An Introductory Course of Modern Gymnastic Exercises (extract)

GYMNASTICS. » N INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. I n a work like the present, which professes to be ex­ clusively practical, any lengthened inquiry into the scientific principles of Gymnastics would be out of place. It is not probable, however, that any objec­ tions will be made to a few remarks, explanatory, his­ torical, and recommendatory. The meaning of the word Gymnastics, and its deri­ vation, may be learned by the curious, if they take the trouble to turn up any respectable dictionary. It is at present sufficient for our purpose to remark, that, in the wider and more vague sense in which it is used in common 'parlance, it indicates every exercise of the body which tends to invigorate anddevelop fts powers. Walking, running, riding, fencing, rowing, skating, dancing,—in short, every motion is a branch of the practice of Gymnastics. Like the " Bourgeois Gentil- homme," who spokeprose forty years without knowing it, we find upon reflection that we have all our lives been unconsciously practising Gymnastics. In a narrower sense, Gymnastics expresses those a