The splendid set-up of the cadets is not, however, due to stays, whalebones in the dress coats, Dr. Quack’s abdominal bandages, or to any other mechanical appliances. It is the result of a very highly intelligent system of physical training, to which the supple young body of the cadet is submitted for four years. Naturally, little by little his muscles, through exercise, attain their proper development, and since no one set of muscles is neglected, the body gradually assumes a well-rounded, finished appearance. The material for instruction is good and healthy, because all of the cadets have been submitted to a rigid physical examination before entrance. They are not, however, all perfect specimens, for many possess minor defects and blemishes, unimportant as far as affecting their military value to the Government, but which can be eradicated by proper physical training. The instructor of physical training is greatly aided in his actual work, by the kind of life the cadet leads, so that he has not to struggle with a crowd of men who after having received physical training daily, indulge themselves to their heart’s content. He has, on the contrary, a set of young men who live under the strictest and simplest conditions in a healthy environment, and whose diet is most wholesome. No late suppers, no beer, no rich food are at work to keep up the rotundity of the stomach, the _coram nobis_ of the Romans, or to produce a lot of flabby fat, but good cereals, nourishing meats and vegetables, even the despised “slum,” are indirect factors in keeping healthy the cadet’s body. West Point believes that for a man to do the best mental work, his body must be in the best condition. The Academy was the first educational institution in the country to recognize that hand in hand with the student’s mental training must go the proper development of his physical powers. As long ago as 1817, Captain Partridge, the Superintendent of the Military Academy, incorporated in the curriculum bodily exercises. Since that time the importance of physical training in the cadet’s course has been given recognition, but frankly there was no real system of physical training until 1846. A gymnasium was then prepared and instruction given by First Lieut. H. C. Wayne, First Artillery. This was a beginning, but the authorities were hampered by lack of equipment, and also by no very great knowledge of how to proceed. The science of physical training was in its infancy, it must be remembered, but crude as was the instruction it was the genesis of the splendid course that now exists. For a long period after the Civil War, 1865-1882, cadets attended the gymnasium as they saw fit, a system that was no system. The original course from which the present course has developed was inaugurated in February, 1885.