This treatise on the mechanics, effects, and classification of special exercises describes the Swedish system of educational gymnastics. The author argues that Swedish gymnastics must be the basis of all rational gymnastics since it is the only system whose details have been elucidated by and derived from mechanics, anatomy, physiology, and psychology. At the time of original publication in 1896, Baron Nils Posse was a graduate of the Royal Gymnastic Central Institute (Stockholm), Special Swedish Commissioner to The World's Colombian Exposition, Honorary Vice President to The World's Congress of Physical Education Chicago 1893, and Director of the Posse Gymnasium, Boston.