Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-09-24
VERTICAL WRITING
The Merits of the System Still
Further Discussed.
IT'S ADVOCATES AND OPPONENTS
Both Sides Send Communications
to The Star.
THE UMENT@ MADE

Mr. w H. Burnham's statistics show that
in regard to diseases of the eye and spine
the majority of cases Of scoliosis originate
during the period of school life, and that
the per cent of nearsighted pupils increases
alarmingly from the lower to the higher
grades. For example, of 1000 cases OF
scoliosis, Eulenburg found over ninety per
cent in the period of school life. In twenty
four gymnasien and realschulen, containing
nearly 10000 pupils, DR.. Cohu found TWEEN
ty-two per cent of myoptic students In
sexta and fifty-eight per cent in prima
Such statistics, in connection with the we'll
known collapse position common among
pupils while writing, caused strong sus-
picion that one of the chief causes of these
diseases might be due to the method of
writing with Slanting script ana DOCK
placed al the right.
The Importance of the kind of script, from
a hygienic standpoint and Of the position in
writing. was shown in 1877 by Ellinger. who
pposed the usual custom of placing the
copy books at the right Laborious investi-
cations followed to determine the physlo-
logical laws of those movements OF the
hand and eyes involved in writing. Ellinger
had maintained that, in writing, the base
line; that is, the projection on the copy
book of the line joining the middle points OF
the two eyes, is parallel to the lines OF the.
be Ok the head being tipped to the left when
the copy book IS placed obliquely. The posi-
hygiene are agreed upon this point.
The kind of script stands in intimate re-
lation to the position of the copy DOCK.
With the book placed a few inches 10 the
right of the median plane, the head must
be turned to the right; the shoulders 1oi-
low more or less; the left shoulder Is
raised, the right sinks: the spine Is crook
ed to the left. The position is fat1gulng,
and the body soon collapses, the eyes are
brought dangerously near the paper, and
the body is supported on the left arm In
the position familiar to every teacher.
This position, with copy book at the rlght.
is especially bad for the eyes and spine.
Mayer showed that the wrong position that
he had most frequently found among chill
dren writing with book at the right &C
curately corresponded to the permanent
curvatures of the spine that he found most
frequent in the same classes. Schenk mas
corroborated Mayors results by measure
ments of 200 children. In case OF eacn
child he measured its spine in the usual
position when writing and when at rest,
and he found 16O of them had more or less
of a permanent curvature toward the let.
The IoSition at the right is also injurious
to the eyes. Every variation from an up
right posture brings the eye nearer to the
book, forces one to a stronger conveyance
of the sight-lines and requires greater ac-
commotiaton, and thus nearsightedness S
indisputably favored. Moreover, the right
eve is worked harder than the left and
thus as Schubert thinks, greater degree
of refraction is caused in 1t.
1t would be unnecessary to dwell upon
these evils connected with the two positions
at the right We're these not common posi-
tions in the schools in this country and ad-
yocated by those who desire the slantlng
script. In De CRAFTS School Room Guide,
a book used in many parts OF this country,
the following instructions are given: In
teaching position to school children, let
them turn the right side, placing the right
arm on the desk parallel to its front edge:
left hand brought to the edge of the desk
to hold book or practice paper, Doth 1eet
on floor, etc; Straighten the arm until the
elbow comes near the front of the body
The evil OF such position has been re-
peatedly shown since the investigations OF
Berlin and Rembold. and the continued
practice of teaching it to pupils Is inexcus-
able. With straight central position and
vertical script the upright sitting posture
is the natural one Not only the body, but
also the head and eyes are likely to be
kept in proper position. In 400 tests with
the straight central position Schubert found
an inclination of the head toward the left
of IS degrees, while in 543 tests with OBJ
lique-central position the inclination to the
left amounted 10 degrees. Berlin and Rem
bold found no great difference in the posi-
ton of the head with these two positions;
Investigations by Mayer corroborate the
results found by Schubert
This inclination of the head to the left. 1t
is maintained. is in agreement with coral
larry of the Wundt-Lamansky law that the
eyes prefer to follow lines in the visual
plane or perpendicular to it. The eyes must
follow the obliQue lines of the copy book,
as well as the strokes of the pen; hence.
according to the law mentioned, there is a
tendency to bring the base line parallel to
the lines of the copy book, and the head Is
inclined to the left. What happens here in
slight degree is seen in an extreme way in
trying to read with a book placed obliQuely.
1t is maintained that children naturally
write with the straight script, and sit erect
while writing. Ten years ago, in a village
school, says DR.. Cohn, Il found that all
children sat bolt upright when 1 let them
write from dictation with vertical script
in the straight middle position, but that
they fell forward, as by stroke of magic,
If they had to write obliquely again. Every
child that learns to write makes straight
strokes. and must be forced by great deal
of trouble on the part of the teacher to
make oblique strokes" In DR.. COINS opin-
ion. a pupil who has written a lesson with
vertical script must have sat straight while
doing it. If he has written obliquely, one
never knows whether he has sat straight
or not.
The vertical script is now used In from
thirty to forty places in Europe. In 1881
the Bavarian ministry ordered that expert
ments with the straight script be tried in
the schools.
At one of the meetings Of the fnterna-
ticnal congresses of hygiene at London DR..
kotelmann read paper advocating the
| showed by original handwritings and fac
SMILES that in antiquity and in the mid
die ages, straight script was used. The
slanting script was introduced toward the
| beginning of the sixteenth century.
In conclusion. the vertical script is more
natural for the eye, and the writing IL
! more legible. The results of experiments
| thus far seem to be strongly in favor OF
| the vertical script in the school room.
I'm the case of children. the objections
| to it have little weight" The great argu.
| ment for it is that 1t conduces to an erect
posture. 1t cannot easily be written ex
cept by placing the copy book in the cen
| trail position; but the slanting script car
be written with the book at the right, ant
| there is always a tendency thus to place
| 1t.
| The greatest educators Of this countr,
| think that the vertical script should Ger
| taiIly receive a fair trial in the schools
| Mr.>Burnham states further that no gooe
| reason can be given for the position o
| the copy book at the right. Since the be
| ginning of the writing reform no physician
has been found to defend it-and moth
Ing but the power of what Schiller call
| the eternal yesterday can make its con
tinuance In our schools possible"
Tclegraphers Write Vertically.
H. A. Dodson says: II understand tha
the men who are obliged to write rapid
and legibly-the telegraph operators-near
ly all write a vertical system. and tina
among business men such a handwritin