In modern skating there are two totally distinct styles, which require different skates differently attached to the feet, and different extents and qualities of ice. The first, the “running” or “fen” style, simply consists in going straight ahead at the highest possible speed. Its home is on the fiords of Scandinavia, the fens of Lincolnshire, and the large rivers and lakes of North America. In Holland, Denmark, and North America it is the medium for carrying a large winter market traffic. It first became common in England in 1662 after the return of the Stuarts. The wooden part or stock of a running skate is from 8 to 12 inches long, according to the length of the foot. The blade is made of the best steel, with an average width of 5 / 32 inch. The heel is at right angles to the surface of the ice. The prow begins to rise off the ice at the fore end of the stock, at a gradually increasing angle, and projects 4 inches. The entire skate is attached to the foot by an iron screw in the heel of the stock which enters the skater’s boot heel and two long straps which pass through slots in the stock and fasten round the ankle and toes of the skater. The length of the heel strap varies from 22 to 32 inches, and that of the toe strap from 15 to 23 inches. Formerly the bottoms of the blades were fluted. A concavity is now effected by grinding; and, when in motion, the blade is rarely flat on the ice. The curve should be slight, and the depth no greater than will ensure a curve being made without touching the ice. The feet are placed at right angles to each other with the toes turned out and the body bent slightly forward. Each foot is then raised alternately and set down slightly on the inside edge. It immediately acquires a forward motion, which is increased by pushing with the other foot, that being at right angles and having no sliding motion. The feet must be kept perfectly level when raised and set down, and the skate carried in the same manner an inch above the ice when going forward. The forward stroke is made on the outer edge, and the pressure applied to the inner edge of the other foot. The arms are swung across the chest from side to side, and opposite to the direction of the striking leg in order to balance the weight. The quickest method of stopping is to place the feet parallel, dig the heels into the ice, and arch the back. A longer but more graceful method is to turn the toes inwards, thus spreading the outside edges athwart the line of going. The feet should never be looked at, as the balance of the body is thereby disturbed. The eye should always be on a line with the horizon.

The fastest skating times recorded, from a standing start, and with no rear wind, have all been made in the United States, at New York, as follows:—100 yards, 10 3 / 8 s.; 200, 21 5 / 8 s.; 300, 31 2 / 5 s.; ¼ mile, 44 1 / 5 s.; ½, 1 m. 41 4 / 5 s.; ¾, 2 m. 34 2 / 5 s.; 1, 3 m. 26 2 / 5 s.; 2, 6 m. 56 1 / 5 s.; 3, 10 m. 33 2 / 3 s.; 4, 14 m. 10 ½ s.; 5, 17 m. 45 s.; 6, 21 m. 38 s.; 7, 25 m. 17 4 / 5 s.; 8, 29 m. 9 4 / 5 s.; 9, 32 m. 54 1 / 5 s.; 10, 36 m. 37 1 / 5 s.; 20, 1 h. 14 m. 7 1 / 5 s.; 30, 2 h. 31 m. 12 s.; 40, 3 h. 21 m. 22 s.; 50, 4 h. 13 m. 36 s. The best running high jump on skates recorded is 3 ft. 1 ¾ in., and running long jump 15 ft. 2 in.

The second style, termed “figure skating,” is quite modern and purely English in its origin. This may be practised on any small pond, provided the ice is clear of snow and perfectly smooth. The more numerous opportunities thus afforded make it the more popular style in Great Britain, where the large streams seldom freeze. Figure skating consists in cutting arcs, circles, figures, letters, serpentines, and spirals,—either forwards or backwards, slowly or rapidly, on one or both feet, singly or in combination. The style can ultimately be analysed into four kinds of strokes, all made on the edges of the blade— the inside forward, the outside forward, the inside backward, and the outside backward. The variety of evolutions which can be developed from these four movements is endless. The figure skate is made entirely of metal, is strapless and fixed to the boots by clamps or like devices. Unlike the running skate, it can be instantly put on or taken off. Many kinds have been invented, but the “Acme,” first produced in Canada, is generally acknowledged the best. The blade projects the merest trifle beyond the length of the foot and is rounded off in an upward direction from the ice at both toe and heel. The bottom is ¼ inch wide, and the best curve for grinding it is to that of a seven-foot radius, equal throughout and not increased at either end. In stopping, the end of one skate is placed at right angles to the other.

Summer skating has been occasionally provided in “glaciariums” by means of artificially produced ice.

The London Skating Club, founded in 1830, is the leading skating society of Great Britain. Comprising hut 170 members, including 20 ladies, and practising on exclusively private water in Regent’s Park, it countenances figure skating only and gives no encouragement whatever to the spread or teaching of a national pastime. The National Skating Association was formed in the year 1879, and, on December 8, held the first race for the running championship at Thorney, Cambridgeshire. The objects of the association are as follows :—

To promote, ascertain, and reward speed in skating,—by the establishment and management of amateur and open skating championships of England; by stimulating and supplementing local action in holding of skating matches; by establishing an order of merit for speed skaters, and awarding badges for the same; by assisting in providing facilities for skating by the shallow flooding of land in each locality where local branches exist; and by collecting through corresponding members information of the existence of ice on which skating is practicable, and the supplying of such information to its members; and to promote and encourage figure skating, by the establishment of standards at which figure skaters may aim, by bestowing badges of merit on those who attain these standards, and by promoting and assisting in the formation of skating clubs. To provide rules and regulations for the game of hockey on the ice. Also to promote the establishment of international skating contests in various countries under the direction of an international council.

In the United States and Canada large and shallow artificial ponds under cover, termed “rinks,” are in winter frozen by filling them with water. Each night the surface is covered with a layer of water, which gives a fresh sheet of ice by morning. The covers protect the rinks from snow, another great advantage.

As regards a substitute for ice and ice skating on wooden or asphalt floors, the only invention that has ever been found even partially successful is that of James L. Plimpton of New York in 1869. The implements may be described as skates with two parallel wheels at the toe and heel, so hung that the wheel axles are moved out of parallel by the transverse rocking of the skater’s foot, the wheels setting squarely on the surface whether the skater be upright or canted. The fatigue caused by these “roller skates” is quadruple that of ordinary ice skating.

See The Field, December 23, 1882, January 6 and February 3, 1883; N. and G. A. Goodman, Handbook of Fen Skating, 1882; G. Anderson, Art of Skating, 4th ed., 1880; H. C. Vendervell and T. M. Witham, Figure Skating, 3d ed., 1880; and M. F. M. and S. F. M. Williams’s Combined Figure Skating, 1883.