Franjo Prot

NICOLAS DALLY - LIFE AND WORK(1795-1862)

Dallv. Nicolas. born in Pompignv (/'v1euse) in 1795, IVilS (1 sori of tht' t'n~lnl'l'rtngcoloneL the solclier of the Repul~liel The m ilitarv co reer characterisecl his ~!outh A~meln}, others oi h is (lge and time. he \'\I(lS clri1šgecl irito the irn per ial \V,-1rs of the(Iecade As the ad] u rant of the I S II) Dragon regi meri t of the Na poleon armada he wasmade capt ive oi war in Novernber IH 12, wh ile his Mn1Y \V(lS fighting in rclrCtlt riearBerezine1. He came back to France alter two )'ears of irnprisorirnerit in St Petersbu rg.Negoti(ltions about his return to the milito ry milieu rnade h irn run a\/\'(1)' in 1817.He settled in Belgium.

A cirrum stunre that he \\I(lS cl soldicr's son soot hed the militant passions of-theyoung Daily. Bis war ane! Mmy experience-s woulel hardl y retain sorne irul ino tio ntowards rnilitarv obedience, called discipline His later works showed that evcnthe n he hacl been studying physical rnalforrnat ions and rne nr.il clisorders.consequences of the rnonotouous military drill.

After he had settled in Brussels. he was able to devote hirn self Lo scientificimprovcrnerit (Inc! reseorch. speeially in thefield of medical researches. He founcled ilschool accord ing to the model of the one inParis. but it. u nfort unately. brought ne itherthe expected prosperity ( wealth) norpleasure

At th(lt time he issued il work under thetitle "Dcscription of stearn enginc". Ilbecame the origin of the paper "OnEvaporarion ( Stearn) " (Brussels. J I:n.~) andof the work on irnportant traffie corridorsof the ancie rit times.

Dallv wrote "Linguisties or Mech(lnismof lilJ~gu(lge forming" (Brussels. 18:')5),based upon the Nodier's "History of worclsand writing"l.

[n the year 1836 he startcd to writc his"Physiology" together with com prehcnsivework. on custorns and costumes of As ianpeople. The latter IV<lSpublished in 1843 byW(lhler in Brusscls.

Alter he had retu rned to France. <IS ilrne mber of the Geogr,'phie(11 Sociery he waseng<lgecl in geogr(lphict11 resc.irches Dallyconsidcred geogf<lphic cho racteristirs to beimportant and crur ially resporisible for ther ult ur.il cljffnences. Ethnology andlinguistics were, in his opinion. only the

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SCIENCE nu MOUYEMENT . :~,

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Fulocvpy of Ihe lillc pay(' oj lile Dally's IJOohC/NSIOLOC/E ou SCI ENU. DL'

;\tl0UVE/VlENT dllllS SCS reporis (I\,(e l'cdllwlioll,l'IIYVillc al la llirapic, cuuu» hisloriqllcs 1/lOriqllcs el

praLiqllcs, published by Li/Jrairi(' (c/llralc dcsScienccs, Paris 185-;

.\lllillc~ <lr\" free'" IT<lllSI,J!l'd from tile Crllilliillll<ll1\.\lId\.\('. No (lri~il1,d I·itlc~ \\'('IT .iv.ul.ib!«(111!crpITtlTl . ' ,

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particular parts of human history and philosophy. He was expanrling his medicalknowledge and horizons. considering human bocly ariel mind to be inscpnrableHaving the harrnony betweeri bocly (,nd mind continuously in mind, he waspart icu IMly cle'lling with dvriarn ics and movement that were represe nted by thesimple name "gymn(,stics" He vvas giving (' series of lertures and d iscussioris onthat subject.

In the yeM 1846 Dally and h is cornpariion Triat founded a l(,rge exertisc hall inParis. but il was demolishecl cluring the Francis I Street construrt ion. Dallvproposed (' progr.imrne of physical education to the Republic in 1848, ami it wa~acceptcd with a fe\-\! ch(,nges.

He w(,s an unselfishly cMing Iather to his children, of whorn one becarne (' high-ranking officer. The other one, M. Eugen D"lly (1833-1887) in his docroral thesisproved and c!eveloped his Iather's idea about the therapeutic effects of functionalmoverncnt. Following his fat her's icleas. he becarne (In assist ant secrctary of theAnthropologicnl Society, a principa! of the Ethuology Deport rnent. ariel (' professorat l'Ecole d'anthroplogie

Nicolas Daily was (' typic(,l man of his era. He was (' curious woricl-wide travellerinterestecl in revećl.ling characteristics of the world he was living in. His rnembershrpand activit ies in the Anthropological Society shows his basic comrrutment: theuniversal. holistic att itude towards the civilisatiori's achievemcnts sirnultaneouslvt(,king into accou nt (1.11 cliversities and particularities. The main subject of hi~interests was the role of the rnovcment (Inc! the exercise in education, hygieri«. o ndtherapy. In his publie (,ppeiUill1CeS, he prornoted his ideas through nurnerouspublicat ioris ane! lectures.

At last. fivevears before he died. N.Dally had completecl his creative work withthe book CJNESIOLOGIE ou SCIENCE DU MOUVEMENT dans scs reporis avcc ['ctiLlcalion,/'/rygićm alla li1ćrapic, c/lll[CS hisloriqLlcs Iheoriqllcs cl praliql!cs, published by Librairie Centraledes Scre-nces. Paris 1857. This cornprehensive work compriscs 82:S [Jages of text andattached prelace and illu strauons. In this book the synthesiscd European and non-European scientific achievements of the (l.ge can be found. He explained hisconcepts and strcssecl the gre(lt irnportance of the role the rnovernent (exercise)pluyed in the development and erihancernent of abilit ies. in Iorrnat iori ofpersonality choracteristics. and in acquisition of knowledge and skills aimed at thehealth preservat ion and be nefits from it. That was the announcemcnt of the newscient ifi« discipline that W,IS going to stucly the human movernent in Itscornplexity, integrity and ant hropologir rek-vancy.

At the beginning of the book ( p(,gcs VIlI and IX) Daily was concernecl with thename of the new science: " Where to look for that new name?" He f(June! thesolutiori:" The very movement, K1Vllcns is the answer. Its root, K1V, expressesthe general concept of natural or artificial moving" After the l~xplil.lliltionDally conclue!ed:" We have consequantly acquired a name kinesiology arscience of movement."

Acrorcling to the Larousse's "Grand dictiormaire u niversel" (Paris, 1870) the bookis Dolly's capitol work in "which he developed such ideas th.it only descendantswoule! be (,bk to appreciate them in the-ir true values".

Nicolas Dillly died il1 Paris 1862.

So much effort ane! pai n - vvh y Me Dally and his work st il l u nkriown ?Irwe corisider the power and origin(llity of Dally's mi ml, we e(,n s(,y hewas one of

the !e(,ding intellert uals ofhis cpoch. Uncloubtedly. his cd uco tiori Wl1S vers.u il«, butcornplete ane! solicl. Historica! problerns preorrupied hirn as well. He w.is lrying toanswer these quest ioris br cletailed quotations and paticrit researches emplo)/ingcrcative approaches at the same time that shoulcl dccrc(,se u ncert.urity .rnr l bi-inglivht to doubts. Bv the orivinnl ideas of his own he \V(,S i11\\l(IYs able to outshine theo I o I 1 hearlier idens of others. In short, there Me (' lew so very ane t loroug li' origi lI(d

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books as "CINJ~SIOLOGJ E" is. Dally was un erudite. profound experimeritator who~V(lSuble to direct his thoroughness to the wholeness of the problem, which shouldbe (l founciation stone of every true philosophy.

References:

1. D(llly, N. (1848). Gyrnnasliquc de la regeneralion physique de l'cspcee hUlnail1c par laQy/rl/1aSliquc ralionellc. Pu.ris: Du pont2 D,llly, N. cl 85 7) CINESIOLOGJE OU SCIENCE DU MOUVEMENT. dal1s srs rcporls aveel'cdtlcalion, l'hygićnf al la Ihrapie, eludes hisloriques lhćoriques el praLiques. Paris Librai rieCentrJ.le des Sciences.3. Laroussc. P cl 879). Grand dieliol1l1airc ul1iversel. Par is: Larousse.4. Gmnd diel wl1l1aire mcyclopcdilJllc La roussc (1982). Paris: Larousse