Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/227

217 ſwim, or who are affected with a diarrhœa at a ſeaſon which does not permit them to uſe that exerciſe, a warm bath, by cleanſing and purifying the ſkin, is found very ſalutary, and often effects a radical cure. I ſpeak from my own experience, frequently repeated, and that of others to whom I have recommended this. You will not be diſpleaſed if I conclude theſe haſty remarks by informing you, that as the ordinary method of ſwimming is reduced to the act of rowing with the arms and legs, and is conſequently a laborious and fatiguing operation when the ſpace of water to be croſſed is conſiderable; there is a method in which a ſwimmer may paſs to great diſtances with much facility, by means of a ſail. This diſcovery I fortunately made by accident, and in the following manner.

When I was a boy I amuſed myfelf one day with flying a paper kite; and approaching the bank of a pond, which was near a mile broad, I tied the ſtring to a ſtake, and the kite aſcended to a very conſiderable height above the pond, while I was ſwimming. In a little time, being deſirous of amuſing myſelf with my kite, and enjoying at the ſame time the pleaſure of ſwimming, I returned; and looſing from the ſtake the ſtring with the little ſtick which was faſtened to it, went again into the water, where I found that, lying on my back and holding the ſtick in my hands, I was drawn along the ſurface of the water in a very agreeable manner. Having then engaged another boy to carry my clothes round the pond, to a place which I pointed out to him on the other ſide, I began to croſs the pond with my kite, which carried me quite over without the leaſt fatigue, and with the greateſt pleaſure imaginable. I was only obliged occaſionally to halt a little in my courſe, and reſiſt its progreſs,