The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1877-09-22
PHYSICAL CULTURE.


:
10 the performances of school work IN q
mephitical atmosphere, 80 peculiarly
productive OF nervous fatisue, irFitability
exhaustion and disease | take is thai
il is the object OF every enlightened
educator to promote the right exercise
Of that power by which each individual
ultimately becomes the director OF bis
own conduct, the afbiteF of his Own
destinies, and that, in etfecting this
object. the principal problem to be
worked out. in education, is the
preservation of health, the proper
balance and adjustment of the physical
and intellectual faculties. The proper
adjustment oil these facttie in
my Judgment, depends largely upon
such hygienie essentials as fresh air.
ventilation and warmth, and il should
be the paramount duty Of teachers 10
secure and retain these, II has been
affirmed bg an eminent physician that
every pair of human lungs requires
about | 800 cubic feet of air per hour
In other words, if a person we've con-
fined IN room ten feet square and
thirteen feet high. all the air in that
room should be changed every hour.
This psychologist estimates that in early
childhood about oue-ffth of all the
blood in the body is directed to the
brain, and that il this blood, in passing
through the lungs, does not there OBJ
tain supply of oxygen, It takes hack
to the brain and other tissues carbonie
acid instead and the consequence is,
that 8 partial arrest of vitality takes
place, the vigor of the child Is dimin-
isned, the functions are depressed. and
there will be a gradually increasing tor
por of mental faculties, which may res
suit in permanently stunted intellect
No intelligent physician will gainsay the
assertion that air vitiated byrespiration,
is not only among the most active in
hueuces in promoting the spread of
many fatal diseases, but that on young
children, who may escape these diseases.
il exercises powerfully depressing
influences. If air he vi,iated by close
rooms and imperfect ventilation, fanc-
tionai activity is ebstructed, nutrition
interfered with, the sensihilities are
biunted, the brain of the child filed
with impure blood, and its mental ca
pacities weakened, if not overthrowu.
If child having healthy constitution
be subjected for sufficient length of
time to an atmosphere surcharged with
carbonic acid; if it be deprived of light
If it be restrained in the physical exer-
else necessary for the development of
its organs, if the wants Of nature" be
neglected, no perfect organic develop
ment can be expected. A child, when
depressed by Initiated air, i. pres
disposed to many epidemic diseases,
to scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria,
scrofulous and brain affections, etc,
and the design of the school room is
thus intensified, unless under wise SUI
pervision, and unless the watcher seeks
to prevent those eruptive and febrile
disorders from which adult lie is COM
parativeiy exempt, but which attack so
readily the delicate and susceptible or
ganism of the child In view of these
facts. such child should have assigned
il at least 800 cubic feet in every school
room in Dallas, and the air in that
space should be changed every twenty
minutes by proper ventilation, since
from 300 to 1000 cubic feet of fresh
air is needed hourly 10 neutralize the
deleterious properties of that respired.
In addition to these precautions the
temperature of the rooms should lee
carefully guarded, and in muddy, wet
and inciemeut weather the ehiIds feet
should not be permitted TO remain
wet, nor the child's clothing damp
nor should the child be permitted
to become chilled by any other course
Educated physicians should have init
pate connections with every school
and children evincing any evidences of
contagious diseases should be promptly
submitted TO their exam nation, and if
found diseased, Immediately withdrawn
from the schoolroom. The water sup
ply CT schools should be looked after
by the physicians with a view to prevent,
its contamination. a d the spread of ty>
phoid feVers or other zymetie diseases
occasioned by it's use should ii be
found impure. There are other incl
dentals that might be looked after by
an ohseryant physician, only one of
which. however, | shall direct further
attention to, and that is the eye-sight OF
the children. II has been my pleasure
recently TO read the report of Herman
Cohp, distinguished psychologist of
Breslan, upon the results of hfs.obser-
/ NdttptlS AtfAtli Ait &C pa Apsptg 5tfltOi
children. This gentleman has DEM
onstrated to my satisfaction the alarms
ing degree OF damage done to children
by the severe and protraeted use of
their eyes upon minute objects. and
that this damage is gravely increased
by pushing children rapidly forward in
their education. In Breslan university.
out of four hundred and ten students.
Professor Cohn found that not ONE
third had normal eyes, and that the
prevalence OF near-sightedness, occa
stoned by over use of the eyes, was very
frequent An examination OF the eyes
of scholars in the cities of New York.
Cincinnati and Brooklyn show q per
centage as high as two hundred and
sixty,two nearssighted. Many Of the
scholars were over-sighted, others had
an abnormal refraction, others an acuity
of vision. Some eyes had vision equal
one, others equal two.thirds. some as
low as onestwentieth, and few only
able to count their figures, so impaired
was their vision. Professor Erismon, OF
St Petersburg, has also made study
of the eyes OF school children,
and he finds in tAea an
alarming departure from a normal
condition occasioned by too great q
use of the eyes upon such minute OBJ
jects IS type letters and figures.
merely mention this point of Impaired
vision incidentally with the hope that
the facts stated may be regarded by edu.
Gators 10 caring for the physical condi-
ton of the scholar.
Generalizing upon the subject OF