A Guide to the History of Physical Education

PHYSICAL TRAINING IN THE PRUSSIAN SCHOOLS.

The astonishing development of popular interest in gymnastics which has taken place in Germany and other European countries can be traced directly to Jahn's work at the Hasenheide, near Berlin, in the years 1810-1818; and between 1833 and 1858, in Switzerland and Hesse, Spiess laid the foundation of German school gymnastics. But although the first definite step looking toward physical training in the Prussian schools was the cabinet order of 1842 (p. 101), it was not until after the accession of William I to the throne, in 1861, that conditions became at all propitious. During the latter half of the reign of Frederick-William III, from 1819 to 1840, the one man who with his pupils and assistants kept alive the tradition of _Turnen_ in Berlin, adding to and further systematizing its content, and won for it gradually increasing recognition, was Ernst Eiselen, among Jahn's earliest followers and his most faithful fellow-worker. Under Frederick-William IV (1840-1861) there were at first encouraging signs of revival, but the unfortunate choice of Massmann to direct the carrying out of the new plans (1843-1850), followed by Rothstein's untactful and somewhat bigoted attempt to substitute the gymnastics of Ling for that of Jahn in the Royal Central Institute of Gymnastics at Berlin (1851-1863), made the whole period a disappointing one of storm and stress, without much evidence of real progress. Each of these early phases deserves a few words of explanation.