The record-union., 1891-03-26
WHY STUDENTS SHOULD EAT.
An Interesting Interview With DR..
Briggs on the Subject.
The Continuous Session Plan Handled
Without Gloves-The Doctor
Quotes Authorities.


doctors to the Board of Education Mon
day night, has stirred up quite little
rumpus," said DIR. w. A. Briggs to a
REcoRD-UNIoN reporter yesterday.
WELL" continued the doctor thought
fully, ''the students and teachers may
grumble all they please, and argue for
the continuous session, but we are right,
and l defy them or any one else to prove
that we are not. / have studied this mat
ter up thoroughly and know what am
talking about. / have looked up all the
authorities on hygiene, and have failed to
find single instance where the continu-
Gus session is recommended. On the con-
trary, it is universally condemned, and
all of the authorities agree that children
undergoing mental training should be
cared for physically as well-that is they
should have frequent rests between peri
ods of
MENTAL CONCENTRATION,
And above all should be given an oppor-
tunity to eat and digest their food. Now,
If you have few momenteS To spare, |
would like to read to you a few extracts
from these authorities. / think they will
interest you.'' The doctor escorted the
newspaper man into his private office
and bade him be seated, while he looked
through his bookcase for the desired vol
umes.
There are two questions involved in
this matter" resumed the doctor, still
rumaging among the books. 1.-The
first is: How many hours daily during
the edevelopmental period should bespent
in study? The second: How should this
study be distributed? There is wide
difference between the mental strain
necessary in the conduct of business and
that upon the youthful student. Thecon-
duct of business is chiefly in the appli
cation of knowledge already acquired;
but study is the requirement of new
knowledge, and, other things being
equal, requiresa larger outlay of nervous
force. If business man in the full ma
turity both of his sintellectual and physi-
cal powers needs IA lunch, why does not a
child, growing rapidly both in body
and i'll mind, and expending
MORE NERVOUS FORCE
In actual intellectual pursuits. The single
session is to be condemned. There
should be at least one long recess in such
session and arrangements for luncheon
may enter with profit into the considera-
ton of the school authorities, for it is un-
natural for growing youth or girl TO fast
six hours at a stretch amid vigorous ex-
ertion of the mind. The fact that some
have no appetite for a lunch constitutes
ground for suspecting that the school life
"
appetite"
DR.. Briggs had by this time found
quite number OF the volumes he was
looking for, and stacked them upon the
table. Taking seat opposite the re-
porter, and picking out one Of the books.
he continued.
81 will now read" he said, s'from DR..
D. +. Lincoln's work on Sanitary Condi-
tions,' etc. The number Of hours spent
in school daily should vary with the age
of the pupils, five hours being the maxi
mum. Very long sessions are injurious.
Single sessions, which interfere with the
regular meal hours of the pupils are in
furious. Children poorly fed cannot do
so much work as those well nourished.'
LIMITS OF CONCENTRATION.
1.-The Pennsylvania State Board of
Health, in its circular No. 2G, says: From
five years of age to seven child can
attend to one subject-that is, single
lesson-for only fifteen minutes; from
seven to ten, about twenty minutes; from
ten to twelve, about twenty-five minutes;
from twelve to sixteen or eighteen,
about thirty minutes. The total amount
OF work that ought to be expected from
any one day should not exceed ten
hours day for young men, grading
down to from two and a half to three
hours for children under seven.'
edwin Chadwick, as quoted by w.
+. Roth, in his Elements of School Hy-
giene,' says: The teachings of physiol-
ogy and experience show that the mental
work demanded of a child should be very
moderate, and much below the ordinary
demands of our schools. Teachers gen
orally maintain that six hours a
dren, for we are told, they
do not study all the time they are in
school. The fact that they are in the
school-room this length Of time is enough
The name of "half-time' is given in Eng
land to system of schooling provided by
and workshops. By means of it these
children have secured to them for daily
study i'll school one-half the number of
hours spent in the Government schools
by children not at work. Now, the re-
suit which has surprised everybody is
that these half-time pupils learn quite as
much as the children who are in the
schools twice as many hours day. An
other important consideration in school
discipline, so far as the health of
the pupil is concerned, is the pauses
or intermissions between studies;
on a sound body depends on
wise and regular succession of work and
repose. After each hour OF lessons there
should be an intermission Of at least ten
minutes, during which time the children,
if well, should go into the yard, and the
ScDODl-fOOll S1CiltU Dc DY OtSUlllP
the windows and doors. Such an inter
mission is hygienic measure of the first
Importance
THEY ALL AGREE.
sd. C. w. Chancellor, in the report of
the MARYLAND State Board of Health for
lSS6-S7, vigorously condemns the continu-
ous session, and says: L believe the extra
hour added to the morning session to be
productive of infinitely more harm than
A Sfahllins in, 20
Medical and SWrgicdI Journal, says:
Excess of time expended in study
is almost certainly followed by
physical deterioration.' DIR. c. w.
Robe, in his textbook on Hygieue, saws:
The child's day should be divided be-
tween intellectual exercise, physical eX-
ercise and rest, SO as to avoid fatigue,
both Of mind and of body. Under the old
system of several hours of uninterrupted
session, the mind could not fail to be
fatigued. exhausted and filled with un-
conGuerable disgust for school and labor.
Add TO this the injury arising from the
prolonged Vitiation of the atmosphere of
the classroom, and from prolonged in
activity of the muscular system, and we
shall see the advantages both to moral
and physical health necessarily following
the application of the principle that study
should never be carried to tatigue.'''
The doctor continued to read authority
after authority in support OF his position,
and, indeed, they did support him, for
they unanimously condemned the long
session plan.
WHY THEY SHOULD EAT.
In referring to the necessity of students
partaklng OF a substantial meal at noon
and being given sufficient time to digest
1.-THE doctor quoted various authorities
on that subject too. The well-known
Professor of Hygiene, Rant. goes so far
&c IN advise the DreDarafion AT school of