GYMNA'SIIIM. This word (from gym nos, naked) was applied to those public places or buildings where the Greek youths exercised themselves. In Athens alone there were seven resorts of this kind. Philosophers also gave instruction In these gymnasia, hence the transference of the name to public buildings erected for the mental disciplining and instruction of youth. The German gymnasium corresponds roughly to the grammar and public schools of England, and the grammar and high schools of Scotland. All three had their origin in the cathedral and monastery schools of the pre-reformation period. The widening ciu of human knowledge in the 17tb and 18th centuries made itself felt in these educational seminaries, as in the universities. Their curriculum became gradually extended, and with the further increase and development of univer• cities, their aims became higher. In Germany, as in this country, the classical tongues formed and continue to form the great instrument of mental discipline in schools of this higher class, though other subjects have been added from time to time. The sub jects of instruction which were first added to the classical tongues were geography and history. The natural sciences and mathematics, the pursuit of which has formed a characteristic feature of this century, gradually found a place in the schoolroom • and the study of the mother-tongue and of modern was also admitted. For a time, these subjects held a co-ordinate place with Latin and Greek. Departmental studies were taught with ardor, and educators were sanguine of the results which would flow from early initiation into the results and processes of the various sciences. These anticipations having been somewhat disappointed, there has for sonic time been a steady movement.towards the restoration of classical or humanistic studies to be the main instrument of education, while retaining other subjects as a subordinate portion of the curriculum. The idea, however, of the gymnasium as specially a preparatory school
for the university, and therefore not suited to all classes indiscriminately, has been more steadily kept in view in Germany than in Great Britain, and the consequence has been the breaking up of the middle school or gymnasium into two—the gymnasium proper, where those are taught who propose to enter the universities, or who desire a partial classical training ; and real-schools where elementary science, foreign languages, and mathematics form the principal subjects of instruction. In this respect, the middle school education of Germany affords a favorable contrast to that of England. It is not to be supposed, however, that in England the grammar and public schools arc less efficient in their classical training ; the contrary is probably time fact, so far as our prin cipal schools, such as Eton, Harrow, and Rugby, are concerned ; but the methodized system of examinations, and the more rigorous methods of Germany, seem to turn out a larger proporiton of well-instructed boys from each school, while the influence of cen tral authority secures greater uniformity of processes and results throughout the country. The boys attend, as in England, till they reach the age of 18, when, after a special exam ination (the abiturient or maturity examination), they are transferred to the university. The German gymnasiums differ from English public schools for the middle and higher classes in being day-schools, and not the center of great boarding establishments. In this respect they resemble the Scotch grammar and high schools.