The herald., 1893-10-10
DANGER in WRITING.
EXPERTS SAY THAT SLANTlNG SCRIPT
CAUSES DISEASE.

ities-Results OF Extensive Experiments
With School Children.
The method Of writing taught in mod
ern schools and practiced by 90 people
out of every 100 has been declared dan
gerous and unhealthful by experts BY
the time the next generation natures it
will probably have been wiped out. The
script then will be vertical instead Of
slanting, and writers will sit square and
upright before their work instead Of side
ways and stopped, as at present.
The idea of this prospective reform or
iginated in Germany and overspreads
England while reaching this country.
The following resolution was adopted
not long ago by the international con-
gress of school hygiene in London by
vote Of 229 against L:
Whereas, The hygenic advantages Of verti-
cal writing have been clearly shown and es-
tablished both by medical investigation and
practical experience, and
Whereas, Its introduction obviates those per-
nicious positions of the body which entail ra-
chitic diseases and myopa,
Resolved, That we recommend the introduce
ton of vertical writing in the schools of tho
people.
The effect of SO serious an action in a
country esteeming proper physical con-
ditions as England esteems them is
readily to be imagined.
The corresponding movement in the
United States is led by Dr. Burnham Of
Clark university. His Investigations
bave brought the conviction that the or
dinary position in writing is among the
foremost conditions of school life and
methods of training which must be
changed in the interest of health. The
vertical script, therefore, IS strongly
recommended. From 80 to so per cent
of lateral curvature of the spine is found
to be caused in school life, the curvature
in large per cent of these cases being
toward the right side, as a result of
defective position in writing, and the
eyes at the same time are seriously in
jured by this slanted writing.
The practical advance of the newly
approved system in this country is illus
trated in the Worcester normal school
and the Workingmen's school at Fifty
fourth street in this city, directed by
Professor Adler, where tho vertical
writing is used in the lower grades and
now carried on to the fourth and fifth
grades.
The observations of foreign physicians
showing that the prevalence of myopia
and spinal curvature is regularly in
creased in the advance through the
school grades are supplemented in this
country by work on novel lines. An en-
ergetic course followed by DR.. Shaw of
the University of the City Of New York
has given additional proof that the cause
of the difficulty is to be attributed to the
desks which are generally in use, and
more especially to the bad position in
writing, the opinion being held with ap-
parent unanimity by Investigators in
this country as well as abroad that all
but two positions to be taken in the
school practice Of writing are improper.
One judged TO be correct is the oblique
central position and the other the
straight central position, between which
in reference to final choice the contro-
versy in Germany is said to be fierce
The advocates Of reform observe that
the child writes vertically when he first
goes to school, and that the teacher has
to work for the slant. The vertical writ
ing and the central position at the desk
are alike naturally indicated. At this
stage the controversy has led to the con-
clusion that the height of the desk and
that of the seat must be equally adapted
to the growth of the pupil. In some Of
the progressive schools, as Felix Adlers
and at South Orange, N. j., adjustable
seats are being used.
The point in DR.. Shaw's recent expert
ments, made with the aid of several as
sistants on more than ! 300 pupils in the
New York and suburban schools, has
peen to see whether, with the paper di-
rectly in front of the pupil and with the
eyes closed, there could be any tendency
toward vertical writing. The pupils
were first requested to take the custom
airy position in writing, and to write in
the ordinary manner the sentence, John
is flying his paper kite This form of
exercise was selected on account of the
number of long letters which it contains,
and as being one also that is easy for the
child to remember. After having thus
written the sentence, the pupil was di-
rected to take the straight central posi-
ton, dip his pen in the ink and with his
eyes closed to write the same again.
The closing of the eyes was to elimi-
nate from the child's mind the conscious.
ness of the slant. The angle of slant in
all the long letters in the test papers was
carefully measured, the angle of slant in
the usual writing in each case being also
found with the same precision. The
measurements and the calculations ran
up to 5000 items, and among other issues
of the work was the invention by lady
of machine for making the measure
ments.-New York Press.
Club Rule In New York.
I was somewhat shocked last week
while sitting in the KnickerboclSer club.