53S 



GUTTURALS. 



GYMNASTICS. 



580 



to the conclusion that amaurosia is generally of an inflammatory 

 nature, or dependent at least upon a congested state of the blood- 

 vessels. It is however unquestionably sometimes the result of an 

 opposite state, for it may be brought on by excessive or repeated losses 

 of blood, by long-continued nursing, and by other immoderate dis- 

 charges and secretions, and is sometimes the effect of mere debility. 



It may be caused by simple pressure on the optic nerve, as by the 

 growth of a tumour, or by apoplectic effusions within the head : in 

 this case it is analogous to the paralysis of a limb. A slight stroke 

 received unexpectedly upon the naked eye-ball may produce it, 

 although a violent blow when the lids are firmly closed has no such 

 consequence. In this case it is called concussion of the retina, and is 

 analogous to concussion of the brain. It may also be the instanta- 

 iieous effect of a flash of lightning. But the most frequent causes of 

 amaurosis are exposure of the eye to too bright a light, as in watching 

 an eclipse of the sun ; or over-exertion of it in laborious study, espe- 

 cially at night, or in occupations such as that of the watchmaker. The 

 Esquimaux are very subject to this complaint from the bright re- 

 flexion of their snow-fields ; and have learned by experience to guard 

 against the danger by using snow-spectacles, which are pieces of wood 

 pierced with small circular holes, bound before their eyes, so as to shut 

 out a part of the field of view. 



We cannot enter at length into the symptoms of amaurosis, which 

 vary of course with the seat, the cause, and the degree of injury. The 

 chief symptoms are a more or less rapid failure of sight, by an increas- 

 ing dilution of light with darkness (if the expression may be allowed), 

 rather than by the appearance of a cloud. Moving spots, called muscie 

 volitantes, are generally seen to flit before the eyes, especially when 

 they are closed. There is generally some degree of pain in the organ 

 itself, and in the forehead ; when the complaint arises from exhaustion, 

 it is felt chiefly towards the back of the head. Exertion of the sight 

 is always fatiguing and painful. The pupil is either preternaturally 

 large or small, and obeys the stimulus of light either not at all or very 

 sluggishly. The eyeball is sometimes too soft ; in other cases un- 

 usually firm ; or it may be of the natural degree of hardness. A 

 degree of fever is (occasionally present. If one eye becomes affected, 

 the other generally follows, especially if the cause be common to both. 

 The complaint is most usual after the middle period of life; it is 

 frequently found to affect members of the same family, and comes on 

 about the same age. Dissipation of all kinds, and especially habitual 

 inebriety, predispose to it. 



Confirmed amaurosis is seldom cured ; but in its early stages much 

 may be effected by careful and skilful treatment ; and the means 

 may generally be adapted with great precision to the nature of the 

 case, by attentive consideration of its symptoms and history. 



Depletion, aperient medicines, abstinence, and a darkened chamber, 

 must of course form a part of the treatment when the case is inflam- 

 matory : but mercury, pushed if necessary to the extent of salivation, 

 is the remedy most to be relied on ; indeed, without it, the oculist 

 would have little chance of success in any case. 



When the symptoms arise from exhaustion, an opposite plan of 

 treatment is obviously proper ; but even then the moderate action of 

 mercury is sometimes requisite. Blisters behind the ears and between 

 the shoulders are frequently of great service in both descriptions of 

 cases. In sympathetic amaurosis the attention must of course be 

 directed in the first place to the organ which is the original seat of 

 irritation. 



This complaint not (infrequently forms a complication of cataract 

 and of closed pupil ; probably from extension of the inflammation from 

 the parts of the eye affected in those disorders to the choroid coat or 

 to the retina. Operations for the cure of either of those causes of 

 blindness would be attended with no advantage in such cases, and 

 should not be undertaken. 

 GUTTURALS. [AJ.PHABET.] 



GYMNASTICS, or more properly gymnastic \(yviu>aarucl\, from the 

 word yvnv6s, naked ; it being customary among the Greeks to strip 

 themselves, wholly or in part, before engaging in bodily exercises, and 

 thence the word has been used to denote such exercises intended to 

 increase health and strength). The first notice of their employment is 

 found in the second book of the ' Iliad,' where the Grecian soldiers 

 are described as having disembarked from the ships, and playing at 

 quoits and javelin-hurling on the beach ; and again, hi the twenty- 

 third book, Achilles is represented as instituting games in honour of 

 Patroclus, whose funeral ceremonies had just been performed, and as 

 bestowing rewards on the victors in chariot-races, boxing, wrestling, 

 quoit-throwing, &c. At this tune these exercises seem to have been 

 principally practised as combining amusement with the best means 

 of obtaining bodily strength and activity ; but at a later period games 

 were 1 dedicated to the Gods, and, being regularly established, were 

 conducted with the greatest ceremony ; honourable rewards and civil 

 distinctions were publicly bestowed on the conquerors, the chief of 

 whom were deemed in no slight degree exalted above their fellow- 

 citizens. These rewards being called atlda. (SfiAa), gave origin to the 

 name of athUtte (dSATrrol,) applied to those who contended for them ; 

 a designation adopted by the Romans, and from their language intro- 

 duced into our own and others of modern Europe. 



It was just before the time of Hippocrates, as Plato in the third book 

 of his ' Politeia ' tells us, that gymnastic was made a part of medicine. 



as a means of counteracting the bad effects of increasing luxury and 

 indolence. It was gradually reduced into a complete system : public 

 buildings called gymnasia were erected for the purpose, and superin- 

 tending officers appointed by the state. The first gymnasia were built 

 by the Lacedasmonians (Plato, N<i/ioi, lib. i.), and after them by the 

 Athenians, who had three in the immediate neighbourhood of their 

 city : one, called Academia, where, attracted by the pleasant walks 

 which surrounded it, and the concourse of people of all classes who 

 daily resorted thither, Plato was in the habit of holding his conferences 

 with his pupils ; another, named Lyceum, in which Aristotle taught ; 

 and a third, called Cynosarges, which was frequented only by the lower 

 order. Those built by the Romans were on a more magnificent scale, 

 and from the extensive baths which were attached to them are not 

 unfrequently called Thermae. 



The exercises practised in the gymnasia were the following : 



Dancing, which was of various kinds. In some the movements were 

 much like those of modern tumblers ; in others, balls of various sizes 

 were thrown about in regular time from one person to another ; in 

 others, various figures and actions were gone through in imitation of 

 battles, sieges, &c., in which the military engaged in full armour. 



Wretling. This, like the former, was practised alike in the gymnastics 

 of the military, of the athlete, and of those who merely used the 

 exercise for the sake of health. The practice seems to have been much 

 like that of modern wrestling. 



Boxing. The use of boxing seems to have been confined to the 

 gymnastic practices of the military and the athletic, for neither Galen 

 nor any other writer on medical gymnastics recommends it. It was 

 practised naked, either with the open or clenched hands, or with brazen 

 or stone spheres held in them (whence <r(paipo/tax''), or with the crestus, 

 which consisted of a leathern band studded with metal knobs, wound 

 several times round the hands and wrists. A mixed exercise of boxing 

 and wrestling (like modem boxing) was also practised under the name 

 of Pancratium, but, like the two of which it was composed, it formed 

 no part of the medical gymnastics. 



Running formed a part of all gymnastic exercises. 



Leapinij.- There were various kinds. Besides jumping upwards and 

 horizontally, they used to practise springing from their knees, and with 

 heavy weights called haitiref (a\i~f)pts), which they carried in their 

 hands, or on their heads or shoulders, or even on their feet in the form 

 of leaden shoes. 



(ticiit.i. This game was played by all classes. The discus or quoit 

 was a round lens-shaped piece of stone, iron, or brass, about three or 

 four fingers thick, and nearly a foot in diameter, which was projected 

 under-hand. [Discos.] There was also an exercise similar to quoit- 

 throwing, in which the haltiret, or round bars of metal, somewhat con- 

 tracted in the middle, and very like a modern dumb-bell, were 

 employed. 



Hurling. In this the dart-javelin and many other missiles were 

 thrown over-hand, the object being, as with the quoit, to hurl to or 

 beyond a certain distance. 



In addition to these exercises, which formed the regular business 

 of the gymnasium, and which were conducted under the especial 

 direction of the state, numerous others were practised by the Greeks 

 and Romans, either at their public games, or as private amuse- 

 ments conducive to robust health, as riding, driving, swimming, 

 rowing, climbing of ropes, swinging, mock fights of various kinds, 

 standing erect for a lengthened period, holding the breath, shouting, 

 &c. The use of baths, too, formed an important part of then- hygiene : 

 they were attached to all the gymnasia, and were invariably employed 

 after exercise. [BATH.] Various officers were appointed to conduct 

 the exercises of the gymnasium. At Athens the chief officer was 

 called gymnasiarchus. It was his duty to superintend the whole 

 establishment, and all the exercises ; while the xystarchus superintended 

 the more athletic only of the exercises. There was also the gymnastes, 

 who, being skilled in medicine, was required to prescribe the kind and 

 extent of exercise which each was to use, and under him was the 

 picdotribes, whose place it was to wait on those exercising, to assist 

 and instruct them, to dispense, as Ualen says, the means which the 

 gymnastes prescribed. There were also servants set apart to each set 

 of exercises, and for anointing, for the baths, &c. 



Various causes have operated to put an end to the practice "of 

 gymnastics as a part of education and as a means of maintaining health. 

 The present mode of warfare, in which success depends so much more 

 on the science of the commander and the knowledge of gunnery, of 

 fortification , and other arts, than on the physical force of each combatant, 

 has rendered the attainment of skill in each of the branches enumerated 

 more necessary than great bodily strength or activity, and hence among 

 the military gymnastic exercises are almost entirely superseded. The 

 exercises of the athlete! are indeed preserved, and the art of training 

 is probably even better understood in the present day than it was 

 among the ancients, though the censure which the philosophers then 

 bestowed upon such training is just as applicable at the present day. 

 Plato ('Pohteia,' lib. 3) describes the athlete; as dull, listless, and 

 stupid, and subject to numerous diseases, cultivating nothing but a 

 robust body, and leaving the mind hi complete neglect ; and Galen 

 ;' De Morborum Temporibus ') speaks of them as gluttonous and heavy, 

 sleeping long and soundly, and seldom remaining in good condition for 

 more than five years. The same remark might be made of the present 



