This should be seized with both hands, the feet being placed in the middle. The board should be considerably aslant when first attempted, and gradually brought towards the perpendicular.
VAULTING.
This exercise may be practised on that part of the balancing bar between the posts. It may be performed with or without running: it should, however, be commenced with a short run. The height should be, to commence, about the pit of the stomach, which should be increased to the height of the individual.
BALANCING.
There are two kinds of balancing to which we shall allude; namely, the balancing of other bodies, and the balancing of our own.
All feats of balancing depend upon the centre of gravity being uniformly preserved in one position. The centre of gravity is that point, about which all the other parts exactly balance each other. If a body be freely suspended upon this point, it will rest with security, and as long as this point is supported, it will never fall, while in every other position it will endeavour to descend to the lowest place at which it can arrive. If a perpendicular line were drawn from the centre of gravity of a body to the centre of the earth, such a line would be termed the line of direction, along which every body supported endeavours to fall. If this line fall within the base of a body, such a body will be sure to stand.
When the line of direction is thrown beyond its centre, unless the base be enlarged to counterbalance it, the person or body will fall. A person in stooping to look over a deep hole, will bend his trunk forward; the line of direction being altered, he must extend his base to compensate for it, which he does by putting his foot a step forward. A porter stoops forward to prevent his burthen from throwing the line of direction out of the base behind, and a girl does the same thing in carrying a pail of water, by stretching out her opposite arm, for the weight of the pail throws the centre of gravity on one side, and the stretching out of the opposite arm brings it back again, and thus the two are balanced. The art of balancing, therefore, simply consists in dexterously altering the centre of gravity upon every new position of the body, so as constantly to preserve the line of direction within the base. Rope-dancers effect this by means of a long pole, held across the rope; and when the balancing-rail is mounted, it will be found necessary to hold out both the arms for the same purpose; nay, even when we slip or stumble with one foot, we in a moment extend the opposite arm, making the same use of it as the dancer does of his pole.
A balancer finds that a body to be balanced, is the best for his purpose if it have a loaded head, and a slender or pointed base, for although the higher the weight is placed above the point of support, the more readily will the line of direction be thrown beyond the base, yet he can more easily restore it by the motion of his hand,—narrowly watching with his eyes its deviations. Now the same watchfulness must be displayed by the gymnastic balancer: he first uses the balancing pole,—he then mounts the balancing bar without it. On mounting the bar, the body should be held erect, and the hands must be extended. He must then learn to walk firmly and steadily along the bar, so as to be able to turn round, and then he should practise going backwards. Two balancers should then endeavour to pass each other on the bar; afterwards, to carry each other, and bodies of various weights, in various positions.