Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-05-06
ypnTlI.ATrNo SCHOOL ROOMS.


vast importance deserves, and the IN
struction upon this matter which mas
been furnished by the scientific men
with the Johns Hopkins UNI
versity, at that place, oashtto be Wlaeiy
that the enormous waste Oh
bpmsn life and health which indiffer-
epce and ignorance upon this subject is
constantly producing throughout the
country might be checked. A teacher
who is either ignorant or indifferent
about the effects OF vitiated air upon the
,ystem is not proper person to have
the care OF the health and training OF
Young children. Yet it is remarkable
fact that a large number OF in
te!ligent people have very little
knowledge or concern about the air
they breathe and its agency in general
ing disease and destroying the tone OF
the system. ii this subject were duly
appreciated the parents OF our school
children would be as careful to guard
against their confinement in a room
where the ventilation is imperfect as
they would be against their contact
with infectious disease.
flour space would permit, We would
be glad to publish several interesting
and instructive articles which the Balti-
more papers have furnished on this
subject, but at present give only the
following extract explaining the effects
Of foul atmosphere upon the system:
Foul air, which is synonymous with
deficient ventilation, exercises blight
ing influence upon both the vegetable
and animal kingdoms. Plant potato
in dark cellar, and it will sind up q
long white stem, entirely devoid oil any
green color. 1t is only the pure air and
the sunlight that can impart it to the
usual characteristics ofgrowth and color.
So with the human body. Take from 1T
the pure air, and it will suffer from
growth and development. This is no
hypothesis. The children OF the Eng
lIsh weavers who pass their lives in a
close and confined air are extremely
subject to scrofula and softening OF the
bones. Scrofuloss diseases are com
mon result OF bad ventilation. Chill
dren, moreover, born OF parents living
continuously in bad air, show signs oil
physical inferiority. Defective ventila'
ton deadens both the mental and bodi-
" energies; it leaves its mark upon the
person so that we can distinguish
the inhabitants OF a town
from those OF the country.
Notwithstanding the teachings OF
chemistry and physiology, it does not
vet seem TO be understood that carboniC
acid is a poor substitute for oxygen in
the breathing process; that fresh air is
indispensable to health; that the pent'
up, sitting air of our schoolrooms sadly
deteriorates the health OF both pupil and
teacher, rendering the brain torpid OF
inactive, and interfering more or less
with study and mental and physical de-
yelopment. It is a mournful fact that
many OF the brightest and most promis'
ing children die while getting their edu-
cation, and it has not yet been estimated
how many of them die from the con-
fined and poisonous air OF the school
room, superadded to excessive study
and overtasked brains. OF what avail
is an education il, through poisoned air,
the health is ruined beyond repair. The
medical profession say that consump-
ton is frequently produced by foul air.
No wonder, therefore, that school teach
ers so frequently die OF that disease.
That the effects OF bad air are poison
Gus is generally conceded, but the pub
lie generally are uniniormed as to what
it really is, anu. too dull and Indifferent
to INQUIRE into the matter. AS long as
draughts of air are let into the buildings
from doors ajar, windows and cracks,
the schoolrooms are thought to be hab'
table. General indisposition, dullness,
lassituda, inattention TO work, restless
ness under discipline and disposition to
complain are thought to be attributes oil
primary il not OF all schools. But in
these dark, unventilated, damp, con-
tracted and overcrowded schoolrooms
are being sowed the seeds OF bodily dis
ease, mental weakness and correspond
ing moral affections, which will in the
end cause additional taxes for health
boards, poorhouses and prisons. The
time passed in these schools prepares
the pupils or victims for attacks ofscar-
let fever, diphtheria, various forms OF
summer complaint and diseases OF the
lungs.
The atmosphere is never found in its
natural purity in densely inhabited
places nor in occupied apartments; the
net of respiration and carnations from
the person, which are constantly taking
place, yitiate it in number OF ways.
In addition to the carbolic acid given
of, the air is saturated with moisture on
being exhaled from the lungs, no mat
ter how dry il may have been when in
hailed. The vapor given off by the
lungs is accompanied by from LIZ to
l-6 OF pound Of vapor emanating from
the skin each hour, which is diffused
through the surrounding air. The va
por which escapes from even the
healthy human body contains volatile
substances and cast.of matter which
it is one OF the functions
OF breathing and perspiration
to remove from the body as in
furious, and which ii is evident should
not be again taken into the system.
These last impurities when present
in comparatively small quantities
render air unfit to support life, and
when habitually breathed are insidious,
and often unsupported causes of gradual
deterioration OF vigor and health. 1t
has been estimated that at least 40 per
cent. OF all fatal diseases are indirectly
due to impure air. The presence of a
small proportion OF carbonic acid incon-
taminated by respiration shows deci-
deily injurious condition OF the air, the
carbonic acid serving as guide to show
in an approximate manner the other
impurities which are poisonous.
The quantities OF fresh air recon-
mended for the people generally in close
rooms may seem large when the volume
OF air actually bresthed is considered,
but are insignificant when compared
with the quantity which comes in con.
tact with the body when in the open air.
The motion OF the atmosphere is rarely
less than two miles an hour, and with
this velocity over the ten square feet
presented by the body the ventilation
ano0unfs IN the anormOus fiUura Of Inn -