The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Lewis, Dio

LEWIS, Dio, American physician and author: b. Auburn, N. Y., 3 March 1823; d. Yonkers, N. Y., 21 May 1886. He studied at the Harvard Medical School, and practised for a time at Port Byron and at Buffalo, N. Y., publishing at Buffalo a monthly periodical with hygienic aims. He became widely known by his writing in advocacy of a system of higher gymnastics, and finally established a school in Boston in which teachers were trained in his new exercises; and a school for young ladies was also founded at Lexington, Mass., which was destroyed by fire in 1868. About 1883 he removed to New York. He wrote many articles for magazines, and his more extended works include ‘The New Gymnastics’ (1862); ‘Weak Lungs and How to Make them Strong’ (1863); ‘Talks About People's Stomachs’ (1870); ‘Our Girls’ (1871); ‘Chats with Young Women’ (1871); ‘Chastity’ (1872); ‘Gypsies’ (1881), and ‘In a Nutshell’ (1883).