The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1877-12-21
Warming the Schools.


AS leading Metropolitan journal justly |
observes, doubtless one ofthe most fruitful
sources Of deranged health is the use OF
furnaces in warming Of houses. That
subteranean evolver Of noxious gases and
excessive heat, which leaves people cold
because it is so nearly impossible to dis
tribute it properly, is the real author OF
the myriad headaches, neuralgias, bronchi-
tlses and of at least half the other diseases
that are attributed to our changeful eli
mate, our bad sewerage aud drainage, and
our water poisoned with miasm. Our
sewerage is bad, our water is far from first
rate and our climate is unjustly abused,
and all these have obtained bad names
because they have been held responsible
for the acts Of the great sinner in the
cellar. In each house the results are seen
in few individuals; it is in the public
schools where the evils of bad system of
heating aud defective ventilation are seen
on a grand scale. Every now and then
attention is called to this subject-the
nature of the evil and the remedy are
pointed out; there are conferences Of med
ical men aud engineers with the authori-
ties. 1t is clearly understood what should
be. done; nobody does it. In few days
the topic passes out of public view not to
be recalled again for a month or two, and
all the time, day in and day out, the
operation Of the evil continues, and the
little innocents in the schools are tortured
as if we were practising on grand scale
the attempt to produce human creatures
capable of breathing carbonic oxide instead
of atmospheric air, or as If the problem were
TO try how many little collins may be made
necessary by the practice of passing child
rem from an Arctic to a tropical tempera-
ture about once an hour during the time
school keeps. Until some one can show
the educational authorities precisely how
each individual of their number can make
hundred thousand dollars by proper
warming and ventilation Of the schools all
the evils will continue, of course; that we
recognize and accept as a first principle.
But is it not possible to have some intelli
gent supervision of even the bad system
that exists, so thatScaprice :. the defective
sensations of teachers in disc 'dered health
shall not take the place of the thermome
ter2 One shivers and urges the heat to
eighty or ninety and cannot get warm"
another, nearer good standard OF health,
revolts, opens window and let's in the
wintry air till the temperature goes
down to forty; and so they continue,
while the thermometers should
tell the one that the trouble was in her OWL
sensations and the other that she was
carrying good remedy to an extreme and
dangerous application. This is an i'm
provement that will cost little. All the
evils of school room heating are susceptible
Of remedy more or less expensive; but thi'
remedy is comparatively without cost anC
the evil is great. 1t is plain truth tina
every school heated with cast iron fur
mace is badly heated; every school roou
not ventilated from the floor is not ventila
ted at all, and every school room in whicl
the thermometer is not watched by tn
janitor as sedulously and constantly as tb
compass is watched by the navigator of
ship, is room certain to be by turns
drying chamber and an icebox. Children
forcibly detained in such place certai
number of hours every day necessarily
have their health broken down, and it i
only the wonderful elasticity and adapta
bility of child life that prevents thei
wholesale murder"