system 09

9

INTRODUCTION

It may be of interest to English readers to know a little morę than he himself tells us about the person and achievements of tlie author— who in his own country, Denmark, and in several parts of the World, was a celebratcd and justly estccmcd Amateur Athlete, Hygienist and Philosopher.

J. P. Muller, who was born in 1866, entered the Uniyersity in i884, first studied theology, and then became lieutenant in the Royal Engi-neers. For ten years he was a priyate engineer, and for four and a half years Inspector at the Vejlefjord Sanatorium for Consumptives in Jutland, but resigned this appointment in order to devote himself entirely to propagating the cause of Personal Hygiene and completing some important ethical works (not yet published’ in England).

By rneans of phy.sical exercises and athictics he de\eloped himself from a delicate boy into one of the most successful all-round amateur sportsmen and athletes on the Continent.

Carl Bloch, the most famous of Danish painters, once said to him : " You are physically the most perfect man I ever saw,” and Dr. Krajewski, of St. Petersburg, the " Father " of Athletics, wrote, in a letter : “ Keally, so splendid a figurę as yours. bearing so close a resemblance to the antiąue statues, is rarely to be met with, either among amateurs or professionals,” remarks which are sufiicient testimony to the admir-able physical development of the man. In this connection it may be noted that the author won in 1904 the first prize at the Athletic Union Physical Culture Competition as the bcst-developed man in Denmark ; and, after the lecture held in Glasgow on September i9th, 1911, Mr. F. H. Newbery, Principal of the Glasgow School of Art, in proposing a vote of thanks to Lieut. Muller, spoke enthusiastically of the interest and value of the demonstration which had just been witnessed. He had, he said, been for thirty years dealing with living human models ; he had secn Sandow and Hackenschmidt and many others famous for their physiąue, and hundreds less widely known, but never had he seen in all his expcrience so beautiful a body as Lieut. Muller's.

The author won altogether 134 prizes, of which 135 havc bccn Championship and First prizes, and only nine Second prizes. These have been won, not in any one restricted field, but in almost ever>' pos-sible branch of sport and athletics : sprinting and long-distance running and walkmg, long jump, rowing, skating, swimming, plunging, throwing the hammer, putting the shot (16 lbs. ayoirdupois), throwing the 56-lb. weight, discus-throwing, spear-throwing, wrestling (Graeco-Roman style), weight-lifting and tug-of-war, and in the all-round Athletic Championships.

He was also an ardent and skilful boxer, ski runner, and football player, and in spite of his years still held some Danish records.

In 1917, when 51, Mr. Muller put up a vetcran’s record, in that between Putney and Hammersmith he cycled, ran, walked, paddled, sculled and swam sLx consecutiee half-miles in 29 mins., 19 2-5 secs.

In 1919 H.M. the King of Denmark conferred a knighthood of the Order of the Dannebrog on Mr. Muller, who between 1S83 and 1905 had introduced British athletics. field eeents, new swimming and life-saving methods, etc., until then unknown in his country.

In April, 1924. Mr. Muller stayed for a week at the F'rench Army School of Gymnastics at Joinville, near Paris, where he taught " The Daily Five Minutes" (in all three degrees) to the stad of instructors,