Athletic Sports (extract)

The Physical Proportions of the Typical Man needing its advantages, it seemed necessary that a new system of apparatus should be introduced, and a new spirit infused into the institution. With this aim in view, I devised a system of appliances designed to develop the different parts of the body, and to be adjusted to the strength of the strong or the weakness of the weak. In introducing these mechanical devices into the gymnasium, I made a radical de­ parture from one of the traditions that had governed physical education in the past. The ideahad become thoroughly established in the community, that in order to be beneficial, physical exercise must be interesting. Physiologists and writers on education have given the weight of their testimony to this opinion, and it is quite difficult to convince many persons at the present day that the value of exercise is not solely dependent upon its being made pleasing and attractive in itself. If a walk, run, game of ball, or system of gymnastic training, does not accord with Figure D. 23