Pawtucket tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 1890-189?, 1893-09-09
DANGER IN WRITING.
EXPERTS SAY THAT sLANTlhG SCRIPT
CAUSES DISEASE.

Backed by tbe hishest med1cni Author
ities-Results 81 Extensive Experiment.
With school Children.
The method Of writing taught In mod
ern schools and practiced by 80 peopl,
out Of every 100 has been declared dan
gerous and unhealthful by experts. By
the time the neyt generation natures II
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 overspreadi
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. 4 he hyRienic advantages Of vertt
cal writing have been clearly shown and es
tablished both by medical investigation and
practical experience. and
Whereas, Ito introduction obviates those per
nicious positions Of the body which entail ra,
chitic diseases ana myopia,
Ecfolycd, ~ 9t VIC recommend the introduo
tion of vertical writing in the schools Of the
people.
The effect If 80 serious an action In q
country ostcclning proper physical con
diti0ns as Ergland esteems them ID
readily 10 be imagined.
The corresponding movement in the
United States is led by DIR. Burnham oi
Clark university. His investigation
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 b.
changed in the interest Of health. The
vertical script, therefore, is strongly
recommended. From 50 TO 90 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, rs result Of q
defective position in writing, and the
eyes at the same time are seriously in.
jured by this santed writing.
The practical advance Of the newly
approved system in this country is illus
trated in the Worcester normal school
and the WorlSingmen's school at Fifty.
fourth street in this city, directed by
AiOichSOi hii'l, Wntit tuc NtILlCd
writing is used in the lower grades and
now carried Oh to the fourth and fifth
grades.
The observations Of foreign physicianl
showing that the prevalence Of myopia
and spinal curvature Is regularly in.
creased in the advance through the
school grades are supplemented In thii
country by work ON novel lines. An en-.
ergetic 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 be attributed to the
desks which arc 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 10 be correct is the oblique
central position and the other the
straight GENITAL 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
goos 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 Adler'a
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 OH more than !, 300 pupils in the
New York and suburban schools, has
been to see whether, with the paper di4
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.
ary 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
Al a. 4 u.
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.
The air we live In Is gaseous at and
near the surface of.the globe, but IL NJ.