New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-11-10
NETWORK DAILY TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1883

Bells statement holds good for the schools as
they are to-day, teachers and scholars ore
breathing five or six hours o day air that is
surcharged with deadly poison.
- There are two municipal boards which are in
position to state whether this startling charge
is true or false. The Board of Health has re-
Gently submitted to the Board of Education a
series Of reports the sanitary condition of the
schools. Probably it has ascertained by official
inspection how many cubic feet of breathing
space each scholar has at his disposal and how
much carbOnic acid he consumes every hour he
is in the school-room. Neither body seems to
be willing to put the public in possession of tie
facts. The reports have been referred to a
standing committee of the Board Of Education,
and access. to them. is denied On the ground that
it is unwise to alarm the community by the
premature publication of the contents. One
board withholds the information as q matter of
courtesy and the other in q spirit of easy going
optimism. If there be one point, however,
where public sentiment is especially sensitive,
it is the sanitary condition of the schools. If
teachers and scholars are breathing from 10 to
80 per cent of carboniC acid, the Board of Edu-
cation is bound to take immediate action of c
llOSJ TutlCul nature, IL IldU DOdGu utSlcCIS W
do its duty, the sanitary authorities ought not
to content themselves with official recommend
atiOns. They should act so decisively that not
a single schOOl-rOom where children are daily
poisoned with foul air shall remain open. In
any event there ought to be no delay in laying
the facts before the public.
A schOol-room that is solely dependent upon
open windows for ventilation is unfit for use
during the greater part of the year. Children
sitting near the windows cannot be exposed to
draughts, and except in warm weather such
rooms cannot be thoroughly ventilated in this
way. The device of fitting boards under the
windows, so as to separate the sashes a few
inches in the middle and admit fresh air without
creating current, is useful in hospitals, but
does not meet the requirements of a crowded
schoOlroom. The ventilation of school build
ingS ought not to be left to chance, but should
be Systematically provided for. Children are
tender plants that thrive in fresh air and droOp,
spindle and withcr in foul air. One of the best
proofs that the air in school-ro is too often
unfit for children To breathe is the prevalence
of near sightcdncss among the older pupils.
The eye being the most delicate bit of mechan-
ism of the human body, requires the best blood
which the physical system can command, and
consequently suffers more than any other organ
when the blood is vitiated by the inhalation of
foul air year after year. TO.ncar-sightedness are
added many other positive indications Of the
bacful effects of carbOnic acid in the school at
mOSphcrc-thc pale faces and impaired health
of the children and the chronic headaches and
nervous depression of the teachers. The sub
tect is one of vital Importance to the public, and
any authoritative information which may be
forthcoming ought not to be capriciously sup
nrrSsrl.