nd give adequate opportunity for the testing of the founder's
theories.

As might be expected, Mr. Vassar provided especial advantages for the
thorough establishment and maintenance of a system of physical training.
He placed the great building that was to be the college home of many
women in the middle of a farm of two hundred acres, lying upon a
beautiful plateau, so that pure air, unobstructed sunshine, good
sewerage, an abundant water supply, quiet, freedom from intrusive
observation in out-door sports or employments, and varied encouragements
for active and healthful recreation, were all made possible. He was
careful that the provision for the heating and lighting of the building
should be generous, and that there should be no lack in the arrangements
for the supply of suitable and well-prepared food. He built a commodious
gymnasium and riding-school, and experienced instructors were put in
charge of both those departments of physical culture; and, agreeably to
his views and plan, one of the instituted professorships was that of
Physiology and Hygiene, whose incumbent was also appointed resident
physician, and given general supervision of the sanitary arrangements of
the household.

This brief sketch gives the prominent features of the plan by which the
founder and his associated trustees and faculty hoped to solve the
problem of providing for the liberal education of women, and at the same
time promoting their healthy, vigorous and graceful physical
development. The following extract from President Raymond's Report to
the United States Commissioner of Education at the Vienna Exposition, on
"Vassar College; its Foundation, Aims, etc.," shows what creed
underlayed the arduous labor which the solution of this problem
involved: "Recognizing the possession by woman of the same intellectual
constitution as man's, they claimed for her an equal right to
intellectual culture, and a system of development and discipline based
on the same fundamental principles. They denied that any amount of
intellectual training, if properly conducted, could be prejudicial, in
either sex, to physical health or to the moral and social virtues. They
believed, in the light of all experience, that the larger the stock of
knowledge and the more thorough the mental discipline a woman actually
attains, other things being equal, the better she is fitted to fill
every womanly position, and to perform every womanly duty, at home and
in society. At