LING, PER HENRIK (1776–1839), Swedish medical-gymnastic practitioner, son of a minister, was born at Ljunga in the south of Sweden in 1776. He studied divinity, and took his degree in 1797, but then went abroad for some years, first to Copenhagen, where he taught modern languages, and then to Germany, France and England. Pecuniary straits injured his health, and he suffered much from rheumatism, but he had acquired meanwhile considerable proficiency in gymnastics and fencing. In 1804 he returned to Sweden, and established himself as a teacher in these arts at Lund, being appointed in 1805 fencing-master to the university. He found that his daily exercises had completely restored his bodily health, and his thoughts now turned towards applying this experience for the benefit of others. He attended the classes on anatomy and physiology, and went through the entire curriculum for the training of a doctor; he then elaborated a system of gymnastics, divided into four branches, (1) pedagogical, (2) medical, (3) military, (4) aesthetic, which carried out his theories. After several attempts to interest the Swedish government, Ling at last in 1813 obtained their co-operation, and the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute, for the training of gymnastic instructors, was opened in Stockholm, with himself as principal. The orthodox medical practitioners were naturally opposed to the larger claims made by Ling and his pupils respecting the cure of diseases—so far at least as anything more than the occasional benefit of some form of skilfully applied “massage” was concerned; but the fact that in 1831 Ling was elected a member of the Swedish General Medical Association shows that in his own country at all events his methods were regarded as consistent with professional recognition. Ling died in 1839, having previously named as the repositories of his teaching his pupils Lars Gabriel Branting (1799–1881), who succeeded him as principal of the Institute, and Karl Augustus Georgii, who became sub-director; his son, Hjalmar Ling (1820–1886), being for many years associated with them. All these, together with Major Thure Brandt, who from about 1861 specialized in the treatment of women (gynecological gymnastics), are regarded as the pioneers of Swedish medical gymnastics.
It may be convenient to summarize here the later history of Ling’s system of medical gymnastics. A Gymnastic Orthopaedic Institute at Stockholm was founded in 1822 by Dr Nils Åkerman, and after 1827 received a government grant; and Dr Gustaf Zander elaborated a medico-mechanical system of gymnastics, known by his name, about 1857, and started his Zander Institute at Stockholm in 1865. At the Stockholm Gymnastic Central Institute qualified medical men have supervised the medical department since 1864; the course is three years (one year for qualified doctors). Broadly speaking, there have been two streams of development in the Swedish gymnastics founded on Ling’s beginnings—either in a conservative direction, making certain forms of gymnastic exercises subsidiary to the prescriptions of orthodox medical science, or else in an extremely progressive direction, making these exercises a substitute for any other treatment, and claiming them as a cure for disease by themselves. Modern medical science recognizes fully the importance of properly selected exercises in preserving the body from many ailments; but the more extreme claim, which rules out the use of drugs in disease altogether, has naturally not been admitted. Modern professed disciples of Ling are divided, the representative of the more extreme section being Henrik Kellgren (b. 1837), who has a special school and following.
Ling and his earlier assistants left no proper written account of their treatment, and most of the literature on the subject is repudiated by one set or other of the gymnastic practitioners. Dr Anders Wide, M.D., of Stockholm, has published a Handbook of Medical Gymnastics (English edition, 1899), representing the more conservative practice. Henrik Kellgren’s system, which, though based on Ling’s, admittedly goes beyond it, is described in The Elements of Kellgren’s Manual Treatment (1903), by Edgar F. Cyriax, who before taking the M.D. degree at Edinburgh had passed out of the Stockholm Institute as a “gymnastic director.” See also the encyclopaedic work on Sweden: its People and Industry (1904), p. 348, edited by G. Sundbärg for the Swedish government.
LING[1] (Molva vulgaris), a fish of the family Gadidae, which is
readily recognized by its long body, two dorsal fins (of which the
anterior is much shorter than the posterior), single long anal
fin, separate caudal fin, a barbel on the chin and large teeth in
the lower jaw and on the palate. Its usual length is from 3 to
4 ft., but individuals of 5 or 6 ft. in length, and some 70 ℔ in
weight, have been taken. The ling is found in the North Atlantic,
from Spitzbergen and Iceland southwards to the coast of Portugal.
Its proper home is the North Sea, especially on the coasts of
Norway, Denmark, Great Britain and Ireland, it occurs in great
abundance, generally at some distance from the land, in depths
varying between 50 and 100 fathoms. During the winter months
it approaches the shores, when great numbers are caught by means
of long lines. On the American side of the Atlantic it is less
common, although generally distributed along the south coast
of Greenland and on the banks of Newfoundland. Ling is one
of the most valuable species of the cod-fish family; a certain
number are consumed fresh, but by far the greater portion are
prepared for exportation to various countries (Germany, Spain,
Italy). They are either salted and sold as “salt-fish,” or split
from head to tail and dried, forming, with similarly prepared
cod and coal-fish, the article of which during Lent immense
quantities are consumed in Germany and elsewhere under the
name of “stock-fish.” The oil is frequently extracted from the
liver and used by the poorer classes of the coast population for
the lamp or as medicine.
LINGARD, JOHN (1771–1851), English historian, was born on
the 5th of February 1771 at Winchester, where his father, of
an ancient Lincolnshire peasant stock, had established himself
as a carpenter. The boy’s talents attracted attention, and in
1782 he was sent to the English college at Douai, where he
continued until shortly after the declaration of war by England
(1793). He then lived as tutor in the family of Lord Stourton,
but in October 1794 he settled along with seven other former
members of the old Douai college at Crook Hall near Durham,
where on the completion of his theological course he became vice-president
of the reorganized seminary. In 1795 he was ordained
priest, and soon afterwards undertook the charge of the chairs of
natural and moral philosophy. In 1808 he accompanied the
community of Crook Hall to the new college at Ushaw, Durham,
but in 1811, after declining the presidency of the college at
Maynooth, he withdrew to the secluded mission at Hornby in
Lancashire, where for the rest of his life he devoted himself to
literary pursuits. In 1817 he visited Rome, where he made
researches in the Vatican Library. In 1821 Pope Pius VII.
created him doctor of divinity and of canon and civil law; and
in 1825 Leo XII. is said to have made him cardinal in petto. He
died at Hornby on the 17th of July 1851.
Lingard wrote The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church (1806), of which a third and greatly enlarged addition appeared in 1845 under the title The History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church; containing an account of its origin, government, doctrines, worship, revenues, and clerical and monastic institutions; but the work with which his name is chiefly associated is A History of England, from the first invasion by the Romans to the commencement of the reign of William III., which appeared originally in 8 vols. at intervals between 1819 and 1830. Three successive subsequent editions had the benefit of extensive revision by the author; a fifth edition in 10 vols. 8vo appeared in 1849, and a sixth, with life of the author by Tierney prefixed to vol. x., in 1854–1855. Soon after its appearance it was translated into French, German and Italian. It is a work of ability and research; and, though Cardinal Wiseman’s claim for its author that he was “the only impartial historian of our country” may be disregarded, the book remains interesting as representing the view taken of certain events in English history by a devout, but able and learned, Roman Catholic in the earlier part of the 19th century.
LINGAYAT (from linga, the emblem of Siva), the name of a
peculiar sect of Siva worshippers in southern India, who call
themselves Vira-Saivas (see Hinduism). They carry on the
person a stone linga (phallus) in a silver casket. The founder of
- ↑ As the name of the fish, “ling” is found in other Teut. languages; cf. Dutch and Ger. Leng, Norw. langa, &c. It is generally connected in origin with “long,” from the length of its body. As the name of the common heather, Calluna vulgaris (see Heath) the word is Scandinavian; cf. Dutch and Dan. lyng, Swed. ljung.
