The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-09-10
DANGER IN WRITING.
EXPERTS sAYTHAT sLANTiNe SCRIPT
CAUSES DISEASE.

ities-Eesuits of Extensive Experiments
With School Children.
The method of writing taught i'll 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 writer's 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 Il
vote of ego against /:
Whereas. The hyGienic advantages OF vcrti-
cal writing have been clearly shown and cs
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 myopia,
Resolved. That recommend tho introduce
tfon OF vertical writing in the schools of the
people.
The effect of so serious an action in a
country estecming 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
have brought the conviction that the or
binary position in writing is among the
foremost conditions of school life and
methods of training which must be
changed i'll the interest of health. The
vertical script, therefore, Is strongly
recommended. From 80 to 90 per cent
of lateral curvature of the spine is found
to be caused in school life, the curvature
Ill large per cent of these cases being
toward the right side. as result of
defective position in writing. and the
eyes at the same time are seriously in
jured by this slanted writing.
Tho practical advance of the newly
approved system in this country is illus
tratcd in the Worcester normal school
and the Workingmen's school ut Fifty
fourth street in this city, directed by
Professor Adler. where the vertical
writing is used in the lower grades and
now carried Oh 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 tho
school grades are supplemented in this
country by work on novel lines. An ell
crgetic course followed by DIR. Shaw of
the University of the City of New York
has given additional proof that the cause
OF the difficulty is to DE attributed to the
desks which are generally in use and
more especially to the bad position in
writing, the opinion being held with APP
parent unanimity by Investigators in
this country as we'll 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
i'll reference to final choice the contro-
versy in Germany is said to be fierce.
Tho advocates of reform observe that
the child writes vertically when he first
goes to school, and that the teacher has
20 work for the slant. The vertical writ
ing and the central position ut the desl.
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
tho progressive schools, rs Felix Adler's
and at South Orange, n. j., adjustable
seats are being used.
The point in DR.. Shaw's recent expert
mcnts, made with the aid of several as
sistants on more than 300 pupils in the
New York md suburban schools. has
been 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 III
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 I'll,
child to remember. After having thus
written the sentence, the pupil was d-
rccted to take the straight central posi-
ton, dip his pen in tho ink and with his
eyes closed 10 write the same again.
Tho closing of the eyes was to elimi-
nate from the child's mind the conscious
ness of the slant. The angle of slant il
all the long letters in the test papers was
carefully measured. the angle of slant IN
the usual writing i'll each case being also
found with the same precision. The
measurements and the calculations RAJ
up to 1900 items, and among other issues
of the work was the invention by lady
of Il machine for making the measure
ments.-New York Press.
Club I;ule In New York.