in three months.
VII. Fencing with the broad sword, throwing lances, wrestling, and many
other exercises.
All these exercises so differ from one another, that generally those
parts of the body which are employed in one, rest in another. Every
lesson occupies from one hour and a half to two hours, its length
depending on the degree of labour required for the exercises practised
in it.
* * * * *
In the New-road, lessons are given on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and
Saturday, from six to eight o’clock, A. M., or on Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Friday, from six to eight o’clock, P. M. Young pupils are instructed
every day from eight to nine o’clock, A. M.
At Worship-street, the lessons are given on Mondays, Thursdays, and
Saturdays, from seven to nine o’clock in the evening.
* * * * *
The drawing for this article was made by Mr. George Cruikshank, after
his personal observation of Mr. Voelker’s gymnasium in the New-road: it
was engraved by Mr. H. White.
* * * * *
_To the Editor of the Every-Day Book._
Sir,
You, who have so long and so ably instructed us in the amusements of our
ancestors, will not, I hope, neglect to give publicity to a new species
of amusement which is not only pleasant in itself, but absolutely
necessary in this overgrown metropolis. I allude to the gymnastic
exercises which have lately been introduced from Germany into this
country. They are as yet but little known, and some portion of that
prejudice exists against them which invariably attends a new discovery:
fortunately, however, it is in the power of the _Editor of the Every-Day
Book_ to combat the former by a simple notice, while the latter will be
much shaken if it be known that these exercises are approved by him.
An inhabitant of London need only look out of his own window to see
practical illustrations of the necessity of these exercises. How often
do we see a young man with an intelligent but very pale countenance,
whose legs have hardly strength to support the weight of his bent and
emaciated body. He once probably was a strong and active boy, but he
came to London, shut himself up in an office, took no exercise because
he was not obliged to take any; grew nervous and bilious; took a great
deal of medical advice and physic; took every thing in fact but the true
remedy, exercise; and may probably still linger out a few years of
wretched existence, when death will be welcomed as his best friend.
This, though an extreme case, is a very common one, and the unfortunate
beings who approximate to it in a considerable degree are still more
numerous. Many of the miseries and diseases of young and old, male and
female, in this city, may be traced eventually to want of exercise. Give
us pure air, and we can exist with comparatively little exercise; but
bad air and no exercise at all, are poisons of a very active
description.
These exercises are so contrived that they exert equally every part of
the body without straining or tiring any; and I speak from my own
experience, when I say that after two hours’ practice in professor
Voelker’s gymnasium, opposite Mary-le-bone church in the new
Paddington-road, I am not more fatigued than when I entered it, and feel
an agreeable glow of body, and flow of spirits, which walking or riding
does not create. I, as well as some other pupils, have two or three
miles to walk to the gymnasium; we have the option of going morning or
evening, and we do not find the walk and two hours of the exercises
before breakfast, fatigue us or incapacitate us in the slightest degree
from going through our customary avocations. I should also add that in
bodily strength I am under, rather than above, par.
[Illustration: ~Voelker’s Gymnastics.~]
It is not easy to describe these exercises to those who have not seen
them. They consist: First, Of preliminary exercises of the hands and
legs, which give force and agility to those members, and prepare the
body for the other exercises. Secondly, Horizontal parallel bars, from
three to five feet high, according to the size of the pupil, on which he
raises his body by the arms, and swings his legs over in a variety of
directions: this exercise opens the chest, and gives great strength to
the muscles of the arms and body. Thirdly, The horizontal round pole
supported by posts from five to eight feet high, according to the height
of the performer. An endless variety of exercises may be performed on
this pole, such as raising the body by the arms, going from one end to
the other by the hands alone, vaulting, swinging the body over in all
directions, &c. &c. Fourthly, The horse, a large wooden block shaped
like the body of a horse--the pupils jump upon and over this
much-enduring animal in many ways. Fifthly, Leaping in height and
distance with and without poles. Sixthly, Climbing masts, ropes, and
ladders of various heighths. Seventhly, Throwing lances, running with
celerity and for a length of time, hopping, &c. &c. &c. It is, moreover,
in our option to take whatever portion of the exercises we may find most
agreeable.
The improvement which the gentlemen who practise these exercises
experience in health (not to mention strength, agility, and grace,) is
very considerable, and altogether wonderful in several who have entered
in a feeble and sickly state. This, one would think, would be sufficient
to prove that the exercises are not attended with danger, even were I
not to mention that I have not seen a single accident. Neither is their
utility necessarily confined to boyhood, as several gentlemen upwards of
forty can clearly testify; nor does the pleasure of practising them
depart with the novelty, but always increases with proficiency and time.
The expense the professor has already incurred in providing implements
and adequate accommodation has been very considerable, and his terms are
so moderate that a small number of pupils cannot possibly remunerate
him; it is therefore to be hoped, no less for his sake than for our own,
that he should meet with encouragement in this city.
With respect to the professor himself he has every quality that can
recommend him to his pupils. The grace with which he performs the
exercises is only equalled by his attention and care, and his mild and
unassuming manners have won the hearts of all who know him. His pupils
feel grateful not only for the benefits they have themselves received,
but for the advantage that is likely to accrue to the country from the
introduction of these wholesome, athletic amusements.