The herald., 1897-04-13
An Exhaustive Report Submitted
by the Health Officer
FLAeRANT CASES SPECIFIED
LIGHTING IN MANY CASES is
UNSATISFACTORY
In Hardly Single Instance Are the
Sanitary Conditions What They
Should Be-Mceting of the
Board of Health

According to Health Officer Powers
the ventilating and heating apparatus
of the new school buildings, which cost
the people something like s23,ooo is so
defective as to be practically worthiess'
DR. Powers has just concluded his In
spection of the school houses, as re-
ouired by the charter, and found tneir
condition anything but satisfactory The
normal school was not inspected as
that institution is under the state. Inc
defects found were too numerous 10 De
be mentioned in detail, but the more
serious were incorporated in written
renort which was submitted to the
hoard of health last evening. and copy
of the same will be sent to the ooard Oh
education. Following is the report in
full from which it will be seen that
thars ore MANY matters connected with
the school houses that need immediate
attention.
THE REPORT.
tn the Honorable Board of Health
Gentlemen: In compliance with tnat
mart Of section 125 of the city charter.
which reads as follows: He the health
officer) shall in person visit once IN
each quarter all the public institutions IN
the city under the charge OF the health
department, and twice in each year ne
chall visit every public school in sald
CITY: during such visit he shall examine
the buildings in regard to the manner
in which they are lighted, ventilated,
heated, and particularly in regard 10
their sanitary condition. At the meet
ing of the board in the months of Janu-
sry. April, July and October he shall re-
port to the board the results of his ex-
animation" herewith respectfully sub
nit the following report:
find in thirteen school buildings a
system intended for heating and ven
tilating the class rooms. In this system
the warm air is supplied to the class
room at about seven feet from the floor
through conduite from the hot air fur
uaces located in the basement of the
building. The foul air is conducted from
the class rooms by conduits leading from
near the base of the wall to heated
shaft o. due, which extends above the
top of the building. The air in this fiue
is sufficiently rarefied or expanded by
heat to greatly lessen its specific gravity,
and is thereby rapidly replaced by the
heavier air from the class rooms. If the
system Is correctly designed and con-
structed in every detail there is no doubt
that it will act we'll.
This system is so very sensitive that
il requires a great deal of care in con-
struction to assure anything like salts
I will
of the most common causes Of defective
ventila ton in buildings where this eys-
tenn has been introduced, viz: First-In-
sufficiently heated extracting fiue; sec
ond, air leakage of the conduits or por-
tions of the construction connecting the
class rooms with the extracting flue;
third; friction caused by distance or
angles to be made by the air between the
class rooms and the extracting flue;
fourth, the attempt to ventilate rooms
on different floors or of different alti-
tudes by means Of one and the same
fiue. regret to have to say there is not
one of these thirteen buildings thus at
tempted to be ventilated which has not
one or more of these groes defects and
some of them have all. consequently
the ventilation is very defective and in
many of the buildings undoubtedly i'm
perils the general health of the pupils.
To epitomize, here mention the build
ings thus attempted to be heated and
ventilated:
Cambria street, Norwood street, Kus-
ter street, Sentous street, Second street,
Union avenue, Gates street, San Pedro
street New Macy street, Griffith avenue,
Sixth street and Olive street schools.
Twenty eighth street school seemed to
be better ventila ted than any of the
thirteen, but as this building has two
floors ventilated through the same flue
1t is a question if the ventilation is sat
isfactory at all times and under all con-
ditions of the weather.
In most all of these buildings the air
used for ventilating is taken from the
easements, which are not cemented and
are dark, damp and foul, with some
ground gases Air conducted into class
rooms should never be taken from the
Easements, but from outside.
Where this or like system is used for
ventilating in school buildings, room
furnished with a stove where children
can dry their wraps during rainy
weather would be of great benefit.
In many of the schools where stoves
are used l find children sitting near the
stoves and being over-heated when the
same are heated sufficiently to warm the
farthest parts of the room. Screens
should be interposed between the stoves
and these children.
High school-In some rooms the cup
ply of warm air is excessive and the ex-
traction of foul air insufficient to main
tain satisfactory ventilation in those
rooms. I would suggest that additional
dampers be placed in the conduits near
the furnace to regulate the eupply OF
hot air and the means of extracting foul
air be increased. l find in the room in
which chemical demonstrations are
made but one table furnished with a
hood for carrying off the fumes gener-
ated which are diffused throughout the
building, and would suggest that each
table be supplied with ventilating
hood.
CASTELAR, street school---The lighting in