William Henry

“ In a rough sea the swimmer should not attempt to breast the waves, but as each wave rises he should swim through, thereby saving himself from buffeting, which if long continued would cause insensibility or else great waste of physical power. When using a boat for bathing the best way is to dive from the stern, to which some steps or a rope ladder should be fixed, in order to aid the swimmer when getting in again. Failing these being at hand, the best way is to lay hold of the stern with both hands and then, making a hard rising kick, raise the body till it rests on the edge of the hips. ”

“ When a drowning person is not struggling, but yet seems likely to do so when approached, the best method of rescue is to swim straight up, turn him on his back, and then place the hands on either side of his face. Then the rescuer should lie on his back, holding the drowning man in front of him, and swim with the back stroke, always taking care to keep the man’s face above water (fig. 5) . If the man be struggling and in a condition difficult to manage, he should be turned on his back as before, and a firm hold taken of his arms just above his elbows. ”

“ In the event of accidentally getting hold of a bed of weeds, the swimmer should cease kicking and work with the arms, and the current will then take him through. If he tries to swim the weeds will entangle his legs and put him in an awkward plight. If he be carried away by a current in a river, he should select a spot on either bank and swim diagonally towards it, never minding where he has left bis clothes. When in the sea, the conditions are not always the same, though the general rule of swimming diagonally for shore also applies. ”

“ If there be pain or difficulty in breathing, apply a hot linseed meal poultice to the chest. On the restoration of life, a teaspoonful of warm water should be given; and then, if the power of swallowing has returned, very small quantities of wine, warm brandy and water, beef tea or coffee administered, the patient kept in bed, and a disposition to sleep encouraged. The patient should be carefully watched for some time to see that breathing does not fail, and, should any signs of failure appear, artificial respiration should at once be resumed. ”

“ One of the most dangerous clutches is that round the body and arms or round the body only. When so tackled the rescuer should lean well over the drowning person, take a breath as before, and either withdraw both arms in an upward direction in front of his body, or else act in the same way as when releasing oneself when clutched round the neck. In any case one hand must be placed on the drowning man’s shoulder, and the palm of the other hand against his chin, and at the same time one knee should be brought up against the lower part of his chest. ”

“ A player who has been wilfully fouled within 4 yds. of his opponent’s goal line is given a penalty throw, and the consequence is that a close match is often won by reason of a player deliberately breaking the rules when his goal is hotly assailed. In ordinary fouls the ball must touch another player before a goal can be scored, but in penalty throws it need not. Any player throwing the ball over his own goal line concedes a corner throw to the other side, but if an opposing player sends it over it is a free throw for the goalkeeper. ”

“ When approaching a drowning man there is always the danger of being clutched, but a swimmer who knows the right way to deal with a man in the water can easily avoid this; but if through some mistake he finds himself seized by the drowning person, a necessary thing for the swimmer to do is to take advantage of his knowledge of the water and keep uppermost, as this weakens the drowning person and makes the effort of effecting a release much easier than would otherwise be the case. ”

“ Once under the surface it is only necessary to keep the head depressed and swim by means of the breast stroke in order to find the object of search. When about to rise to the surface, the head should be turned backwards with the eyes upwards, and a vigorous stroke made with arms and legs. Plunging is not very generally practised, though there is a championship for it. A plunge is a standing dive made head first from a firm take off, free from spring. The body must be kept motionless face downwards, no progressive movement must be imparted other than the action of the dive. ”

“ Provided no sign of life can be seen or felt or the heart’s action heard, promotion of breathing, not circulation must be the first aim and effort. Lay the patient flat on his back, with the head at a slightly higher level than the feet. Remove all tight clothing about the neck, chest and abdomen, and loosen the braces, belts or corsets. The operator taking his place at the head, with an assistant on one side, will turn the patient over until he is lying face downwards, his head resting upon one arm. ”

“ At one time the side stroke was the great racing stroke; the body being placed on the side, the upper arm worked from the head to the upper side of the body, the lower arm taken down- wards through the water to the underside of the body and a scissor-like kick made with the legs; but this has now been generally given up in favour of the over-arm, trudgen and crawl strokes.
In the over-arm stroke the body is usually turned on the right side. ”

“ All rough usage should be avoided, especially twisting or bending of limbs, and the patient must not be allowed to remain on the back unless the tongue is pulled forward. In the event of respiration not being entirely suspended when a person is lifted out of the water, it may not be necessary to imitate breathing, but natural respiration may be assisted by the application of an irritant substance to the nostrils and tickling the nose. Smelling-salts, pepper and snuff may be used, or hot and cold water alternately dashed on the face or chest. ”

“ Since then public baths have been erected all over Great Britain and Ireland, and bath swimming has become, by reason of the lack of reasonable open water accommodation, the principal means of the teaching of the young. But open water swimming, and more particularly swimming in the sea, is the best training and practice for tbose who really love the art, because they arc able to swim under normal climatic conditions, instead of in tepid water. Many persons in England bathe in the open all the year round, notably in the Serpentine in London, on the sea-coast and in various inland waters. ”

“ At the start the lower arm is pulled downwards towards the hips, the fingers being kept closed and the hand flat, so as to present a large surface to the water. When the stroke is finished the hand is turned quickly palm upwards, so that together with the lower part of the arm it cuts the water sideways, the arm being almost bent double. Then, as it is shot forward, the hand is' gradually turned from palm upwards to palm downwards, until, when it arrives at its position beyond the head, it is ready for the next stroke. ”

“ It is important that the public should understand that the evolution of a method which will probably be the means of saving thousands of lives has resulted from the painless sacrifice of less than 40 dogs, a number which would doubtless in any case have been destroyed by drowning or some other form of suffocation, but without the benefit of the anaesthetics which were employed in the experiments. ”

“ Deliberately wasting time, starting before the word “Go,” taking up a position within 2 yds. of the opponent's goal, changing position after the whistle has blown for a free throw or other similar stoppage of play, or deliberately splashing an opponent in the face, are all held to be wilful fouls. Whenever the whistle blows for fouls the players have to remain in their respective places until the ball has left the hand of the player to whom the free throw was awarded. ”

“ In still water the bubbles rise perpendicularly; in running water they rise obliquely, so that the rescuer must look for his object higher up the stream than where the bubbles rise. It is also well to remember that in running water a body may be carried along by the current and must be looked for in the direction in which it flows. ”

“ To the fastest swimmer is usually assigned the place of centre-forward, and it is his duty to make all headway possible so as to reach the ball before the opposing forward of the other side, then pass rapidly back to the half or one of the backs and swim on to within close proximity of the opponent's goal and wait for a pass. The other forwards should rapidly follow him up and each man carefully shadow one of the opposing side. ”

“ To the Royal Life Saving Society in England is due the credit of disseminating, throughout the entire world, the ideas of swimmers, based on practical experience, as to the safest methods which should be adopted for release and rescue, and their methods, as well as the approved ones for resuscitation, are now taught in almost every school and college. ”

“ For sea bathing, however, it is far better, no matter how good a swimmer one may be, to have a boat in attendance. Before bathing in any strange place, the swimmer should make himself acquainted with the currents and the direction of the tide. When the tide is going out the course should be made along the coast, close in shore. ”

“ The assistant at the head pays particular attention to the patient’s arms, that they may not be laid upon or twisted at the wrists, elbows, hands or shoulders. The patient is then turned face downwards, with the body reclining over the pillow, the operator makes a firm pressure with the hand upon the back, between and on the shoulder blades, he then pulls the patient slowly up on to the side towards himself. Once in position, the operator pushes the patient back again until the face is downward, when the pressure on the back is to be repeated. ”

“ There is a penalty area, 4 yds. from each goal-post, and the imaginary line across the bath is not allowed to be passed by the respective goalkeepers, otherwise they commit a foul. They may stand to defend their goal, touch the ball with both hands or jump from the bottom to play the ball, but in all other respects the same rules as to fouls apply to them as to other players. In any case they are not allowed to throw the ball beyond half-distance. If they do so the opposing side is awarded a free throw. ”

“ If the arms be difficult to grasp, or the struggling so violent as to prevent a firm hold, the rescuer should slip his hands under the armpits of the drowning person, and place them on his chest or round his arms, then raise them at right angles to his body, thus placing the drowning person completely in his power. ”

“ Whilst one person is carrying out artificial respiration in this way, others may, if there be opportunity, busy themselves with applying hot flannels to the body and limbs, and hot bottles to the feet, but no attempt should be made to remove the wet clothing or to give any restoratives by the mouth until natural breathing has recommenced. ”

“ For fouls which the referee considers to have been committed wilfully there are very severe penalties, and those guilty of them are ordered out of the water until a goal has been scored, thus for the time being crippling the side. ”

“ Simple means are often as effective as the official ones. In 1891 a subject was restored in Australia by being held over a smoky fire, which is the native method of restoring life; while a few years back, at an English riverside town, a patient was saved by the placing of a handkerchief over his mouth and the alternate blowing into and drawing air out of the lungs until natural breathing was restored. ”

“ The teaching of swimming has been taken up in schools, and where the work is well done it is customary to use a form of land drill so as to impress upon the pupils some idea of the motions which have to be made in order to progress through the water. ”

“ The owner of Baynard’s Castle, London, in the reign of John, had powers of trying criminals, and his descendants long afterwards claimed the privileges, the most valued of which was the right of drowning in the Thames traitors taken within their jurisdiction. Drowning was the punishment ordained by Richard Cœur de Lion for any soldier of his army who killed a fellow-crusader during the passage to the Holy Land. Drowning was usually reserved for women as being the least brutal form of death-penalty, but occasionally a male criminal was so executed as a matter of favour. ”

“ There have been cases in which beginners have demonstrated some ability in the art upon their first immersion in deep water, but generally speaking it is an art which has to be acquired. For many years Great Britain held the supremacy in this particular form of athletics, but conti- nental, Australian and American swimmers have so much improved and have developed such speedy strokes, that the claim can no longer be maintained. ”

“ These methods have now been superseded by the Schäfer method, which has been taken up by the Royal Life Saving Society, a body instituted in 1891 for the promotion of technical education in life saving and resuscitation of the apparently drowned. The Schäfer method has much to recommend it, owing to its extreme simplicity and the ease with which the physical operations necessary to carry on artificial respiration may be performed, hardly any muscular exertion being required. ”

“ Dribbling or striking the ball is held to be not holding, but lifting, carrying, pressing under water or placing the hand under or over the ball when actually touching, is holding; dribbling up the bath and through the posts is permissible. ”

“ When a person gets under water and cannot swim, there is a natural tendency to struggle, and in the efforts to respire water is drawn into the windpipe and cough is brought on. This expels the air from the lungs with the water which threatened to suffocate him, and as further efforts are made to respire more water is taken in and has to be swallowed. Meanwhile, the oxygen in the lungs is gradually diminishing, the quantity of carbonic acid is increasing, and at length the air in the lungs becomes too impure to effect an exchange with the blood. ”