PHYSICAL CULTURE IN FRANCE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 50, 27 August 1924, Page 9

PHYSICAL CULTURE IN FRANCE

I- -.- :■", :'.,,':'—,,♦ ':. '■■■:':'. '■; ' ' --j ■■■/.' A GREAT REVIVAL. ; ' CtttOM OUK. OWN CORRESPONDENT.).', ; . .-■ ..?-■ ■■.'■. ; LONDON, 19th July. ~"s Mr. F. A- Hornibrook spent a_week or two in Paris during: the ■progress of the.Olympic .Games, and'amon? other things has returned with a very' high opinion of the physical culture methods of the ( .French;-.. -He visited 'Joinville,' which is -the Aldersho't of France, , and studied the military methods of training.- . :. ' ■ -: : . .:■■; ■ .■■•■;• _ - Genyian methods, he maintains, have been: imported into..' -English military, training to some-.extent, and now we have the Guards imitating, the goose step. \ln France . they 'concentrate on the slow .movements .first .of all- to build up muscle and strength, and then the-work is. to produce agility. Like the English army they have' a great, many games in their training programme, and they are going in forboiing .very much: The; punches and guards have been -made a matter of drill. There are orthopaedic clynics for the curiri" of flat chests, flat feet, and treatment of spinal curvature. '. .

_ Not only in the'- army, but among civilians/there seems to have been a great physical, culture revival. In the large towns t the .municipalities, have their gymnasia. In addition thero are excellent' journals, dealing with every form of sport—boxing, -wrestling, swimming, road racing, and .bicycling." In the restaurants amongst young", men the conversation concerns sport and athletics just as much as it does among the young men of, the Dominions.

A thing that is very much in favour of the Fi-ench as an/athletic race is their eating ,and cooking. The proper ' use of. vegetables/ and the fact that' the mid-day meal is a ceremony that is performed leisurely, the ..drinking of wine instead of spirits, and the absence' of drunkenness, are all matters which help, to, keep tho nation physically fit The" French athlete continue to' drink light wine during his training. On the other hand/the Finns, are all total ab-\ stainers. •■-.'.-•

lhe. French business man," said Mr. Hornibrook, ' "like- the American^ business man goes in for physical training a Kreat deal, but whereas the former takes two hours for his lunch,, the latter swallows it in a few minutes.1 The result is that the American swallows more patent medicines in a day than a Frenchman, does in a year."

.i.';-A papyrus now bein X translated indicates that tho early' Ej*yptiaiis were fiuniImr : with trephining the skull, draining of jaw ulcers, and sottin X ' of fracturos. It wid be _ a long time before- t,!> o whoio manuscript Aas been deciphered-