A Guide to the History of Physical Education

LING'S SUCCESSORS AT THE CENTRAL INSTITUTE IN STOCKHOLM.

Immediately after Ling's death, and in accordance with his wishes, _Branting_ was appointed Director in his stead, and retained the position for twenty-three years (1839-1862). Born July 16, 1799, he had grown up a weak and sickly boy, and in the very first year of the Institute had been sent to Ling for treatment by means of medical gymnastics. Improvement was rapid, and the master was so impressed with the evident talent of his young patient that he offered to train him as a teacher of the art. Thenceforth the relation between the two resembled that of father and son. For several years Branting was a student at the Karolinska Mediko-Kirurgiska Institut (the largest medical college in Sweden) and attended clinics in the Serafimer-Lazarett (hospital), receiving instruction in chemistry under Berzelius, and showing such a fondness for anatomy and physiology that A. A. Retzius bore witness to his skill in the former subject. He learned to speak German, French, and English fluently, and travelled repeatedly in Germany and Austria. For more than twenty years he had been a member of the teaching staff at the Institute, under Ling, assisting the latter with his fencing at Karlberg and Marieberg, successfully introducing gymnastics among the girls at the large Hillska School, just outside the city, where he became teacher of gymnastics and music in 1831, and applying himself with marked enthusiasm to medical gymnastics. Ling gave him the first place among all his pupils, and turned over to him gradually a large share of the responsibility for both theoretical and practical instruction.