ct of this was at first not clear to me, but I afterwards discovered
that the full use of the lungs was considered by Ling a very important
part of the exercises. Altogether, it was a peculiar scene, and not
without a marked grotesque character.

On exhibiting my _matsedel_, or "bill of fare," to the first teacher who
happened to be disengaged, I received my first movement, which consisted
in being held with my back against a post, while I turned my body from
side to side against strong resistance, employing the muscles of the
chest only. I was then told to walk for five minutes before taking the
second movement. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the various
contortions I was made to perform; suffice it to say, that I felt very
sore after them, which Professor Branting considered a promising sign,
and that, at the end of a month, I was taken off the sick list and put
among the _friskas_, or healthy patients, to whom more and severer
movements, in part active, are allotted. This department was under the
special charge of Baron Vegesach, an admirable teacher, and withal a
master of fencing with the bayonet, a branch of defensive art which the
Swedes have the honour of originating. The drill of the young officers
in bayonet exercise was one of the finest things of the kind I ever saw.
I prospered so well under the Baron's tuition, that at the end of the
second month I was able to climb a smooth mast, to run up ropes with my
hands, and to perform various other previous impossibilities, while my
chest had increased an inch and a half in circumference, the addition
being solid muscle.

During the time of my attendance I could not help but notice the effect
of the discipline upon the other patients, especially the children. The
weak and listless gradually straightened themselves; the pale and sallow
took colour and lively expression; the crippled and paralytic recovered
the use of their limbs; in short, all, with the exception of two or
three hypochondriacs, exhibited a very marked improvement. The
cheerfulness and geniality which pervaded the company, and of which
Professor Branting himself was the best example, no doubt assisted the
cure. All, both teachers and pupils, met on a platform of the most
absolute equality, and willingly took turns in lending a hand wherever
it was needed. I have had my feet held up by a foreign ambassador, while
a pair of Swedish counts applied the proper degree of resistance to the
muscles of my