We have, therefore, every right, on account of Ling's character and of his important life work, apart from his very good work as a poet, to include him in the number of our really great men. His worth is not diminished either by the fact that his work has been partly spoiled by others, or that he himself has been indiscriminately praised, widely advertised, and painted in false colours.

It is not Ling's fault that his picture has been made to serve as a signboard for that market where Swedish gymnastics has been offered for sale with drums and trumpets, with charlatan clamour and brag, and with crude ignorance and naivete. Unfortunately, Ling has been represented not only as the devoted, honourable, modest, industrious, and talented worker in the service of mankind which he really was, but also, what he certainly was not, as an epoch-making discoverer of a method of treatment which only his own school is able to carry out. We have already seen that both massage and gymnastics, long before the beginning of the nineteenth century, were so generally used and in all essentials so much developed that no very great "originality," nor the services of a "discoverer," were necessary to bring this simple method of treatment into use. All that Ling used had for long been in use, with the exception of some special movements, which, as Guthsmuths had already pointed out, were easy to arrange. It is certain from Ling's own writings that he knew the ancient European mechano-therapy. It would be an absurdity to assume that he did not know the French "medico-chirurgical gymnastics," in which massage was included or German gymnastics. which began to flourish during his youth and which, in spite of his criticism of it, had a great influence on his own work. For those who will not claim for their own nation more than justly belongs to it, it is not too far-fetched to consider that Swedish medical gymnastics is the offspring of German and French parents, although the child certainly attained stronger vitality than either of its parents.

Nor can it be denied that Ling's ignorance of medicine and the subjects connected with it, along with a certain want of clearness and tendency to mysticism, had a detrimental influence on his work. He was able with his conscientiousness, enthusiasm and energy to obtain good therapeutic results and to spread his treatment far and wide. But he was not able to establish it on a scientific basis and to develop it. To make clear the physiological and therapeutic effects of mechanical treatment, to set forth and limit its indications, was not within ling's power, and his own representations of these things were extremely fantastic. In his work he tried to replace knowledge of the facts relating to it by purely speculative subtleties, none of which have any independent merit. The writings of this man, in many ways so eminent, do not therefore stand ahead of his time, but even contrast unfavourably with those of many earlier writers.*

Some short extracts from Ling's work, "On the General Principles of Gymnastics," should give the reader a good idea of his standpoint. The book is divided into six parts which treat of (1) the laws of the human organism; (2, 3, 4, 5) the principles of educational, military, medical and aesthetic gymnastics; and (6) gymnastic apparatus. The first division contains what Ling certainly considered a complete philosophic system, in which three primitive forms of vital force play the chief part. These arc (p. 444) "the dynamic, in which life, as if expressing its independent existence, tries to free itself from matter, chemical and mechanical, by which life in combination with matter manifests itself; yet it seems that life is more evident in chemical power, matter in mechanical, so that both of these may be considered forms of it under different conditions." The dynamic form corresponds in the organism to the nervous system, the chemical to the circulatory, the mechanical to the muscular system. Mutual harmony between these three "agents" constitutes health. When the harmony is disturbed illness arises in such a way that "when the dynamic form is the chief agent, illness arises in the mechanical form; when the mechanical is most active, the illness takes the chemical guise; and when the chemical is the chief agent, the illness shows itself in dynamic power" (p. 523). Ling did not here feel himself to be on certain ground, but remarks that when so many learned men have made mistakes in this region his opinion, too, must be carefully revised "where necessary."

Ling reasons widely about the fundamental forms of life and their connection with diseases and their symptoms. "A disease, as cause, generally belongs to, and also manifests its sign in, one fundamental form, although the latter may not be the same as the former; we call this a one-symptomed disease. But if the cause of disease belongs to one of the fundamentmal forms, and its signs are manifested in the two other, or even three other fundamental forms, we call it many-symptomed" (pp. 519 - 520). Concerning these distressing many-symptomed diseases Ling sagely remarks that "it is generally safest to use mechanical treatment last, and to employ chemical while the patient is weakest."

* Ling had a manly, independent and warm-hearted personality, and won in a high degree the affection and esteem of his pupils. These feelings have been inherited by the present generation of Swedish gymnasts, who often regard Ling with an admiration which excludes all criticism. It is both touching and amusing to see with what reverence these gentlemen receive the greatest oddities that flowed from Ling's pen. This reverence is only increased by the fact that they, pardonably enough, do not in the least understand what their idol means, and they remind one very strongly of Peer Gynt on hearing Begriffen-felt's profundities : " Truly an extremely gifted man ! Almost all he says is beyond one's understanding." Ling's reputation for those qualities which he lacked has spread meanwhile in certain circles far beyond Sweden. For example, many years ago I came across a good-natured Spaniard (Busque y Torro in "Gimnastico higienica, medica y ortho-pedica," Madrid, 1856), who calls him "hombre erudito, de vastos conocimentos y de solida instruccion." For my part, I believe that in estimating Ling, or any one else, one does best by seeing things as they are, and I have written of him as I have done, not with a view to lower a deservedly distinguished name, but because I think a more moderate estimation of him in certain directions may render a service to physical therapeutics.