Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/865

* SWIFT. 755 SWINBURNE. land transcendpntalism. Xoteworthy also is a monograph on Massachusetts Election Utrmons. SWIMMING (from saciin, AS., OUG. swim- man, Ult. sell ici III III (It, to swim; connected with Goth, su-umsl, pond, and ultimately with Eny. snijiin/). The act by which an animal piogiessea in the water. Aian is the only animal who doea not swim naturally, yet keeping the head above the water is an act which most human beings may easily learn. The swimming of quadrupeds amounts simply to walking in the water, whereas man has adopt- ed many kinds of stroke besides the dog-jiaddle method by which most land animals propel them- selves. These methods involve swimming on the breast, with a broail sweep of the arms and a frog-like motion of the legs; swimming on the sidS, and swiiimiing on the back. He has also learned to float and to tread water. In the lat- ter case the body is held in a perpendicular position and the hands and feet beat down- ward. The old side stroke is the favorite style for long-distance racing. It consists of three alternate motions, an underarm and an over- arm stroke, and a scissors leg stroke, coming be- tween the two arm strokes. The Trudgeon stroke is a form of swimming introduced into England a few years ago from the South Pacific. This is now very popular among all civilized swimmers, and is one of the fastest of all strokes for short distances. It consists of alternate overhead strokes, with a frog kick simultaneous with one of the arm strokes, the body swimming on the belly. A modification of this stroke was intro- duced a few years ago by Alexander Jlefl'ert, the famous American amateur mile-champion^ in which the head and forearm are kept submerged as the body is pushed forward, the body being turned from the waist and the face brought above the water as the body cheeks between strokes. This style of swimming admits of freer animation and obviates any cramped position of the head. It is used by some of the best Ameri- can swimmers. The home of organized shimming is England. International swimming races between the vari- ous parts of the United Kingdom are held an- nually, the universities of Oxford and Cambridge include swimming on the list of inter-university sports, and inter-eollegiate competitions take place within the universities themselves. An amalgamation of clubs in 1809 first brought swimming under organized control, and this asso- ciation developed, under several successive names, into the Amateur Swimming Association in 1886. England and the Australian colonies easily head the world in feat swimmers. In ad- dition to the Amateur Swimming Association, great practical good has come to the art by the establishment of classes of already good .swim- mers to be further instructed in the methods of rescuing drowning persons, and resuscitating those apparently exhausted. Diving has been carried to a greater degree of perfection in Swe- den than in any other country. Usually the English practice has been confined to the stand- ing or mnning dive wilh the succeeding under- water swim, a very iiseful accomplishment where life-saving is the object, as the body thereby en- ters the water with a strong impulse and in the line of the desired direction : but in Sweden the dive from platforms from forty to sixty feet above the surface, singly and in platoons, and either directly or horizontally, or with inter- mediate somersaults, has been developed. In the I niled States, the e»t is ahead of the East both in general interest and j>articipa- tion, especially bcyontl tlie Kockies, where several world's records have been approached. The lirst championship races were held in 1877 by the New York Athletic Club, and were annual there- after up to 1888, excepting the years lS7'J-82. In 1888 the management was cedeil to the Ama- teur Athletic Union. In ISnti an indoor meet was added. The development in time nuide is shown in the record of the first meet in 1877, when R. Weissenborn won the mile in 45.44',1, a quarter of a minute slower than the present American record. The 100-yard event was estab- lished at the third meetj 1883, when A. F. Camacho won in 1.28 '4. Water polo is a department of swimming that has become veiy popular since it was first recog- nized as a sport, and there are leagues and na- tional and international championsliips in Ire- land, England, and Scotlaml (where the game is called water football), Wales, the United States, Canada, India, Australia, and Xew Zea- land. It is played with an Association foot- ball (the round ball) in a bath or open water by seven swinnners on each side. The goals are from 19 to .30 yards apart with goal posts at each end. The game is started by the referee throwing the ball into the centre between the line of teams. The ball can be hit or thrown by any player providing he is not standing ;ind only iises one hand. Fouls arc awarded for vari- ous breaches of rules, the penalty being a free throw for the opposing party. The duration of the game is 14 minutes, 7 each way; a goal is scored when the ball passes through the goal posts and luidcr the cross bar. SWIN'BUENE, Algernon Charles (1S37 — ). An English poet, son of .-Vdmiral Charles Henry Swinburne and Lady Henrietta ,Tane, daughter of the third Earl of Ashburnham. He was born in London, Ajnil .i, 1837, and was edu- cated at Eton and at Balliol College, Oxford. There he contributed prose and verse to Under- graduate Papers, ed. by John Nichol. After three years he left Oxford (1860) without a degree and traveled on the Continent, visiting Landor at Florence (18G4). Returning to England, he be- came closely associated with his brother ro- mantics, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Jlorris. Having written The Queen Mother and liosamond (1860), two dramas recalling the fire of the Elizabethan age, he published Atalanta in Calydoii (186.5), a beautiful lyric drama cast in the mold of ancient tragedy. The next year he awakened violent criticism with Poems and JiaUads. To his assailants Swinburne re- plied with unmeasured scorn in "Sotes on Poems and Reiicirs (1866). Besides the few pieces that reasonably disturbed the moralists, the vol- ume contained melodious lyrics covering a wide range of motives, Hebrew, Greek, and mediirval. Swinburne now composed a series of eloquent odes, which won universal attention and again exposed him to censure. Beginning with "A Song of Italy" (1867), they reach a point where "the heights flash" in ftonf/s Before Sunri-te (1871). celebrating the conflict between darkness and dawn, tyranny and freedom In revolutionary Europe. In the meantime had appeared several lyric-i on other themes, of which the finest was