The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-09-18
PHYSICAL CULTURE.


o. INV interest in education is secono
:" No individuals, yet, ! cannot assem-
T" %, performance of school work in
w.nhiticsl atmosphere, 10 peculiarly
nnroductiycorneryous fatigue irrilobiity
Transition and disease, ! take It thai
!, !. the object OF every enlightened
pdncator to promote the right exercise
" ,bot power by which each individual
Ultimately becomes the director of hi,
umn conduct, the arbiter Of his own
JJ".,inies and that, in etlecting Thu
obicct the principal problem TO be
,vrorked out, in education is the
,ro.eryation Of health the proper
balance and adjustment of the physical
anil intellectual faculties, The proper
enlistment of these faculties, in
NV Judgment, depends largely upon
sncb hygienic essentials as fresh air,
yontillation and warmth, and it should
be fine paramount duty Of teachers to
,acure and retain these. 1t has been
sgirmcd by an eminent physician that
eyory poir OF human lungs requires
about 800 cubic feet of air per hour
In other words, if person were con-
8rpd in room ten feet square and
thirteen feet high, all the air in that
room should be changed every hour
This pbysiologist estimates that in early
cbHdbood about one~tifth of all the
blood in the body is directed to the
broin and that if this blood, in passing
through the lungs, does not there OBJ,
tain supply of oxygen, it takes back
10 the brain and other tissues carbonic
acid instead, and the consequence is,
That q partial arrest Of vitality takes
Mace the vigor of the child is dimn,
sbed, the functions are depressed, and
there will be u gradually increasing tor
nor of mental faculties, which may res
suit in permanently stunted intellect
Nontelligent physician will gansay the
assertion that air vitiated by respiration,
is not only among the most active in
Auences in promoting the spread of
many fatal diseases, but that on young
children, who may escape these diseases,
it exercises a powerfully depressing
influence. If air be vitiated by close
rooms and imperfect ventilation, func.
tional activity is DISTRACTED, nutrition
interiered with, the sensibilites are
bunted, the brain of the child filed
with impure blood, and its mental ca
pacities weakened, if not overthrown.
liza child having q healthy constitution
be subjected for a 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 vitiated air, is pres
disposed to many epidemic diseases
to scarlet fever, measles, diphtheria,
scrotulous and brain affections, etc,
and the design Of the school room is
thus intensified, unless under wise su>
pervison, and unless the watcher seeks
to prevent those eruptive and febrile
disorders from which adult life is com.
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
it at least 300 cubic feet in every school
room in Dallas, and the air in that
space should be changed every twenty
minutes by proper ventilation, since
rom 300 to 1000 cubic feet of fresh
llr is needed hourly TO neutrali2e the
ieleterious properties of that respired,
In addition to these precautions the
of the rooms should be
guarded, and in muddy, wet
md inclement weather the child's feet
hOuld not be permitted to remain
vet nor the childs clothing damp,
Tor should the child be permitted
o become chilled by any other course.
Educated physicians should have init
nate connections with every school,
nd children evincing any evidences of
diseases should be promptly
to their examination, and if
Ound diseased, Immediately withdrawn
rom the schoolroom. The water sup>
.y of schools should be looked after
" the physicians with a view to prevent
IS contamination, AID the spread of ty>
hold fevers or other 2ymotic diseases
ccasioned by its use, should it be
ound impure. There are other Incl.
Ientals that might be looked after by
N observant physician, only one of
which, however, | shall direct further
ttention to, and that is the eye sight of
he children. 1t has been my pleasure
gently to read the report of Herman
Ohm, a distinguished psychologist Of
'reslan, upon the results of his ooser-
atoms upon the eyes of 10000 school
This gentleman has DEM
nstrated to my satisfaction the alarms
ng degree of damage done to children
y the severe and protracted use Of
heir eyes upon minute objects, and
hat this damage is gravely increased
y pushing children rapidly forward in
heir education. In Breslan university
mt of four hundred and ten students,
'rofessor Cohn found that not one
hlrd had normal eyes. and that the
,reyalence of near,sightedness, occa
toned by over use of the eyes, was very
requent An examination Of the eyes
! scholars in the cities of New York,
1ncinnati and Brooklyn show aper
entage as high as two hundred and
lxty>two near>sighted. Many Of the
cholars were over sighted; others had
n abnormal refraction, Others an acuity
j vision. Some eyes had vision equal
ne, others equal two thirds: some as
DIV as one>twentielb, and few only
Ole to count their figures, so impaired
.as their vision. Professor Erismon, of
" Petersburg, has also made a study
the eyes of school children,
nj he finds in them an
farming departure from a normal
occasioned by too great
l'e OF the eyes upon such minute OBJ
fc's as type letters and figures. !
merely mention this point of impaired
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