268 



The Review of Reviews. 



September 1, 1906 



THE FOUNDER OF THE SWEDISH SYSTEM OF 

 GYMNASTICS. 



Inspired by the successes of the Swedish athletes 

 at the Olympic Games at Athens, there is an in- 

 teresting character-sketch by Sally Hogstrom, in 

 Varia, of Pehr Henrik Ling, the founder of that 

 system of gymnastics and physical culture which has 

 gained for Sweden a world-wide reputation. Pehr 

 Henrik Ling came of a good, tough old farmers' 

 stock, and could trace his ancestry back to the end 

 of the fifteenth century. A centur)- or so later the 

 family had become merged in the learned clerical 

 class, and then took the name of Ling. Pehr was 

 born at Ljunga Parsonage, in Smaland, on Novem- 

 ber 15th, 1776. The youngest of six children, he 

 was left fatherless at the age of four, and a couple 

 of years later was motherless also. But shortly 

 before her death, his mother had given him a good 

 and wise stepfather in the person of the new vicar 

 of the parish, to whom, in the dedication of one of 

 his literary works — for Ling was poet and dramatist 

 also — he expresses his indebtedness and gratitude. 



From his mother he inherited an extreme sensi- 

 tiveness, from his father a peculiar harshness. Other 

 characteristics he had, of course ; some self-ac- 

 quired, others inborn — self-denial, a hasty, restless 

 temperament, pride, perseverance, and an indomit- 

 able will. His stepfather wished to make a parson 

 of him. This was against his will, and the head- 

 strong youth, not wishing to kill himself by direct 

 act, but hoping to contract some illness which would 

 result in his death, went one bitterlv cold night, 

 ven,- thinly clad, for a long walk. He onlv caught a 

 cold in the head, and this, it seems, induced his 

 first reflections on the human bodv and its powers 

 of endurance. Symptoms of paralysis — the result 

 of a severe cold — which revealed themselves later on 

 in his right arm, led his thoughts to curative gym- 

 nastics and to fencing, in which art he soon became 

 a master, far excelling his Copenhagen teacher, 

 Xachtegall. He conquered the incipient paralysis, 

 and acquired for himself arms of steel with the 

 flexibility of a spring. 



As the originator of his gymnastic svstem he had 

 the whole medical phalanx against him, as well as 

 the prejudice of the people, who had so far found 

 themselves able to live and die without any such 

 capers. Fanatic, madman, charlatan, acrobat, were 

 common terms for the man now known and hon- 

 oured in other lands as well as his own. He laughed 

 and kept on his way, encouraged bv his own calm 

 convictions as well as by the fact that he had the 

 young on his side and was their idol. To the last 

 he kept a youthful temperament, which endeared 

 him to them the more. 



As poet and dramatist, it mav be said of Ling 

 that he revealed in his writings a sincere, ardent, 

 and lofn- purpose which inspired other and abler 

 pens as well as chisels, and thus brought into being 

 masterpieces of poetn- and sculpture which other- 



wise the world might never have seen. His own 

 aim, after all, was by word and work to teach his 

 fellow-creatures how to so perfect the human body 

 that it should truly serve its mission as the splen- 

 didly worthy instrument of the soul. And in poetry he 

 longed to do for the North of the future what 

 Homer did for the Greece of old. He dreamed of 

 an epic of Northern nature, myth, saga, and song 

 which should inspire the future patriot, poet, 

 painter and sculptor. Before his death, which took 

 place on Easter Sunday, 1839, he had won honours 

 and medals and renown, but he was no lover of 

 such glories, shunning ostentation and praise, and 

 finding his rew-ard in the success of his work. 



ROMAN ART. 



In the New York Arcliiiectural Record for June, 

 Jean Schopfer begins an interesting article on 

 •■ Roman Art." In the present instalment he com- 

 pares Greek and Roman Art and Architecture: — 



Bomestic architecture scarcely existed for the Greeks, 

 and it, produced no work deserving of our attention. The 

 Eoman houses, on the other hand, are of the deepest in- 

 terest, architecturally and historically. They show ns the 

 Roman spirit at its best — practical, ingenious, and aiming 

 at largeness and solidity in architecttire. 



But, to have an edifice really representative of the 

 Eoman spirit, we must not take a private house, for with 

 the Roman there was one consideration which dominated 

 all others— namely, public utility. He was a citizen of 

 Rome first, and a private individual afterwards. 



In the Thermse the Romans combined all their 

 remarkable qualities — a conception of the big and 

 monumental, with a true notion of what is practical 

 and a taste for comfort— but they were not refined 

 artists, and they lacked the delicate taste of the 

 Greeks. 



In Greek architecture the decoration was exe- 

 cuted before it was put in place. In Roman architec- 

 ture the building work and the decoration are in- 

 dependent of each other. The decoration was 

 placed over the brick casing, and for models the 

 Romans took the masterpieces left by the Greeks 

 and stuck them all over their own edifices. The 

 column in the Greek temple carries the entablature 

 which bears the whole roof : the Roman column 

 supports nothing. In Greek art the decoration 

 fonns an integral part of the building : in the 

 Roman method it disguises the construction, 



SIR W. ANSON ON FEEDING SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



In the Econnmic Journal Sir William Anson dis- 

 cusses the provision of food for school children in 

 public elementan' schools. He adduces several 

 reasons wh\- local authorities should not be per- 

 mitted to provide meals for all, or even for some. 

 He says : — 



It would seera that Tolnntary agencies are able to find 

 the necessary funds. Of this the report of the committee 

 on the Medical Inspection and Feeding of Children leaves 

 little doubt, and if the gratuitous provision of meals is 

 limited to the case of the children whose parents are in 

 temporary distress, if those parents who could pay and 



