REPORT OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS 
ON 
PHYSICAL TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS. 
To the Committee on Hygiene: 
In accordance with your request the Board of Super- 
visors, in consultation with the Instructor in Hygiene, has 
carefully considered what system of physical training should 
he introduced into the public schools, and respectfully offers 
the following report: 
Physical education is, in theory, placed side by side with 
intellectual and moral education. Although its importance 
has been recognized, yet it has not, in this country, been 
generally regarded a province of the public schools to pro- 
vide ihe means and to regulate the methods of physical 
education. The desire for play, the natural activities of 
childhood and youth, and the demands of life have been 
deemed sufficient to furnish the occasions and the exercises 
for physical development; in a word, physical education has 
been left to shift for itself. 
But public sentiment has, of late, so changed as to de- 
mand that some provision be made for physical education, 
inasmuch as it is an essential part of education. The col- 
leges have begun the good work. Amheist College, led by 
Dr. Hitchcock, and Harvard College, led by Dr. Sargent, 
are already reaping the advantages of a rational system of 4 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10, 
physical training. Benevolent individuals and institutions, 
private schools, and social clubs are providing means for 
physical development. The State and the city have done 
something for the good cause. The State requires that phy- 
siology be studied in every public school, and that proper 
systems of ventilation be introduced into school-houses. Our 
Rules and Regulations provide for a proper inspection of 
the sanitary condition of the schools, and for the preven- 
tion of the spread of diseases among the pupils. It is 
also provided that, in our Primary and Grammar Schools, 
five minutes each forenoon and afternoon be given to " phy- 
sical exercises;” and that, in our High Schools, two hours 
a week be given either to calisthenic exercises or to military 
drill. Thus the way has been opened for something better. 
It requires only a short acquaintance with our schools to 
learn that the physical exercises conducted in them produce 
meagre and unsatisfactory results. Leaving out of con- 
sideration the military drill in the High Schools and the 
Boys’ Latin School, and the calisthenic exercises in the 
Girls’ Latin School, in some of the High Schools, and in a 
few of the Grammar Schools, nothing could be more mis- 
cellaneous and heterogeneous than the physical exercises in 
our public schools. Their chief purpose is to rest the 
pupils, and, at the same time, to give an opportunity for 
ventilating the class-rooms. This purpose is usually accom- 
plished. But it is evident that physical training is not their 
purpose. Indeed, it is only the elasticity of the youthful 
organism that prevents it from receiving injury from these 
exercises. Moreover, when they are executed with the 
greatest finish, in perfect time, without an order, and to the 
sound of music, they are exposed to the weighty objection 
that automatic rhythmical exercises tend, in general, to 
weaken the will, and thus to form in pupils the bad mental 
habit of working without purpose and without effort. 
It is unnecessary to present all the reasons for the opinion REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
5 
that the pupils of our schools need physical training, and that 
no generally satisfactory results in this direction will be pro- 
duced till a system of physical education be adopted and 
carried out. Jt is enough to know that the undeveloped 
human organism, even when it is in perfect health, when it 
has normal strength, and when it is developing under favor- 
able conditions, needs to be properly exercised in every part 
and to have its activities rightly directed. How much more, 
then, does the human organism that is unsound, weak, or 
deformed, or is daily exposed to unfavorable conditions, need 
to be so exercised as to become healthful, shapely, and 
strong, and to acquire such stamina as to be able to withstand 
unfavorable conditions ! If one objects that the school can- 
not do all this for the pupils, it may be answered that the 
school may do —if not much —at least something for the 
pupils in this direction, and thus may lessen the amount of 
physical suffering and misery in the world, may give more 
leverage to the intellectual and moral powers, and, in the 
words of a political economist, "may give to three the effi- 
ciency of five.” 
In order to decide what system of physical training should 
be introduced into our schools, it is necessary to apply certain 
tests : 
1. Is it the purpose of the system to develop the whole 
body and its parts symmetrically and harmoniously ; to pre- 
serve, increase, or produce bodily health, - strength, and 
proportion ; and to maintain and promote physical activity, 
dexterity, and efficiency? 
2. Is the system founded upon the facts, laws, and needs 
of the human organism? 
8. Are the principles of the system so simple, the classes 
and progression of exercises so plain, and the method of con- 
ducting them so easy, that the average teacher may be able, 
after proper study, drill, and direction, to understand the 
system and to carry it out safely and effectively ? SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
4. Will the system of exercises interest the pupils? In 
other words, does the system present such a diversity of 
exercises in progression and in unity as to attract and, at the 
same time, to train the pupils ? 
5. Are the requirements of the system such as to allow 
the class-room to be used instead of a gymnasium, and to 
enable the teacher to accomplish the main objects of the 
system without much additional expense, and without making 
unreasonable demands upon the school-hours? 
In considering some of the " systems ” of physical training, 
it will not be necessary to apply all these tests. It will be 
sufficient to show that they fail in some essential particular. 
1. Dr. Dio Lewis, an enthusiastic pioneer of physical 
training in this country, had the merit of calling public atten- 
tion to the value of light gymnastics. Under his leadership, 
his series of exercises with light apparatus proved of great 
interest and value to many of his pupils, and gave an impulse 
towards physical training. But his plan lacked unity, and 
his exercises lacked orderly arrangement. His method, 
though energetic and inspiring, was crude and unscientific; 
and the results of his training were partial and unsym- 
metrical. 
2. Dr. Winship, with his ''health lift,” proved how great 
a weight one could gradually acquire the power of lifting. 
He gave once, and we hope for all time, an illustration of 
the fact that " moving great weights through small spaces 
produces a slow, inelastic, inflexible man.” As Mr. William 
Blakie, an expert in physical training, says, "He who does 
work of the grade suited to a truck-horse is far more likely 
to acquire the heavy and ponderous ways of that worthy 
animal than he who spreads his exercise over all, or nearly 
all, his muscles.” The "Heavy-weight System ” must, there- 
fore, be condemned as one-sided and partial in its develop- 
ment. 
3. The Monroe system of vocal and physical culture is REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
7 
founded upon sound principles, and is excellent for its pur- 
pose, viz. : to develop the vocal organs and to train the 
voice ; but as a system for general physical training its range 
is too narrow and its exercises too special. 
4. The Delsarte system has for its object to train the 
body and the voice to express artistically "the vital, the 
mental, and the emotive ; ” and, although the accomplish- 
ment of this object implies and demands a training in 
mechanical movements, yet the aesthetic end to be reached 
limits the exercises, and, consequently, makes them specific 
rather than general. 
5. The physical exercises in the Allen gymnasium in this 
city show great organizing ability and energy on the part of 
its director, and evidently develop muscle and restore and 
preserve the physical powers. They show the muscular 
capacity and ability of the girl and woman. Although these 
exercises demand agility, strength, and skill, and include the 
natural and the artificial, the beautiful and the ugly, the 
ordinary and the wonderful, yet they seem to be orderly, 
safely, and efficiently conducted. Moreover, the special 
needs of individuals arc provided for and met. It requires, 
however, only a moment’s consideration to be convinced that 
the means and methods here used could not, under the exist- 
ing conditions of our schools, be used in the class-rooms, and 
that only an expert in physical training could safely conduct 
these exercises. It is plain, too, that what might be accom- 
plished in a gymnasium, for individuals, with the most ap- 
proved apparatus, and under the direction of an expert, could 
not be accomplished in the school-room, for classes, with 
apparatus not adapted to the special needs of individuals, 
and under the direction of the average teacher. 
Whether or not such a selection from the exercises in the 
Allen gymnasium could be made as to meet the needs of the 
schools is not the question under consideration. If it were 
the question, it would be pertinent to ask whether this 8 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
eclectic system has been tried in graded schools, and with 
what purpose, method, and results? If the purpose were 
only "relief from nerve tension and mental weariness,” the 
system should be rejected as insufficient. If the method of 
conducting the exercises were founded on the rule that the 
exercises should be given " from imitation,” and not from 
" word of command,” the method should be rejected as un- 
sound. It is plain to the observer of pupils in schools that 
they find relief, not by changing voluntary attention into a 
passive, negative state, but by changing the direction, the 
object of voluntary attention, or by spontaneous, active play. 
Moreover, training by imitation is almost a misnomer. To 
give nerve, to train nerves, requires the exercise of the will. 
The purpose, and the determination and the effort to accom- 
plish the purpose, are essential conditions of physical train- 
ing. Nor must imitation of movements be for a moment 
regarded as synonymous with spontaneous or regulated play 
the natural and vigorous method of developing physically 
the growing child. Therefore, while the doctrine that "gym- 
nastic work should be pleasurable” is sound, the added 
statement, that " as far as possible it should be non-mental,”’ 
assumes that nature was at fault for putting mind and body 
together, and for causing them to grow and develop together. 
On the contrary, the next generation will demand that the 
cunning hand shall be trained with the cunning head, that 
the strong body shall be united with the strong mind, and 
that the deficiencies of either shall, so far as training can do 
it, be supplied, in order that mind and body may be able 
to cooperate in doing the allotted work of life. 
But it is unnecessary to consider whether this imaginary 
" eclectic system ” of exercises would probably be satisfac- 
tory. It is enough to know that a series of physical exer- 
cises for a system of graded schools, even when selected 
by an expert, must be looked upon with some suspicion, 
and must be regarded at least as experimental. Have not REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
9 
sufficient experiments of this kind been tried, and is it not 
high time to introduce into our schools a system of physical 
training that has been tried, and that has been found in its 
essentials sound, safe, practicable, and efficient? 
Such a system exists in Germany, in France, in Belgium, 
in Sweden, and in some other European countries. It may 
seem strange that Boston, having experts so near as Cam- 
bridge and Amherst, should go abroad to find a system of 
physical training suitable for its public schools. But the 
public demand for such training has not existed so long, and 
has not been so great, as to cause these experts to formu- 
late a plan of physical training for elementary schools. It 
was only fifteen years ago, when Victor de Laprade, a 
member of the French Academy, writing upon physical edu- 
cation, declared that the system of gymnastics that had, a 
few years before, been introduced into the French schools, 
" seemed more suitable for making mountebanks and clowns 
than fine and vigorous young men.” And yet this system 
of physical training, developed and perfected, is now de- 
manded by a detailed programme, and controls a part of the 
regular daily instruction in the schools of France. Germany, 
always ready to do, what it believes will strengthen itself, 
requires gymnastic training in its schools. Even Matthew 
Arnold, recalling the manly and vigorous contests of the 
Rugby boys, gave a qualified approval of the German gym- 
nastics in the following words : 
The Germans now cultivate gymnastics in their schools with great care. 
Since 1842, gymnastics have been made a regular part of the public- 
school course; there is a Central-Turnanstalt at Berlin, with 18 civilian 
pupils who are being trained expressly to supply model teachers 
of gymnastics for the public schools. The teachers profess to have 
adapted their exercises with precision to every age, and to all the stages 
of a boy’s growth and muscular development. The French are much 
impressed by what seems to them the success of the Germans in this 
kind of instruction, and certainly in their own lyc£es they have not at 
present done nearly so much for it. Nothing, however, will make an 10 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
ex-school boy of one of the great English schools regard the gymnastics 
of a foreign school without a slight feeling of wonder and compassion, 
so much more animating and interesting do the games of his remem- 
brance seem to him. This much, however, I will say: if boys have 
long woi’k-hours, or if they work hard, gymnastics probably do more 
for their physical health in the comparatively short time allotted to 
recreation than anything else could. In England the majority of public 
schoolboys work far less than the foreign schoolboy, and for this 
majority the English games are delightful; but for the few hard students 
with us there is in general nothing but the constitutional, and this is not 
so good as the foreign gymnastics. For little boys, again, I am in- 
clined to think that the carefully taught gymnastics of a foreign school 
are better than the lounging shiveringly about, which in my time used 
often at our great schools to be the portion of those who had not yet 
come to full age for games. 
Had Matthew Arnold considered the physical condition of 
hosts of children in London, Manchester, and other English 
cities, he would probably have modified his opinion still more. 
Had he written upon the subject with the knowledge of what 
has been recently accomplished under the leadership of 
Maclaren, late professor of physical education in Oxford 
University, he would probably have expressed the opinion 
that all pupils should receive at least the physical training 
which a rational system of gymnastics can give, and, in 
addition, as much physical development by means of out- 
door games and exercises as the circumstances of pupils 
allow. Professor Maclaren, after closely observing through 
many years the effects of games and of gymnastics upon 
many of the best British youth, wrote as follows : 
The man who invented cricket as surely, to my mind, deserves a 
statue to his memory as he who won Waterloo. The influence of our 
national games upon the national character is valuable beyond compu- 
tation : nothing could take their place, nothing could atone for their loss. 
But valuable as these exercises are invaluable as they are— it will be 
at once seen that not one of them has for object the development of the 
body, or even the giving to it, or to any part of it, health or strength; 
although all of them, in a greater or less degree, undoubtedly have this 
effect, it is indirectly and incidentally only the skill, the art, is the REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
11 
first consideration. And in this, as purely recreative exercise, lies their 
chief value, the forgetfulness of self, the game being all-in-all. 
Recreative exercises, then, from their very nature, are inadequate to 
produce the uniform and harmonious development of the entire frame, 
because the employment which they give is essentially partial. Where 
the activity is, there will be the development; and if this principle be 
overlooked, a portion of the body only Will be cultivated, and the neg- 
lected portion will fall far behind the others in strength, in activity, in 
dexterity, and in endurance, for the simple reason that it will be less 
abundantly nourished. 
Recreative exercise in sufficient amount is usually in itself sufficient to 
maintain health and strength after growth and development are com- 
pleted, but it does not meet the many wants of the rapidly changing and 
plastic frames of youths spending a large portion of their time in the 
constrained positions of study. Hence the necessity for a system of edu- 
cational exercises. 
Belgium, too, thoroughly convinced that the best training 
of the body is necessary to the best training of the mind and 
to the highest efficiency of the citizen, has introduced into its 
schools a system of gymnastics. "Every elementary school 
has its gymnasium, with a special teacher and special time 
of practice, as a part of the regular curriculum. So much 
importance is attached to gymnastics in Belgium, that there 
is a monthly publication devoted to the interests of gymnas- 
tic teachers.” 
In the procession of States that have done most for physi- 
cal education, Sweden is at the fore-front. Ling, its famous 
citizen, prepared a system that has formed the basis of Euro- 
pean systems of physical culture. France, fond of perfection 
in details, has built up a complete and somewhat complicated 
system. Germany, with characteristic economy, has simpli- 
fied the system of Ling, and has made it useful, not only for 
training the body of the growing child, but also for training 
the youth for military service. Between these two extremes 
stands the Swedish system, the same in its essential features 
as that which Ling founded. At Stockholm is a State acad- 
emy, the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute, which prepares 12 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
teachers of the Ling gymnastics, by whom the principles, 
methods, and art of physical education are carried to the 
schools in Sweden and Norway. Men of thorough scientific 
training and culture, and not mere specialists, direct and 
conduct the instruction of this Central Institute. Presum- 
ably, then, the system of physical education which for three- 
quarters of a century has been taught there, is, to say 
the least, founded in the main upon sound principles, is 
safe, is suitable for schools, and has borne the tests that a 
sensible, intelligent, and thrifty people have applied. But 
this presumption is not sufficient; other evidence is de- 
manded. 
The following extract from the writings of Mr. Edwin 
Chadwick, an Englishman, who has carefully investigated 
many questions of economical and social welfare, will serve 
as an illustration of the evidence which might be presented : 
The War Department, on the invitation of the King of Sweden, 
sent a commission to examine the system of physical training in use 
there. The reporter, Captain 11. Armit, of the Central London 
Rangers, reported highly and favorably of it, for the gain of civil 
as well as military forces. The gymnastic college there, he stated, 
had branches in all the different towns of the country. “By this means 
the civil and the military schools are connected. A bond of union 
exists in the instructors, who are also sent from the military establish- 
ments gratis to all State schools throughout the country. The result is 
that the whole Swedish population has by degrees been trained and 
disciplined by means of the Ling system of extension drill, and has 
thus been accustomed to work, when assembled in large or in small 
numbers, with an exactitude and a precision of motion hardly credi- 
ble.” He spoke of the many and great benefits which it conferred 
upon a people, by strengthening the system ol the weak and of the 
robust alike, by infusing health and vigor into the mind, and by teaching 
to all the value of and the necessity for the existence of discipline 
amongst all classes of the community. In truth, the Ling system has 
made of Sweden a disciplined nation. The introduction of the system 
would, Captain Armit says, cost the taxpayer nothing beyond the sal- 
aries paid to the instructors, as no appliances of any sort are required. 
On the other hand, recruits for the army would present themselves, not REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
13 
as untrained men, but as men proficient in every essential point neces- 
sary to form a soldier, except the rifle exercise, which latter it would 
not take long to teach. 
The strongest evidence in favor of the Swedish system 
of gymnastics is its internal evidence that which its pur- 
pose, its principles, its methods, and its art reveal. It is 
difficult to describe the system briefly. All that can be here 
done is to note some of its salient points ; 
1. Beginning with the recognition of "the oneness of 
the human organism” and of nature’s intention to keep "har- 
mony between mind and body and between their parts,” 
it -aims at health; at such a development of the body as 
that each part will have its proper strength, and will be 
able to perform its function with vigor and satisfaction ; 
and at such harmony and symmetry as that all the parts 
together will form a well-proportioned and beautiful whole 
under the perfect control of the will. Although, in this 
high aim, muscular development is not overlooked or 
slighted, yet it is regarded as only one part of the purpose 
of physical training. The health and strength not only of 
the muscular, but also of the respiratory, circulatory, and 
nervous systems are included in the aim of the Swedish 
system of gymnastics. 
2. The Swedish system of gymnastics is founded upon 
the facts, laws, and needs of the human organism and 
upon the laws of motion, especially the movements of the 
human body. Physiology and, in less degree, physics, 
chemistry, and {esthetics, contribute their respective shares 
of materials upon which rest the principles and methods of 
the Ling system. Its greatest merit is that it is a system, 
simple, thorough, direct, and safe. A welbdetined and 
well-executed Swedish movement differs as much from the 
ordinary sledge-hammer performances in an old-fashioned 
gymnasium as a Damascus blade differed from a Saxon 
bludgeon. 14 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
The following are a few of the essential facts or laws that 
give character and utility to the Ling system : 
(a) "Muscular development of any part of the body 
occurs in direct relation with the active movements to which 
the part has been subjected.” 
(h) " Man has, in his own organs of movement, an effi- 
cient means for the preservation or restoration of health.” 
(c) Every valuable gymnastic movement has a well- 
defined physiological or psychical object, and a definite 
beginning and end ; requires a certain degree of effort or 
exertion through will and muscle ; is performed in a deter- 
mined time and rhythm, and describes a definite "figure” in 
reaching its end. 
(d) "The gymnastic value of a movement depends upon 
how it combines the greatest effect on the body with sim- 
plicity and beauty of performance.” 
(e) Movements may follow each other in such an order, 
or may be so combined or coordinated as to increase not 
only the general bodily energy, but also the strength and 
functional power of the weaker parts of an organism. 
(f) "It is not the greater or lesser power of any part 
that determines the strength or weakness of an individual, 
so much as the proportion and harmony of the several parts.” 
(g) "In bodily development, beginning with the simplest, 
you may gradually advance to the most complicated and 
powerful movements ; and this without danger, inasmuch as 
the pupil has acquired the instinctive knowledge of what he 
is or is not capable.” 
3. The Swedish movements are classified with reference 
to their effects on nervous action, respiration, circulation, 
digestion, and secretions. The following is Ling’s classifica- 
O 7 o c* ■ 
tion: 
(1) Order movements: To gain attention and good posi- 
tion. 
(2) Movements for the hack and chest: To strengthen the REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
15 
extensors of the back and to straighten the back ; also, to 
expand the anterior and lower part of the chest. 
(3) Heave movements (various forms of lifting the body 
by means of the arms) ; To expand the upper part of the 
chest, and, incidentally, to strengthen the arms. 
(4) Balance movements: To give a correct carriage and 
general equilibrium. 
(5) Shoulder-blade movements: To flatten the upper 
part of the back, and to pull the shoulders backward. 
(6) Movements for the abdomen: To strengthen the out- 
side muscles of the abdomen, and to affect digestion. 
(7) Alternate trunk-movements: To strengthen the lateral 
parts of the trunk. 
(8) Slow leg-movements: To increase the circulation in 
the lower limbs, to quiet the action of the heart, and to 
counteract palpitation. 
(9) Jumping and vaulting :To cultivate speed of motion, 
and —as these exercises require the activity of the whole 
body at one time to effect the coordination of movements. 
(10) Respiratory movements: To increase the capacity 
of the lungs, to restore breathing to its normal rhythm, and 
to help counteract the evil effects of precipitate movements. 
Each of these classes of movements contains a variety of 
exercises suited to the age, physical condition, progress, and 
skill of the pupils. Usually, one exercise at a lesson is 
taken from each of the ten classes and in the order of these 
classes. Sweden has proved that the average teacher, after 
suitable study, drill, and direction, can conduct these exer- 
cises with safety to the pupils and with good physical and 
mental results. Moreover, the variety of exercises, the 
gradual increase of effort and skill required for their exact 
performance, the general refreshment that they give, and 
their ability to remove weariness and the ill-effects of too 
great or too long exertion all these go to show that the 
Swedish gymnastics not only train but also interest the pupils. 16 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
4. The Swedish system of gymnastics is eminently eco- 
nomical. Unlike the ordinary "systems,” it husbands, while 
it directs and develops, strength. It should be kept in mind 
that many pupils in our public schools are underfed, and 
cannot afford to waste their supply of physical energy by 
misdirected or excessive physical effort. It is also true that 
many of the Swedish movements can be executed in the 
class-room, and without apparatus. Although " the hall ” 
might be profitably used by some of the classes, and some 
comparatively inexpensive apparatus might be provided for 
it, and used with good results ; yet the important ends may 
be reached without the use of either hall or apparatus. The 
Swedish system is not only comparatively inexpensive, but 
also moderate in its demands upon the school-hours. Some- 
what more time than is now allowed for " physical exercises ” 
should, however, be given to physical training else the 
results, though good, will be imperfect. If the long reci- 
tation or study periods were oftener interrupted by suitable 
physical exercises, the resulting refreshment and energy 
would enable the pupils to give better attention to their 
studies and to accomplish more in a given time. 
Therefore, the Ling system of gymnastics has borne the 
tests that have thus far been applied to it. Some objections 
have, however, been made to the Swedish gymnastics. It 
has been affirmed that the movements, not being metrical, 
cannot be accompanied by music, and that, consequently, 
the pupils will not be interested in them. The answer to 
this objection is, that pupils are at the outset, and continue 
to be, interested in taking these exercises. The purpose of 
these gymnastics is not to cultivate the sense of rhythm or 
to develop musical ability. The objector, too, should keep 
in mind that each movement has a rhythm of its own, and 
that the parts of some compound movements cannot be 
performed in the same time without preventing the right REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
17 
physical effect. An incomplete movement is either nugatory 
or harmful. 
It is also affirmed that the Ling system is one of mere 
movements ; " that there should be a weight or resistance to 
overcome, in order to bring out the working force of the 
muscle.” There is either weight or resistance involved in 
nearly every Swedish movement. The hody and its parts, 
the floor, the desk, the chair, the walls, the next pupil, and 
sometimes special apparatus, furnish the resistance to be 
overcome. But the objector may mean that the resistance 
is not sufficient. This is not the opinion of those who have 
received the Swedish training. Formerly Dr. Hitchcock, of 
Amherst College, had the students use for class exercises 
Cj 7 
ten-pound dumb-bells; now he has them use one-pound 
dumb-bells. When it is considered how difficult it is to 
adapt the weight of apparatus to individuals, it is not strange 
that Ling, an expert himself and a close observer of the 
effects of physical exertion, should have trusted nature and 
circumstances to furnish most of the apparatus for class drill; 
it was his office to furnish the training. One of the peculiar 
merits of his system is, that it does not expose the pupils of 
a class to the danger of over-exertion, to strain. Moreover, 
as one of his followers has said, " if the exercises with appa- 
ratus are exclusively or too frequently practised, the body 
loses its natural instinctive sense for equilibrium, instead of 
having it developed by practice ; the sense for form and 
graceful position and movements of body is rather repressed,, 
while the sense for equilibrium in certain artificial positions, 
such as rarely or never occur in real life, is more developed.” 
Nor, as is sometimes affirmed, are the joints and liga- 
ments subjected to an unnatural pull or strain in free gym- 
nastics. The Ling system carefully guards the health of 
hones, joints, and ligaments ; and, helping nature do her 
work of developing the whole body, it never obstructs the 
way. 18 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
Fortunately for the schools, an opportunity for testing 
the merits of the Ling system has been lately given to Bos- 
ton, through the generous patronage of Mrs. Heraenway, 
and under the skilful direction of Dr. Posse, an expert in 
the Swedish gymnastics. Twenty-two principals and eighty- 
seven assistants of our Grammar Schools and one High 
School assistant are reported to have received some instruc- 
tion and training in this system of physical culture. Seven- 
teen of the twenty-two principals and a large majority of 
the eighty-eight assistants have expressed favorable opin- 
ions of the Ling system. Indeed, those teachers who have 
become best acquainted Avith this system and with other 
systems of physical training, express not only a preference 
for this, but also a conviction that it is the most rational and 
useful, and the most suitable for the schools. The convic- 
tion of these teachers has been strengthened by the interest 
taken and the physical improvement made by the pupils to 
whom they have given a part of the training. 
Thus, in whatever light we examine the Swedish method 
of physical education, we see only good. Some may infer 
that the adoption of this method will result, on the one hand, 
in discouraging the natural, spontaneous plays of childhood, 
and, on the other hand, in discountenancing or dispensing 
with military drill in the schools. Neither of these infer- 
ences is just. The principle that spontaneous play is 
suitable in the nursery, and regulated play work-play 
in the Kindergarten and for the lowest class in the Primary 
School, is well established. Gradually, in the process of 
education, the spontaneous must give Avay to the voluntary 
in physical as well as in mental exercise. Thus, during the 
last two years in the Primary School, some mental work and 
some physical training should be required; and, during the 
six years in the Grammar School, mental and physical train- 
ing should go on together, with gradually increasing vigor 
and exactness. In the High and Latin Schools, physical REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING. 
19 
education should be made an essential part of education, and 
its means and methods should be better regulated. 
The physical training of girls, were it well begun in the 
Grammar Schools, could be continued in the High Schools 
with excellent results. Here, as in Europe, " corrective ex- 
ercises ” could, under competent advice and instruction, be 
resorted to for removing defects in form and for other 
special development. Indeed, the time will come when 
pupils, on entering the lower schools, will receive physical 
examinations, and provision will be made for conducting 
" corrective exercises.” 
Nor can the physical training of boys in the High Schools 
be neglected without serious loss to them and to the commu- 
nity. Not only the boys who are too young for military 
drill, and who are " lounging shiveringly about,” but also 
those old enough to take the drill, should receive an "all- 
round” physical development. Entering the High Schools 
after receiving in the Grammar Schools careful physical train- 
ing, they would be ready to continue this training, and to add 
the special training given by military drill. Thus the plan 
of General Moore, to make the " setting up ” exercises coun- 
teract any tendencies of military drill to one-sided physical 
development, could be better carried out; and the moral 
discipline that results from military drill discipline in 
prompt and exact obedience, in patience and self-restraint, 
and in united action would be none the less secured. 
In conclusion, the Board of Supervisors, agreeing with 
the Instructor in Hygiene that the Swedish system furnishes 
the true basis for physical training, makes the following 
recommendations : 
1. That the Ling system of gymnastics be the authorized 
system of physical training in the public schools, and that it 
be introduced into them as soon as teachers are prepared to 
conduct the exercises. 
2. That a competent teacher of this system be employed 20 
SCHOOL DOCUMENT NO. 10. 
to train the pupils in the Normal School and the teachers in 
the public schools. 
3. That, for the coming year, provision be made for 
training at least the pupils in the Normal School, and the 
teachers of the first and second classes of the Primary Schools, 
and the fifth and sixth classes of the Grammar Schools. 
Respectfully submitted, 
ELLIS PETERSON, 
For the Board of Supervisors.