_Musical Gymnastics._--Dancing is an important branch of physical education. Long ago Locke pointed out (_Education_, §§ 67, 196) that the effects of dancing are not confined to the body; it gives to children, he says, not mere outward gracefulness of motion, but manly thoughts and a becoming confidence. Only lately, however, has the advantage been recognized of making gymnastics attractive by connecting it with what Homer calls "the sweetest and most perfect of human enjoyments." The practical principle against heavy weights and intense monotonous exertion of particular muscles was thus stated by Samuel Smiles (_Physical Education_, p. 148):--"The greatest benefit is derived from that exercise which calls into action the greatest number of muscles, and in which the action of these is intermitted at the shortest intervals." It required only one further step to see how, if light and changing movements were desirable, music would prove a powerful stimulus to gymnastics. It touches the play-impulse, and substitutes a spontaneous flow of energy for the mechanical effort of the will. The force of imitation or contagion, one of the most valuable forces in education, is also much increased by the state of exhilaration into which dancing puts the system. This idea was embodied by Froebel in his _Kindergarten_ plan, and was developed by Jahn and Schreber in Germany, by Dio Lewis in the United States, and by Ling (the author of the _Swedish Cure Movement_) in Sweden.
AUTHORITIES.--For the old division of the _Ars Gymnastica_ into _palaestrica_ and _saltatoria_, and of the latter into _cubistica_, _sphaeristica_ and _orchestica_, see the learned work of Hieronymus Mercurialis, _De arte Gymnastica_ (Amsterdam, 1572). Cubistic was the art of throwing somersaults, and is described minutely by Tuccaro in his _Trois Dialogues_ (Paris, 1599). Sphaeristic included several complex games at ball and tilting--the Greek [Greek: kôrukos], and the Roman _trigonalis_ and _paganica_. Orchestic, divided by Plutarch into _latio_, _figura_ and _indicatio_, was really imitative dancing, the "silent poetry" of Simonides. The importance of the [Greek: cheironomia] or hand-movement is indicated by Ovid:--"Si vox est, canta; si mollia brachia, salta." For further information as to modern dancing, see Rameau's _Le maître à danser_ (1726); Querlon's _Le triomphe des grâces_ (1774); Cahousac, _La danse ancienne et moderne_ (1754); Vuillier, _History of Dancing_ (Eng. trans., 1897); Giraudet, _Traité de la danse_ (1900). (W. C. S.; A. B. F. Y.)