Beginning with the middle twenties and lasting till the death of King Frederick VI (December 3, 1839) there was some improvement. In Copenhagen itself gymnastics was now introduced in many public and private schools, and some of the village schools in Copenhagen county took similar action, assisted by the government (1826), which desired to see all the schools in a single county reached before further statewide measures were attempted. Within a few years this had been accomplished. November 25, 1826, a circular was sent out to the school authorities all over Denmark urging them to do what they could to favor instruction in gymnastics. In the summer of the next year a considerable number of teachers from Copenhagen county came to the city for a course in gymnastics. They felt the need of some opportunity for practice with children along with the instruction they themselves received. At Nachtegall’s suggestion the King therefore ordered (August 21, 1827) that 40 to 50 children from one of the public schools should be received at _det militære gymnastiske Institut_, for instruction in gymnastics, and that this public school should establish such relations with the Institute that both together would constitute a teachers’ college which might serve as a normal school of gymnastics (_Normalskole for Gymnastikken_), where not only the military and civil pupils at the Institute but also teachers in public and private schools could have an opportunity to conduct classes under supervision. The Normal School, under this new arrangement, was opened on January 28, 1828 (at the same time a new building, at Solvgaden barracks, was ready for use), and during that year more than 200 teachers were in attendance, 160 boys from the garrison school coming to the Institute to serve as a model school. In summer their place was taken by pupils from charity schools. June 25, 1828, the King approved the _manual of gymnastics_[140] for use in the middle and common schools (_Folkeskolerne_) on which Nachtegall and four other members of a commission appointed for the purpose had been at work for a year. This was the first book of the sort to be authorized by any European government. Copies were sent (4000 of them) at the King’s expense to all Danish schools and school authorities. On the same day, June 25, was issued an order which required the immediate introduction of instruction in gymnastics in all schools throughout the state. A city inspector of gymnastics was appointed in Copenhagen, where every child received three lessons a week and the teachers were most of them non-commissioned officers. It was estimated that by the end of 1830 2000 elementary schools (_Almueskoler_) were already complying with the order, and that by the time of the King’s death 2500 out of the (approximately) 2600 public schools in Denmark were making at least some provision for systematic bodily exercise.