The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-03-09
Public School Ventilation.


Public School Ventilation.
Quick to comprehend whatever has length,
breadth or thickness, the human mind per-
sists in ignoring the intangible with an
obstinacy that no amount of argument seems
able to overcome. What goes into the
stomach twice or thrice dhy is considered of
momentous Importance; but what goes into
the lungs with every BREATH in no way con-
Germs mankind, Notwithstanding that digestion
and respiration are so intimately connected as
to be inseparable. Respiration is the last act
of digestion and essential to it" In every
twenty-four hours there flow to the lungs sixty
hogsheads of air and thirty hogsheads of
blood. The purity of the latter depends upon
the purity of the former; consequently indiffer-
ence to the atmosphere by which we are sur
rounded is suicidal Says Baudelocque,
celebrated French writer -'It will invariably
be found, on examination, that truly scrofu-
lous disease is caused by vitiated air, and
it is not always necessary that there
should have been q prolonged stay
in such atmosphere. Often few
hours each day is sufficient, and it is thus that
persons living in the most healthy country
and passing the greater part of the day in the
open air become scrofulous, because of sleep
ing in a confined place. where the air has not
been renewed" Typhus fever is an especial
product of foul air, and as, by the law of
sympathetic association" no one part of the
body can be injured without detriment to all
the rest the evils wrought by imperfect vent-
lation are beyond computation. In no coun-
try are diseases of the digestive organs as
prevalent as in America. Connection between
stomach and brain being intimate, it follows
that insanity must be more frequent here than
elsewhere, and though the major part of it be
traced to an inordinate use of intoxicating
liquors, let it be remembered that there is no
greater encouragement to intemperance than
vitiated atmosphere. 1t seems incredible,
therefore, that so little attention should be
paid to subject of vital importance. Inteli-
gent men and women sleep in rooms with
closely shut doors and windows, taking care
if it be Summer, to stuff chimneys with paper,
that no SCOT may fall. They frequent ball
rooms, concert rooms, theatres and churches
where oxygen is unknown and carbonic acid gas
drug, and never protest against the system
of slow murder universally practised through
out the civilized world
But bad as are our places of worship and
of amusement still worse are our public
schools. The public school is a national
hobby, and incessant riding of this hobby has
fho -
perfection; but thorough inspection of
large proportion of our public schools shows
that not one building can be found wherein
the occupants are not daily poisoned because
of foul air. Sixty, eighty and one hundred
children are packed into rooms capable of
decently accommodating but half as many
In some cases attempts have been made to
provide means for the admission of fresh
air or for the election of that which
is impure; but the architects of these devices
have not realized the importance of combining
the two movements. In most of the school
houses windows are the only ventilators, but
on damp or cold days it is manifestly unsafe
to precipitate draughts directly upon the backs
and heads Of those pupils who, by the faulty
construction of the assembly and recitation
rooms, are placed on a level with the window
sills Strange as it may seem, new buildings
are no better than old. Money has been Law
ishly expended in certain directions, but not
one dollar has been devoted to that which
should be insured to every individual on
entering public institution-pure air. If
the question of cost be brought forward as an
objection to remedying existing evils, it should
be sufficient answer to reply that the health
perhaps the existence-of two thousand teach
ers and two hundred thousand children
depends upon reform. That complaints
are not loud is owing to three
reasons:-1. Parents rarely or never
visit the schools, and consequently do not
inform themselves of their condition. Q.
Teachers are one-third ignorant and two
thirds helpless, knowing that retention in
office depends upon Difference to status quo.
3. Primary children are too young to
realize their danger, and when promoted to
grammar schools are so accustomed to foul
air that finding themselves better off than
formerly, they rejoice at what is bad rather
than protest against what is worse. Did
parents and teachers know that twenty times a