In Medical thought, the reformation of society wasn´t restricted in streets, avenues and buildings, in other words, wasn’t enough the cities urbanization based in health precepts. It was necessary to reform the bodies too, which first occurred in the family, in children by the hygienic education. In this specific field of Hygiene that exercises became a focus of interest of Medicine. The objective of this study was to describe the context of the introduction of physical education in schools through the medical discourse of the 19th century. For this, it was realized a historical research that had as sources: the theses of the Faculties of Medicine of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. It concludes that the mentality hygienist contributed to the slow diffusion of the exercises in the educational context of the 19th century. However the gymnastics, in specific, wasn’t very important in the hygienist project.
History of medicine; Scholar physical education; Hygiene; Body