Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1883-08-14

doned the platform and settled in Bos-
ton, Mass, to establish his Normal School
for Physical Training. Obtaining an Act
Of Incorporation from the Massachuset' s
Legislature, he placed his scheme befol q
the celebrated DR.. Walter Charming, DR..
Thomas Hoskins and other we'll known
medical men. The two gentlemen named
and others entered heartily into the work {.
DR.. Charming and DR.. Hoskins both be-
came active teachers or Professors in DR..
Lewis's school. Within seven years MOI e
than four hundred persons were gradu-
ated from the Boston Normal School, and
bearing its diploma, with the name OF
bio Lewis as its President, went out into
all the land, teaching the new school Ct
physical training. Among these gradu-
ates was that admirable gentleman and
scholar, Moses Colt Tyler, now Professor
in Cornell University. He went abroad,
remaining several years in London in
introducing the Dio Lewis Gymnast-
ics." Professor Tyler's lectures and his
contributions to the English magazines
on the new school Of body culture, con-
stitute the finest portion Of the literature
Of the new movement. In one Of Prof.
Tylers papers, in a leading English mag
azine, occurs this paragraph:
1.-The movement of thought in Amer
lea toward physical culture is thus organ
lied upon profound and abiding basis.
An impulse has been given which Vi
brates through a population of twenty
millions the impulse cannot die.
And of this vast and befcial movement,
bio Lewis stand clearly at the head. To
him the people are looking as to an apos-
tie and guide. He has inaugurated in
America a great national reform, as dis
tinct, as influential, as glorious, as that
which was wrought in Germany by Salz-
man and jain, or in Sweden BY the poet
and gymnasiarch Ling"
Another interesting phase of DR.. Dio
Lewis's work is to be found in the great
seminary which he established at Lexing-
ton, Mass.
His object was to illustrate the posi-
bilities in the physical development OF
girls during their school life. His build
ings accommodating 200 persons. were
placed upon the first battlefield of the
Revolutionary War. A large corps Of
the best teachers in mathematics, scien.
ces, languages, belle lettres, and music
to be found in the country were engaged,
and the opening announced. The school
son grew to one hundred and fifty young
women, gathered from all parts Of the
country, including the Pacific Coast,
Central America, and the West Indies.
They came to see what could be done by
the new methods for their nervous enfee.
bled bodies. The marvellous triumphs
Of this institution during the years which
Dr.. Lewis devoted to its management, he
gives In the North american Review for
December, 1882. A he says in that
paper, hundreds Of grateful parents are
familiar with the facts. Girls who came
unable to ascend q single fight OF steps,
without suffering, In few months were
able to walk FIVE or ten miles without in
convenience.
In the course Of his twenty-five years
residence in Boston, DR.. Lewis published
nine volumes on the various aspects ct
the human body, some Of which, like
Sour Girls" "Our Digestion" and
"Weak Lungs" have had enormous
sales.
Dr. Lewis has now removed to the city
of New York. to establish large month
ly magazine. to be called "Dio LeiOis's
Monthly" and to be devoted to Sanitary
and Social Science. This will be the
browning work Of his long life Of labor in
the interest of better bodies for American
man and women.