From Mandatory School Gymnastics to Physical Training for Youth. How the Became a "Gymnastic State" Dedicated to the Physical Preparation of Swiss Youth From 1873 to 1907.

The aim of this contribution is to analyse the special role that gymnastics clubs played, under the umbrella of the (SFG), in the formation of the Swiss nation and in the representation of a strong and united national youth at a time when the unity represented by the Swiss federal State founded in 1848 was strongly questioned by the conservative opposition. The purpose is mainly based on extensive statistical data gathered within the SFG about its members throughout the country at three particular moments (1873, 1895, and 1907) and on institutional archival funds. Our analysis is based on three successive points: after defining the relationship between the SFG and the Swiss Federal State (founded in 1848) for the unification and defense of the homeland, whether in terms of institutional mimicry or the building of a "national youth," a second part defines which type of "youth" is specifically targeted by the SFG and what it meant at the time to be a "young" or an "old" gymnast, in particular through the participation of the SFG in the National exhibition of Geneva in 1896.

The Rise of Massage and Medical Gymnastics in London and Paris before the First World War.

Massage and medical gymnastics experienced a rapid institutionalization across Europe and North America between 1850 and 1914. This article explores how this process took place in London and Paris. Physiotherapy developed many of the hallmarks of an independent discipline during this period, including an identified corpus of manipulations and exercises, some autonomous training courses and degrees for future practitioners, and even the creation of departments within several hospitals.

[Comparison of medical practices of 'massage' and 'gymnastics' - at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century (England, France, Germany, Switzerland)].

Massage and medical gymnastics are very ancient form of medical practices and knowledge, nevertheless they seem to focus a growing attention between 1860 and World War I in Europe. These practices know a quick institutionalization, and the physiotherapy or "kinesitherapy" emerge as a discipline with some more structured training course for students and future practitioners. In fact, the determinants of this development are numerous, specialization, professionalization, cultural transfer, and more broadly with geopolitical influences and nationalist feelings, influence of the Swedish gymnastics.

[Sauveur-Henri-Victor Bouvier (1799-1877): orthopaedist, surgeon and promoter of physical education].

This article establishes the biography of a little known physician of the 19th century., whose commitment with orthopaedics and formulation of medical gymnastics was important: the surgeon-orthopaedist Sauveur-Henri-Victor Bouvier. Several constitutive processes of the medical field of the 19th century are analysed: specialization (around orthopaedics), professionalization and development of various therapeutic and hygienic methods (among them medical gymnastics).

[From Paris to Strasbourgh: the development of orthopedic and gymnastic clinics (first half of the 19th century)].

In this contribution, we try to outline a history of the rise of orthopaedic and gymnastic clinics from 1820 to 1860 in France, and particularly in Paris. These clinics are located at the crossroads of several social processes of the 19th century: the structuring of a medical field (observed through specialization, professionalization, etc.), physical exercises legitimating process or the development of a medical interest for the female body.

[Short biography of an actor of the institutionalisation of orthopaedics (1830-1850)].

Parts of the socioscientific career of Jules Guérin, an orthopaedic surgeon, are presented in this article. The aim is to deepen the comprehension of intricate processes like specialisation and professionalisation of medicine and development of medical gymnastics. From this point of view Guérin's biography is very informative.