524 SWIMMING is like that for any other exercise, which, ac- cording to Cupt. Webb, the channel champion, " simply means a healthy life." In ancient times Leander, according to Greek tradition, swam the Hellespont from Abydos to Sestos ; and on March 3, 1810, Lord Byron and Lieut. Eckenhead swam over the same course in 70 minutes, which till recently has been regarded as the greatest feat of the kind in modern times. In 1849 John Leahy, then a British soldier in quarters at Aden, and since 1868 teacher of swimming at Eton college, swam in the Red sea 2J m. in three quarters of an hour. In August, 1868, Harry Parker swam in the Serpentine 500 yards in 7 m. 45 sec. On Aug. 5, 1872, in the lake at Hendon, near London, J. B. Johnson swam a mile in 26 minutes, doing the first half mile in 12 min- utes. In 1874 Matthew Webb, then 26 years old, swam out as far as Varne buoy, 10 m. off Folkestone, and was in the water 4 hours. The year 1875 is memorable for extraordinary swimming feats. On April 10 Paul Boyton of New Jersey attempted to cross the English channel from Dover in a swimming costume invented by Oapt. C. S. Merriman of New York. He was in the water nearly three hours, pro- pelling himself with a paddle having a blade at each end, accomplishing as the tide and waves carried him about 27 m. ; and after tossing about three hours more in the surf, he was taken on board a steamer. On May 29 he successfully crossed from Cape Gris Nez to South Foreland, 3 m. from Dover, by his course about 36 m., in 23 hours. These were hardly swimming feats, but the usefulness of the costume and means of propulsion in saving life and property on the water was fully demonstrated. On July 3 Webb swam from Blackwall pier to Gravesend, 20 m., in 4 h. 42 m. 44 sec. On July 23, at Chester, Pa., in a match with Coyle, J. B. Johnson swam 10^ m. in 3 h. 10 m. On Aug. 12 Webb made his first attempt to cross the channel. He swam out from Dover 18^ m. in 6 h. 45 m., when on account of the roughness of the sea he was taken on board a lugger. On Aug. 24-25 he successfully crossed from Dover to Calais, the tide making his course a zigzag of about 50 m., in a little less than 22 h. He had no other covering than a coating of porpoise oil, and received no refreshment but hot coffee, beef tea, cod-liver oil, and an oc- casional sip of brandy, which he took while treading water. On Sept. 1 Agnes Beck with, 14 years old, daughter of a teacher of swim- ming, swam from London bridge to Green- wich pier, about 5 m., in 1 h. 7 m. 45 sec. On Sept. 4 Emily Parker, 14 years and 6 months old, sister and pupil of Harry Parker, the champion swimmer of London, swam the same distance in 1 h. 8 m. Illustrated treatises on swimming with instructions may be found in Walker's "British Manly Exercises" (London, 1844; latest ed., 1874), and in "Animal Loco- motion, or Walking, Swimming, and Flying," by J. Bell Pettigrew (London and New York, SWITZERLAND 1875). Sergeant Leahy has published "The Art of Swimming in the Eton Style," with a preface by Mrs. Oliphant (Norwich, 1875), and Capt. Webb " The Art of Swimming," edited by A. G. Payne (London, 1875). SWINBURNE, Algernon Charles, an English poet, born in London, April 5, 1837. He is a son of Admiral Charles Henry Swinburne. After studying in France, he entered Balliol college, Oxford, in 1857, but left the university without graduating. He has published "The Queen Mother" and "Rosamond," two plays (1860) ; " Atalanta in Calydon," a tragedy in the Greek form (1864) ; " Chastelard, a Trage- dy " (1865) ; " Poems and Ballads " (1866 ; re- published in New York under the title "Laus Veneris "), which was soon suppressed by the publisher; "Notes on Poems and Reviews" (1866), a reply to his critics; "A Song of Italy" (1867); "William Blake, a Critical Es- say" (1868); "Notes on the Royal Academy Exhibition " (1868), of which the first part was written by W. M. Rossetti ; " Siena, a Poem " (1868); "Ode on the Proclamation of the French Republic " (1870) ; " Bothwell, a Trage- dy" (1870); "Songs before Sunrise" (1871); " Essays and Studies " (1875) ; " George Chap- man, a Critical Essay" (1875); and "Erech- theus," a play on the Greek model (1875). He has also edited "Christabel, and the Lyrical and Imaginative Poems of S. T. Coleridge " (1869), and the works of Chapman (1875). SWINE. See HOG. SWITZERLAND (Lat. Helvetia; Ger. ScJiweiz; Fr. La Suisse), a federal republic of central Eu- rope, between lat. 45 50' and 47 50' N., and Ion. 5 55' and 10 30' E. It is bounded N. by Germany, E. by Austria and Liechtenstein, S. by Italy and France, and W. by France ; and nearly the entire boundary line is formed by rivers (the Rhine and Doubs), lakes (of Con- stance and Geneva), and mountains (the Alps and Jura). In its greatest length it measures 210 m. ; in its greatest breadth, 140 m. Switz- erland is the most mountainous region of Eu- rope, and, with Tyrol and Savoy, which border it on the east and southwest respectively, the most elevated. Even the most level part in the north presents mountains rising upward of 2,000 ft. It is covered throughout almost its whole extent by the Alps, of which the following groups, with their various branches, belong properly to Switzerland: 1, the Pen- nine Alps, separating the canton of Valais from upper Savoy on one side and Piedmont on the other; 2, the Lepontine or Helvetian Alps, including the divergent Bernese Alps, extending on both sides of the Rhone, and separating Switzerland from Lombardy ; 3, the Rhsetian Alps, beginning at Monte Bernardino and extending along the frontiers of Switzer- land, Italy, and Tyrol. (See ALPS.) The prin- cipal Alpine summits in Switzerland, such as the Monte Rosa, Matterhorn or Mont Cervin, Finsteraarhorn, and Jungfrau, ranging between 15,200 and 13,700 ft., are treated separately
