After Harvard, Yale College seems to have been the first to introduce gymnastics among its students. A letter received from the University Library states “that the idea was taken from the gymnasium recently established at Harvard; that Tutor William M. Holland was sent to Cambridge in the summer of 1826 to procure the apparatus, and that he superintended the exercises, which was begun with the opening of the fall term of 1826.” At a meeting of the Corporation held September 12, 1826, it was “Voted that a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars, to be expended under the direction of the faculty, be appropriated to the clearing and preparation of grounds for a Gymnasium and to the erection of apparatus for Gymnastic exercises, with a view to the promotion of the health and improvement of the Students.” A book entitled “Student Life at Amherst College,” compiled by George R. Cutting and published at Amherst in 1871, contains the following account of a similar movement at that institution: “In the summer of 1826 the students of the college petitioned the Faculty for a holiday in which to clear up the college grove. The petition was granted, and a second day was given for further completion of the work. Thus logs, stumps, and rubbish were removed, and the students had a fine grove at their command for outdoor exercise. Several months afterward a Gymnastic Society was formed, whose chief object was the erection and support of gymnastic apparatus in this grove. The first president of the society was Joseph Howard, M.D., of ’27. The Faculty concurred in the plans of the society, and as a result of their efforts a variety of useful apparatus was placed here, which was eminently serviceable to the students and contributed not a little to their health and happiness. By the enthusiasm and public spirit of the society a bathing house (10 × 12 feet) was also erected, in the southwest corner of the grove. Here shower-baths were provided for the members. This was afterwards burned down. In 1827-1828 the society contemplated the erection of bowling alleys, but the Faculty would not suffer the innovation.... Addresses were occasionally pronounced before the society, in the chapel, upon ‘physical culture.’ The society did not really cease to exist until 1859-1860, when the present (Barrett) gymnasium was erected. Its apparatus, ever and anon increased and repaired by the liberality of the students, was not removed from the grove until after that time.” Dr. E. M. Hartwell, in his “Physical Training in American Colleges and Universities” (Washington, 1886), tells us that “One who entered Amherst as a student in 1829 describes a gymnasium which consisted of ‘a few horses and parallel bars, with one or two swings in the grove, but even these belonged to a society of students who guarded their property with jealous care.’”