GYMNASIUM was the name applied by the Greeks to a building designed for the practice of physical exercises. From the earliest times we hear of athletic sports in honour of heroes and gods. Sometimes they are celebrated among the funeral rites of a deceased chief, sometimes they form part of a periodic festival. At first competitors exercised stript of their outer garments (γυμνοί) ; hence arose the name gymnasium. Afterwards the habit of exercising naked became universal. In the continuance of their history the Greeks grew more attached to such sports; their free active life, spent to a great extent in the open air, fostered the liking almost into a passion. The victor in any athletic contest, though he gained no money prize, was rewarded with the honour and respect of his fellowcitizens; and a victory in the great religious festivals was counted an, honour for the whole state. In these circumstances the training of competitors for the greater games became a public concern; special buildings and officials were provided for the purpose by the state. But, as gymnastics became more and more an institution of social life, the gymnasia were applied to other uses even more important. The most interesting points are the connexion with education on the one hand, with medicine on the other. Due training of the body and maintenance of the health and strength of children were the chief part of earlier education. Except the time devoted to letters and music, the education of boys was conducted in the gymnasia, where their moral training was as carefully attended to by special officers as their physical exercises. As they grew older conversation and social intercourse took the place of the more systematic discipline. Philosophers and sophists assembled to talk and to lecture ...