GYMNASIA. 406 GYMNASTICS. anil one that is to a great dc<rioc responsible for the large attendance and pnblic support of the Gymnasia, is the e.xeinption from one year of the required two years' military service on successful completion of the six-year gymnasia! course. Nearly one-half of all secondary pupils in Pris- sia leave school at the end of six years after securing this privilege. This privilege also ex- plains the formation of the Progynmasium, which offers simply the first six years of the gymnasial course. The Realgjnnnasiuni differs from the Gymnasium in the stronger emphasis on the non-classical subjects, as is seen in the greater number of hours giv.en to mathematics and the sciences, and the fewer hours given to Latin, in the omission of Greek, and in the requirement of English as well as French. The Realschulen (q.v. ) and the Oberrealschulen are altogether non-classical. Every higher school has a well- endowed school library and a teachers' library, and publishes at the end of each school year a ■Program,' which is, first, a handbook of school information records, vacations, and lists of stu- dents, and, second, contains a scientific treatise written by a teacher of the school. In essential unity of method and in the equal supervision of the State, the higher schools as a wliole stand on the same plane of excellence, although one or another institution may occa- sionally enjoy a position of preeminence through the influence of a siiecially gifted director, or a happily constituted faculty. So in Prussia the 'Landes- und Fiirstenschule' Pforta (Foundation school), in Saxony the 'Landes- und Fiirsten- schule' at ^leissen, all founded previous to the middle of the sixteenth century, in Wiirttemberg the 'elite' schools of the upper Gymnasia (with- out lower classes), in which only pupils of marked excellence are received — e.g. at llaul- bronn. Some of the.se most noted institutions are boarding-schools. At the present time there are in all Germany more than 1200 approved higher schools, of which about 4.50 are Gymnasia. Con- sult: Matthew Arnold. Higher Hchools and I'ni- rersities in Germayiy {-lA ed., London, 1882) : Schrader, Erziehinirjs- und Unterrichtslehre fiir Gi/mnoDien nnd Real>ichule>i (5th ed., Berlin, 1S93) ; Paulsen. Geschichfe des gelehrten Vnter- richf.t (iiif de)i deiitxchen flchulen. tiird riiiversi- taten (2d ed.. Leipzig, ISn.j-OT) : Russell. Ger- man Hifiher f^chooJs CSew York, 1890) : Bolton. Secondiirji .SV7ioo( Si/stem of Germrini) (New York, UioO) ; SSpccial Reports on Educational l^iibjects hy the Board of Education of Great Britain, vols, i., iii., and ix. See National EnucATiox. Systems of: Realschulen. GYMNA'SIABCH (Lat. gymnasiarchus, fiiim Gk. yvfi.va<rlapxoi, gymnasiarchos. f rom 7iiju.- viffiov, gymnasion. gymnasium + dpxis, archos, leader, from apxfi", archein, to lead). The name of a Greek oflicial, whose rank and duties varied widely in different places and at different times. In Athens during the fifth and fourth centuries n.c. a gv'nmasiarch was chosen annually from eacli tribe to bear the expenses of the torch races. (See Lampadephoria.) The duties included the pa^nnent of all expenses connected with the training of the competitors, and the office was one of the most expensive of the jniblic services demanded by Athens of her wealthy citizens. The name seems to imply that the gynmasiarcb had also certain rights and duties in the gj-mnasia during the training of the youths, but there is no definite information on this subject. After the establishnu'nt of the Macedonian power we find a change at Athens. There is lujw one gynmasiarcb cliosen annually, and his oHice is one of great dig- nity, lie has llie general oversight of order and discipline in the gymnasium of the epliebi (q.v.). and sometimes undertakes heavy expenses from his own ])ursc. The same name is given to rich ephebi, wlio undertake for a longer or shorter period, generally one month, to bear certain heavy charges for their comrades, such as the expenses of festivals, or of furnishing the oil needed in the gymnasium. Outside of Athens and the States which copied her gymnastic system, the term de- notes either magistrates who have charge of the gTnnastic and literary instruction, or those who have to provide for certain expenses connected with the iiymnasiuni or festivals, either from their own projierty or from the public funds. The wide diversity in details cannot be discussed here. Consult Glatz. "Gymnasiarchia." in Darem- berg et Saglio, Dirtionnaire des antiquitcs (Paris, 1890). GYMNASTICS (Lat. gymnast icus. from Gk. ■yvp-vacTTiKOs, gyinnustih-os. relating to athletic ex- ercises, from yv/ivd^eii', gymnazein, to train). Indoor exercises for the development of physique by the aid of suitable appliances. A room or building set apart for such purposes, and fur- nislied with the requisite appliances and para- phernalia, is termed a gymnasium. In the train- ing and develo]>ment of the athlete, indoor exer- cises occupy a position of ])aramount importance: indeed, supremacy in field sports, or outdoor games, is rarely possible unless the progressively systematic exercises of the gA'mnasiuin are made a part of the training. The preeminence which classical antiquity gave to systematic training, and which resulted in the physically magnificent s[)ecimens of humanity common to the Greek games and Roman gladiatorial combats, became lost to the world with the decay of those na- tions. Gymnastics as practiced to-day may be said to date from the middle of the nineteenth century, and to be a product or result of modern life aiid conditions. The increasing number of densely populated cities, the stress of industrial conditions requiring a correspondingly complex and exacting mental or technical preparatiu-y education, as well as a lifetime spent under con- ditions frequently injurious to good physical health or development, have all eontrilnited to render the practice of gymnastics an absolute necessity to the individual, and a subject of serious imjiortance to the nation at large. At the beginning of the twentieth century it is an important feature of the educational system of every nation in the world, receiving its origi- nal iiii)ictus in Europe, but reaching its highest development thus far in America. Gymnastic exercises may be divided into tliree general classes: {)'Free gymnastics, under which is included every exercise that is performed with- out apparatus: (2) roZi.sf/ir)ii>s. under which are included exercises with dumb-bells, Indian clubs, wands, etc.; and (3) Gymnastics proper, by which is meant every exercise in which the body is the resistance moved, and in the execution of which a fixed apparatus is necessary. Indiscriminate gvmnastic exercises are rarely beneficial, and frequently injurious, if indulged in by any one
