Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/226

216 I know nothing of the ſcapbandre of M. de la Chapelle.

I know by experience that it is a great comfort to a ſwimmer, who has a conſiderable diſtance to go, to turn himſelf ſometimes on his back, and to vary in other reſpects the means of procuring a progreſſive motion. When he is ſeized with the cramp in the leg, the method of driving it away is to give to the parts affected ſudden, vigorous, and violent ſhock; which he may do in the air as he ſwims on his back.

During the great heats of ſummer there is no danger in bathing, however warm we may be, in rivers which have been thoroughly warmed by the ſun. But to throw oneſelf into cold ſpring water, when the body has been heated in the ſun, is an imprudence Which may prove fatal. I once knew an inſtance of four young men, who having worked at harveſt in the heat of the day, with a view of refreshing themſelves plunged into a ſpring of cold Water: two died upon the ſpot, a third the next morning, and the fourth recovered with great difficulty. A copious draught of cold water, in ſimilar circumſtances, is frequently attended with the fame effect in North America.

The exerciſe of ſwimming is one of the moſt healthy and agreeable in the world. After having ſwam for ah hour or two in the evening, one ſleeps coolly the whole night, even during the moſt ardent heat of ſummer. Perhaps the pores being cleanſed, the inſenſible perſpiration increaſes and occaſions this coolneſs.—It is certain that much ſwimming is the means of ſtopping a diarrhœa, and even of producing a conſtipation. With reſpect to thoſe who do not know how to