In the infantry the amount of aneurism is slightly below that of the other arms, but not much so. The hard work in the infantry is the running drill when the weights are carried, bayonet exercise, and long marches; but though severe, it is not so excessive as to lead us to think it would do injury to strong men if all circumstances were favorable.

During war the amount of labor undergone is sometimes excessive, as will be clear from what is said in the next section, and in the rapid campaigns of modern times, very young and weakly men are soon exhausted.

A soldier requires to be trained for the ordeal of active service, and this is now done in our army by a series of gymnastic exercises and systematic marches, intended to develop every muscle, to make the artillery or the cavalry man able to vault on his horse, and the foot soldier to run and to escalade, and to march great distances without fatigue.

Gymnastic Exercises.-All military nations have used in their armies a system of athletic exercises. The Greeks commenced such exercises when the increase of cities had given rise to a certain amount of sedentary life. The Romans began to use athletic training in the early days of the Republic, entirely with a view to military efficiency. The exercises were continuous, and were not alternated with periods of complete idleness.

The officers exercised with the men. At a later day, we are told that Marius never missed a single day at the Campus Martius; and Pompey is said by Sallust to have been able at fifty-eight years of age to run, jump, and carry a load as well as the most robust soldier in his army.

Swimming was especially taught by the Romans, and so essential were the gymnastic exercises deemed that, to express that a man was completely ignorant, it was said "he knew neither how to read nor swim." The gymnastic exercises were the last of the old customs which disappeared before the increasing luxury of the latter empire.

In the feudal times the practice of the weapons was the best gymnastic exercise; every peasant in England was obliged to practise with the bow; the noblemen underwent an enormous amount of exercise, both with and without arms, and on foot and horseback.

After the invention of gunpowder the qualities of strength and agility became of less importance for the soldier, and athletic training was discontinued everywhere. But within the last few years the changing conditions of modern warfare have again demanded from the soldier a degree of endurance and of rapidity of movement which the wars of the eighteenth century did not require. And the population generally of this country have of late years become alive to the necessity of compensating, by some artificial system of muscular exercise, the sedentary life which so many lead.

In our own time, the first regular gymnasium appears to have been established at Schwefental, in Saxony, by Saltzmann, with a view of giving health to the body, strengthening certain muscles, and remedying deformities. About sixty years ago Ling also commenced in Sweden the system of movements which have made his name so celebrated. Switzerland, Spain, and France followed, and of late years in Germany many gymnastic societies (Turner-Verein) have been founded in almost all the great cities, and the literature of gymnasticism is now a large one. In our own country, the outdoor and vigorous life led by the richer classes, and by many working men, rendered this movement less necessary, but of late years societies have been formed, gymnasia established, and athletic sports encouraged in many places.

Among armies, the Swedish and Prussian were the first to attempt the

physical training of their soldiers. France followed in 1845, and ever since a complete system of gymnastic instruction has been carried on in the French army, and a military gymnastic-school exists at Vincennes, where instructors for the army are taught.

In the English army this matter attracted less attention until after the Crimean war, when the establishment of gymnasia as a means of training and recreation were among some of the many reforms projected by Lord Herbert. In 1859 General Hamilton and Sir G. Logan, lately DirectorGeneral of the Army Medical Department, were sent over to inspect the systems in use on the Continent, and presented a very interesting Report, which was subsequently published. A grant of money was immediately taken for a gymnasium at Aldershot, and this has now been in operation for several years, under the direction of Colonel Hammersley, with most satisfactory results. Gymnasia are now ordered to be built at all the large stations, and a complete code of instructions, drawn up by Mr. Maclaren of Oxford, is published by authority.'

The instructions have two great objects-1st, To assist the physical development of the recruit; 2d, To strengthen and render supple the frame of the trained soldier. Every recruit is now ordered to have three months' gymnastic training during (or, if judged expedient by a medical officer, in lieu of part of) his ordinary drill. Two months are given before he commences rifle practice, and one month afterward. This training is superintended by a medical officer, who will be responsible that it is done properly, and who will have the power to continue the exercises beyond the prescribed time, if he deems it necessary. The exercise for the recruit is to last only one hour a day, and in addition he will have from two to three hours of ordinary drill.

The trained infantry soldier is ordered to go through a gymnastic course of three months' duration every year, one hour being given every other day. The cavalry soldier is to be taught fencing and sword exercise in lieu of gymnastics.

The "Code of Instructions" drawn up by Mr. Maclaren consists of two parts, elementary and advanced exercises. The exercises have been arranged with very great care, and present a progressive course of the most useful kind. The early exercise commences with walking and running; leaping, with and without the pole, follows; and then the exercises with apparatus commence, the order being the horizontal beam, the vaulting bar, and the vaulting horse. All these are called exercises of progression. The elementary exercises follow, viz., with the parallel bars, the pair of rings, the row of rings, the elastic ladder, the horizontal bar, the bridge ladder, and the ladder plank. Then follow the advanced exercises of climbing on the slanting and vertical pole, the slanting and vertical rope, and the knotted rope.

Finally, the most advanced exercises consist of escalading, first against a wall, and then against a prepared building.

In the French army swimming and singing are also taught. Both are very useful; the singing is encouraged, not as a matter of amusement (though it is very useful in this way), but as a means of improving the lungs.

1

Swimming should be considered an essential part of the soldier's edu

Gymnastic Exercises, etc., 1877. Mr. Maclaren has also published two other works of great utility; a System of Training and Physical Education. This last work should be in the hands of every one.

cation, and it is probable that it will be systematically taught in the English army.

Robert Jackson very strongly recommended that dancing should be taught and encouraged. There is sound sense in this; a spirited dance brings into play many muscles, and in a well-aired room is as good an exercise as can be taken. It would also be an amusement for the men.

Duties of the Officer in the Gymnasium.

The "Medical Regulations" order the inspecting medical officer and surgeon to visit, and advise on the kind and amount of gymnastic exercises. The "Queen's Regulations" (section 10, para. 8) order a strict medical examination of each man before the instruction is commenced. During the course further inspections are to be made-of the recruits once a fortnight, of trained soldiers monthly. The measurements of the recruit are also to be taken under the direction of the medical officer. The following points should be attended in regard to-

1. Recruits. The recruit is inspected from time to time, to see if the system agrees with him.

But in

(a) Weight.-The weight of the body should be ascertained at the beginning and end of the course, and during it, if the recruit in any way complains. With sufficient food recruits almost always gain in weight, therefore any loss of weight should at once call for strict inquiry. It may be the recruit is being overdone, and more rest may be necessary. order to avoid the greatest error, the weights must be carefully taken; if they are taken at all times of the day, without regard to food, exercise, etc., accuracy is impossible; there may be 2 lb or 3 Ib variation. The physiological practice during experiments is to take the weight the first thing in the morning before breakfast, and after emptying the bladder. If it cannot be done at this time, scarcely any reliance can be placed on the result. Food alone may raise the weight 2 lb or 3 lb, and we cannot be sure that the same quantity of food is taken daily. The clothes, also, must be remembered; men should be weighed naked if possible, if not, in their trousers only, and always in the same dress.

(b) Height. This is usually taken in the erect position. Dr. Aitken' recommends it to be taken when the body is stretched on a horizontal plane. A series of experiments on both plans would be very desirable.

(c) Girth of Chest.-The chest is measured to ascertain its absolute size, and its amount of expansion.

It is best measured when the man stands at attention, with the arms hanging; and the tape should pass round the nipple line. The double tape (the junction being placed on the spine) is a great improvement over the single tape, as it measures the sides separately, and with practice can be done as quickly.

The chest should be measured in the fullest expiration and fullest inspiration. If the chest is measured with the arms extended, or over the head, the scapula may throw out the tape from the side of the chest.

(d) The Inspiratory Power, as expressed by the spirometer, may also be employed.

(e) Growth of Muscles.-This is known by feeling the muscles when relaxed and in action, and by measurements. upper arm should be taken either when the

The measurement of the arm is bent over the most

1 On the Growth of the Recruit, p. 68.

prominent part of the biceps, or over the thickest part when the arm is extended.

(f) General Condition of Health.-Digestion, sleep, complexion, etc. The recruit should also be inspected during the time of exercise, to watch the effect on his heart, lungs, and muscles. In commencing training the great point is to educate, so to speak, the heart and lungs to perform suddenly, without injury, a great amount of work. To do this there is nothing better than practice in running and jumping. It is astonishing what effect this soon has. If possible, the increase in the number of respirations after running 200 or 300 yards should be noted on the first day, as this gives a standard by which to judge of the subsequent improvement. But as it would be impossible and a waste of time to do this with all the men, directly the run is ended the men should range in line, and the medical officer should pass rapidly down and pick out the men whose respiration is most hurried. In all the exercises the least difficulty of respiration should cause the exercise to be suspended for four or five minutes.' The heart should be watched; the characters indicating the necessity for rest or easier work are excessive rapidity (130-160), smallness, inequality, and irregularity.

Soreness of muscles after the exercise, or great weariness, should be inquired into. It would be well every now and then to try the inguinal and femoral rings during exertion and coughing.

One very important part in gymnastic training depends on the instructor. A good instructor varies the work constantly, and never urges a man to undue or repeated exertion. If the particular exercise cannot be done by any man it should be left for the time. Anything like urging or jeering by the rest of the men should be strictly discountenanced. The instructor should pass rapidly from exercise to exercise, so that a great variety of muscles may be brought into play for a short time each, and as the men work in classes, and all cannot be acting at once, there is necessarily a good deal of rest.

The grand rule for an instructor is, then, change of work and sufficient rest.

In the case of a recruit who has not been used to much physical exertion, the greatest care must be taken to give plenty of rest during the exercises. There may even seem to be an undue proportion of rest for the first fortnight, but it is really not lost time. The medical officer is only directed to visit the gymnasium once a fortnight, but during the first fortnight of the training of a batch of recruits he should visit it every day.

With proper care men are very seldom injured in gymnasia. Dr. Parkes was informed at Vincennes that, though they did not take men unless they were certified as fit by a medical officer, they occasionally got men with "delicate chests," though not absolutely diseased. These men always improved marvellously during the six months they remained at Vincennes. In fact, a regulated course of gymnastics is well known to be an important remedial measure in threatened phthisis. Hernia is never caused at Vincennes. Nor does it appear that any age is too great to be benefited by

1 In the training of horses the points always attended to are--the very gradual increase of the exercise; gentle walking is persevered in for a long time, then slow gallops; then, as the horse gains wind and strength, quicker gallops; but the horse is never distressed, and a boy would be dismissed from a stable if it were known that the horse he was riding showed, by sighing, or in any other way, that the speed was too great for him.

VOL. II.-17

gymnastics, though in old men the condition of the heart and vessels (as to rigidity) should be looked to.

Trained Soldiers.-There is less occasion for care with these men; they should, however, be examined from time to time, and any great hurry of respiration noted. The man should be called out from the class, his heart examined, and some relaxation advised if necessary.

Drills and Marches.

In drill, and during marches, the movements of the soldiers are to a certain extent constrained. In the attitude of "attention" the heels are close together, the toes turned out at an angle of 60°, the arms hang close by the sides, the thumbs close to the forefingers, and on a line with the seam of the trousers. The position is not a secure one, as the basis of support is small, and in the manual and platoon exercise the constant shifting of the weight changes the centre of gravity every moment, so that constant muscular action is necessary to maintain the equilibrium. Men are therefore seldom kept long under attention, but are told to "stand at ease" and "stand easy," in which cases, and especially in the latter, the feet are farther apart and the muscles are less constrained.

In marching the attitude is still stiff-it is the position of attention, as it were, put into motion. The slight lateral movement which the easy walker makes when he brings the centre of gravity alternately over each foot, and the slight rotatory motion which the trunk makes on the hipjoint, is restrained as far as it can be, though it cannot be altogether avoided, as is proved by observing the light swaying motion of a line of even very steady men marching at quick time. Marching is certainly much more fatiguing than free walking; and in the French army, and by many commanding officers in our own, the men are allowed to walk easily and disconnectedly, except when closed up for any special purpose. This may not look so striking to the eye of a novice, but to the real soldier, whose object is at the end of a long march to have his men so fresh that, if necessary, they could go at once into action, such easy marching is seen to be really more soldier-like than the constrained attitudes which lead so much sooner to the loss of the soldier's strength and activity.

In walking, the heel touches the ground first, and then rapidly the rest of the foot, and the great toe leaves the ground last. The soldier, in some countries, is taught to place the foot almost flat on the ground, but this is a mistake, as the body loses in part the advantage of the buffer-like mechanism of the heel. The toes are turned out at an angle of about 30% to 45°, and at each step the leg advances forward and a little outward; the centre of gravity, which is between the navel and the pubis, about in a line with the promontory of the sacrum (Weber), is constantly shifting. It has been supposed that it would be of advantage to keep the foot quite straight, or to turn the toes a little in, and to let the feet advance almost in a line with each other. But the advantage of keeping the feet apart and the toes turned out, is that, first, the feet can advance in a straight line, which is obviously the action of the great vasti muscles in front of the thigh; and, second, when the body is brought over the foot, the turned-out toes give a much broader base of support than when the foot is straight. The spring from the great toe may perhaps be a little greater when the foot is straight (although this is doubtful, and there seems no reason why the gastrocnemii and solei should contract better in this position), but there is a loss of