The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-22

author and reformer died at his home here this
morning at o'clock. after an illness of two or
three days, from erysipelas
DR.. Dio Lewis was born at Auburn, n, Y, in
1923, studied medicine with DR.. Briggs, of that
city, took his medical course in the Harvard
Medical School, Boston, began the practice of
his profession in his native place in 1916, and
two years later removed to Buffalo, where he
practiced from 1S47 to 1852. During his resi-
dence in Buffalo he wrote anumber Of papers on
the causes and treatment of cholera, which raw
aged that city during 1S49 and 1851. These pa
pers attracted much attention, and were after.
wards published in book form.
In the autumn of 1852 Dr. Lewis took his
young wife, then seriously threatened with con-
sumption, to the South. The visit to the South.
ern States was repeated during the two follow
ing winters
During these three winters of leisure Dr.
Lewis seriously reconsidered his .life-work, and
after consultation with family and other trusted
friends. resolved to shift the switch" Since
1855 he has been engaged in lecturng and writ
ing on the subject of public and personal hy
gene. With the exception of two visits to
Europe and three summers of saddle life in the
mountains of California. he has been increasingly
His labors have been varied, interesting and
most effective. During four years he lectured
almost every night, giving his DAYS to the inven-
ton of his new system Of gymnastics. In 1860,
having completed this system, he abandoned the
platform and settled in Boston, Mass, to estab-
lish his Normal School for Physical Training
Obtaining act of incorporation from the
Massachusetts Legislature. he placed his scheme
before the celebrated DR.. Walter Claiming, Dr.
Thomas Hoskins and other we'll known medical
n ad md ofh ap on.
tered heartily into the work. DR. Claiming and
DR.. Hoskins both became active teachers or pro-
fessors in Dr. Lewis's school, Within seven
years more than four hundred persons wero
graduated from the Boston Normal School, and
bearing its diploma, with the name of Dio Lewis
as its president, went out into all the land
teaching the new school of physical training
Among these graduates was that admirable gens
tleman and scholar, Moses Colt Tyler, now pro-
fessor in Cornell University. He went abroad,
remaining several years in London introducing
the "Dio Lewis gymnastics" Professor Tyler's
lectures. and his contributions to the English
magazines on the new school of bodyculture,
constitute the finest portion of the literature OF
the new movement. In one of Prof. Tyler's pa.
pers, in a leading English magazine. occurs this
paragraph:
1.-THE movement of thought in America to-
ward physical culture is thus organized upon 4
profound and abiding basis An impulse had
been given which vbrates through population
of twenty millions this impulse cannot die
And of this vast and beneficial move
ment Dio Lewis stands clearly at the head. To
him the people are looking to apostle and
guide. He has icaugurated in America great
national reform as distinct. as influential, az
glorious as that which was wrought in Germany
by Saizman and jain. or in Sweden by the poet
and gymnasiarch, Ling"
Another interesting phase of DR.. Lewis's work
is found ia the great seminary which he estab-
lished at Lexington, Mass
His object to illustrate the possibilities in
the physical development of girls during their
school life His buildings. accommodating two
hundred persons. were placed upon the first bat
tle-f field of the Revolutionary war A large
corps of the best teachers in mathematics, sci
erces, languages. bellelettres and music to be
found in the country were engaged and the
opening announced. The school soon grew to
one hundred and fifty young women. gathered
from all parts of the country, including the Pa
cifc coast, Central America and the West Indies
They came to what could be done by the new
methods for their nervous. enfeebled bodies
The marvellous triumphs of this institution dur
ing the years which DIR. Lewis devoted to its
management he gives in the North American
Review for December. 1882 As he says In that
paper hundreds of grateful parents familiar
with the facts. Girls who came unable to ascend
q single flight of stairs without suffering in a
few months were able to walk five to ten miies
without incon venience.
In the course OF his twenty-five years resi-.
dence in Boston DR.. Lewis published nine vol
umes the various aspects of the health OF the
human body. some Of which. like sour Girls"
s'Our Digestion and Weak Lungs have had
enormous sales.