Törngren was succeeded as director by Col. _Viktor Gustav Balck_ (1844-) in 1907, and two years later retired from his position as head teacher in the section of school gymnastics. Balck, who in turn gave place to Major _Nils Fredrik Sellén_ in 1909, had been head teacher of military gymnastics since 1887, following Nyblæus. He has been an ardent advocate of outdoor and other sports for young and old, organizing societies for their promotion, editing a series of a dozen volumes devoted to the various forms,[131] and founding in 1881 the _Tidning för Idrott_ (Sporting Times). He has also done much to promote the formation and spread of popular gymnastic societies, and to make Swedish gymnastics known in other countries. With this object in view he accompanied squads of fellow countrymen to _Turnfeste_ at Brussels in 1877 and 1880, and in Paris in 1889 and 1900. Exhibitions were also given in London, Copenhagen, and Berlin, in connection with these trips. Together with Major Silow and other teachers he was a member of the committee which prepared the new handbook of gymnastics for the Swedish army and navy. THE CENTRAL INSTITUTE IN 1900 The influence of the system of school gymnastics perfected by Hjalmar Ling and his associates and successors in the Central Institute at Stockholm began to be felt abroad, in Europe and America, in the years just preceding and following the appointment of Törngren as director. For this reason, as well as its age and intrinsic merits, a description of the institution as it was in the fall of 1900, based on first-hand studies[132] deserves a place here. [Illustration: FIG. 38.—The Stockholm Central Institute of Gymnastics.]