The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-09-13
DANGER ~ WRITING.
EXPERTS SAY TtAT SlANTiNG SCRIPT
GAUSS DISEASE.

- BtONemrut III GdVOT OF VERTICAL SCTsp
lacked b. the Highest Medical Author
Results of Extensive Experiment
With school Children.
The method of writing taught in mod
ern schools and practiced by 50 recpl,
out of every 100 has been declared dan
gerous and unhealthful by experts. z,
the time the next generation natures i
viii probably have been wiped ont. Til,
script then will be vertical instead O
slantiny. and writers will sit square ant
upright before their work instead of side
ways and STOPPED, as at present.
The idea of this prospective reform or
iginated in Germany and overspread.
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 /:
Whereas. The hygienic 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 myopia,
Resolved, That we the introduc.
ton Of vertical writing in the schools Of the
people.
The effect Of 20 serious an action in
country esteeming proper physical con.
ditions as England esteems them il
readily to be imagined.
The corresponding movement in the
United States is led by DR.. Durham 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 in the interest Of health. The
vertical script. therefore, is strongly
recommended. From 80 to 80 per cent
Of lateral curvature Of the spine is found
to be caused in school life. the curvature
in a large per cent Of these cases being
toward the right side. as "a result Of a
defective position in writing, and the
eyes at the same time are seriously III
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 WorlSingmen's school at Fifty.
fourth street in this city. directed by
Professor Adler. where the vertical
writing is used in the lower grades and
now carried on TO the fourth and fifth
grades.
Tie 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 i'll 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 APP
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 thi:
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 Adier's
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
on more than 100 pupils in the
New York and suburban schools. has
been to see whether, with the paper Gil
rectly in front of the pupil and with the
eyes closed, there could be any tendency
vertical writing. The pupils
first requested to take the custom
airy position in writing, and to write in
ordinary manner the sentence, John
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
,hiid to remember. After having thus
the sentence. the pupil was d.
to take the straight central posi-
lion. dip his pen in the ink and with his
eyes closed to write the same again.
The closing Of the eyes was to eimi-
nate from the child's mind the conscious
of the slant. The angle Of slant in
al the long letters in the test papers was
carefully measured, the angle Of slant in
he usual writing in each case being also
with the same precision. The
measurements and the calculations ran
Up to 1900 items, and among other issues
If the work was the invention by a lady
# a machine for making the measure
York Press.
Club Rule In New York.
l was somewhat shocked last week
while sitting in the Knickerbocker club,
where l was busily engaged in alternate