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<\/a>\u201cModern civilization, with all its wonderful applications of science and art to the increase of personal comfort and the promotion of social pleasures, tends, unfortunately, to a precocious development of both mind and body.” These modern people \u201cconstantly sin against the natural laws established by the Creator\u201d resulting in \u201cweakened frames and puny offspring.\u201d<\/p>\n
What are \u201cthe primary causes which bring on premature decline and shorten life?\u201d Inadequate, impure air \u201cand want of regular bodily exercise.\u201d These conditions . . . begin as early as the nursery and continue \u201cin the school-room, the study, the store, the shop, and the factory.\u201d The impact: a society of \u201cround-shouldered” men and “women with . . . obliquity of the spine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cure?\u00a0 Establish a natatorium \u201cfollowing the examples set in European capitals \u2014 Paris, Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, Breslau and Copenhagen.\u201d After all, \u201cswimming is not only a healthful exercise and recreation, but it is likewise an accomplishment by which life is often saved.\u201d Consider how a \u201cbold swimmer\u201d converts \u201cmoments of agonizing suspense . . . into a time of rejoicing and gratitude at the escape, through his exertions, of a fellow being from a watery grave.\u201d<\/p>\n
An authentic natatorium would recreate the thermal springs found in ancient Greece \u201cdedicated to Hercules.\u201d Its time-tested \u201crenovating powers\u201d enabled the original athletes “restoration of their strength after it was exhausted in the exhibitions of the palestrae or the circus.\u201d This modern day \u201cNatatorium and Institute for Scientific Instruction in the Improvement of the Physical Powers” was conveniently located on Broad Street, between Walnut and Locust; it opened in 1862 and remained a popular feature through the 19th<\/sup> century and into the 20th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A glimpse of an opening reception at the Natatorium after its first decade of operation: Renovations and decorated rooms greeted visitors, as did music and dancing. \u201cOn the surface of the bath reposed a small single-scull bateau, gaily painted. The galleries were festooned with evergreens, a moss basket being suspended under every loop, alternating with small American flags projecting from the balustrade, which was nearly concealed with the national colors on a larger scale. Five flags were also draped beneath the arches of the ceiling, being looped at the center of the arch with a pendant falling from that points. McClurg\u2019s Band was in attendance and enhanced with good music the brilliance of the scene.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt half-past seven o\u2019clock the bath was in readiness for the young lady pupils of [swimming master] Mr. [J. A.] Payne, the evening of the reception being the only one of the season in which the feminine eyes behold the swimming-school and gymnasium by gaslight.\u201d An hour later, \u201cthe doors were thrown open to all the invited guests, and the throng of visitors drifted upstairs to the gymnasium, whither the band speedily followed them, and the dance music proving too strong a temptation to be resisted a number of couples were soon moving over the floor in a series of waltzes, redowas and polkas that gave the crowded room very much the appearance of an impromptu ball\u201d for the four hundred guests.<\/p>\n At the fortieth anniversary in 1902, then known as Asher\u2019s Natatorium, the institution celebrated the coming summer season with “a large number of athletic society folk, both men and women . . . who witnessed a program of many unique features in the aquatic line and later indulged in an enjoyable dance.\u201d Twenty-seven young women pupils opened the program with “a highly interesting exhibition of swimming and diving. Professor George Kistler, of the University of Pennsylvania, followed with a fin demonstration of fancy strokes and high-class trick swimming. He was assisted in this demonstration by J. C. Myers. One of the most interesting features was that of swimming gracefully with both hands and feet tied.\u201d<\/p>\n What did such a demonstration prove? That the art of swimming, as the founding argument put it, was not only natural, it was essential. \u201cMan, the lord of all, and so proud of his knowledge, may be lost in a brook, if he has not learned to swim.” Why forfeit “half of his sovereignty by his not becoming amphibious?\u201d<\/p>\n Why, indeed.<\/p>\n Fitness, and swimming in particular, was the answer. And the place to begin: Philadelphia’s venerable Natatorium: \u201cthe first and only systematic swimming school in the United States\u201d where the \u201ctemperature always remains the same\u2014summer heat\u201d and where even \u201cthe most timid person\u201d could learn to swim in \u201csix to ten lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/NATATORIUM-iNTERIOR-1860-GOOGLE-BOOKS.jpg\")
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