What is gymnastics? / By Jakob Bolin.

  • Bolin, Jakob, 1863-1914.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What is gymnastics? / By Jakob Bolin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ming, skating’, coasting, sailing, etc. These terms were practically synonymous with a free and happy active out-of-door life, enlivened by sports. Is it so with these terms to-day? When the Swedish “gymnastik” and the German “Turnen,” which by Jahn has been substituted for Guts Muths’ original term, clashed in later years, efforts. were made on both sides to emphasize the differences rather than to point out the similarities. Rothstein and his fol- lowers, among whom might be quoted at least one promi- nent representative of the Swedish system in the United States, accused their opponents of “picnicking,” while the latter criticized the Swedes for laying all stress on the formal movements, none on pleasure and youthful animation. To find what grounds there were for these mutual accusations and their explanations it is necessary to look over the historical development of physical education, the forces which drove Jahn and Ling to their work, and to see how far the conditions had changed at the time of Rothstein. France was mistress of Europe. Her political power was at its height. Her king and ministers practically framed the laws for the whole continent. Her armies marched victorious from one end of Europe to the other at will. Her language made inroads not only at the courts, but in polite society everywhere. Her thinkers and men of letters dominated far outside the political borders. French customs spread rapidly over Europe. She, in brief, threatened by her power to crush the inde- pendent national life, the national culture everywhere. No wonder, then, that patriotic men in many countries saw the diminishing influence of their own nationalities with sorrow and indignation, and arose, spontaneously
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