The Arizona sentinel., 1886-01-02
HEALTH IN SCHOOLS.
Sanitary Precautions That Should b
 Adopted by all School-Boards.

Adopted by all School-Boards.
 It is grand and noble thing that, in so many of our States the children of the nation are invited to attend the pub lie schools free of all expense. But, surely, it should be an axiom of such a gratuity that we must assemble the chil
 dren in a way that will not expose them
 to any undue risks of health. With the
 most of those who attend the schools,
 health is to be the working capital. If this- is imperiled to any great degree, no ordinary accumulation of knowledge will compensate for its loss. It can not be concealed that far too little attention is given to the care of the physical edu- cation. Besides what this involves in the training of the child, is what it de- mands in the care of his surroundings.
 We no longer are in doubt as to what is the model school-room. Its floors
 should be of the smoothest and best ma
 terial. The wood should be so prepared as not to absorb deleterious matters,
 and the very cracks of the floor, treated like those of hospital, so as not
 to be the resting-places for organic mat ter. The same rule should apply to every article of wood and to all wood work in the room. Plain surfaces,
 without crevices, should permit of the easiest cleansing, by dry or wet rub bing. The walls should be of the best hard finish. The relation between the
 walls and the outer inclosure should be 1 such that, by means of porous material or air spaces, there should be no con | tinuous dampness. It is now possible so to construct the inclosure that it shall contribute to dryness, and to free, minute circulation of air through its material. Thus sweet walls protect from draught, and yet admit valuable quantities of pure air. The next thing to be thought of is how to secure a prevalence of pure air in the school room. To do this we must see to it that we minimize the sources of foul or incompetent air, and that we secure an incoming of such pure air, as will com pensate for the necessary deterioration. All the details of cleanliness, as applied in the School-room, serve to dimin- ish dust and those putrescible or ganic matters which are wont to float in the air and to reduce its quality. In heating, we are to remember that, be- sides the burning up of oxygen which is accomplished by all systems which heat the air of the room only, we are not only impoverishing the air, but too often adding various gases which are un- friendly to perfect respiration. In lighting, we are to remember that, un- less it be the electric light, we are also consuming the oxygen of the air, and tO if hot fhiS ;S Tlora fn an undue extent, and especially that our kerosene and gas does not add to the air some deleterious substance Imperfect combustion will of itself do this As the presence of each person involves the re- moval from the air of about five per centum of its oxygen, and the addition in its place of nearly the same quantity of carbonic acid, and as with it there is the transpiration or eXhalation of thirty grains or more of highly putrescible or ganic matter, we are diligently to inquire how all this can be neutralized or quickly and harmlessly removed. This can only be done by adjusting the size of the room and the modes for the introduction of pure air to the number of persons in the room, so that sufficient supply can be furnished without undue draught. We derive our estimate of the amount of air needed by considering how much air passes through lung at each inspira- tion, or in from sixteen to twenty in- spirations per minute, and how far the consequent impairment of the air is affected by it. We also have to give con- sideration to the fact that something de- bends upon the relation of position which one person bears to another, and to the proportion this floor space bears to the general area of the room. Even with these-as location, health and cleanliness of persons, modes of ofheating, state of atmosphere, etc., have so much to do with the circulation of air-we have to test results by the other results of experience of the senses, and by actual chemical tests of the amount of carbonic acid and other material found The conclusion from all this has been that, in the estimate for schools, not less than two hundred and fifty cubic feet of space should be allowed to each per son, of which at least twelve square feet is represented in. floor space, the | ceilings not being reckoned higher than twelve feet. The supply of air neces- sary to keep this in pure condition, and yet to prevent draught being felt in its admission, must not be less than one thousand five hundred cubic feet. It is easy to see how far short most schools come of this requisition. If, in any particular case, any school board claims that in the school building such an allowance is unnec- essary, they should be able to show that the Angus Smith carbonic acid test showed the amount of carbonic acid present to be ordinarily with in limits, and that the ther- mometer, the hygrometer and the permanganate test showed satisfactory record. This rule is: ''Keep the room so that the air contained in a ten-and-a- half-ounce bottle of room air shows no precipitate when shaken with a half ounce of fresh clear lime water" Too often another evidence of the foulness of the air is afforded by sluggish or irri- table minds, by coughs and colds and feverishness, and that general state of uncomfortableness which does so much to demoralize some schools and to di- minish the ability for intellectual ac- quirement. Other effects are too often apparent in headaches, pale faces and want of that vigorous expression of healthy happy boyhood and girlhood without which the mind has casket too frail-N Y ItldeDe1zde13t