Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-04-07
ON SCHOOL HYGIENE.
DIR. X. j. PREsTON's PAPER w
THIS IMPORTANT SUBJECT.
MANY VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS MADE
RcruIations M 10 the Temperature
of SchooI-ROOms and the Ire"'-
,,,.,t NJ puuiI.-JIow They should
Excrcise-When and Where.

was prepared by Ut. hopeiI D.
of Marion, and read before the state
Board OF Health at its recent meeting
The naper contains many valuable sug-
eestions for parents and school teachers:
children during their school years are
subject TO grave dangers TO health. Many
of these dangers are avoidable, and should
be prevented. To point out some OF
these dangers, and how to avoid them'
is the object of this paper, complied
and condensed from the best sources
available on this subject.
From unhygienic conditions or the
school-room and its immediate surround
Ings may come headache, impaired Ill
gestion. severe colds, consumption
nervous disorders, impaired eyeslght' ana
many other serious diseases.
THE HEATING OF BUILDINGS.
Proper heating and ventilation are
subjects of exceeding importance, Dotn
for comfort and for efficient work. ana
should receive the closest attention
Every school-room should be kept AT
\ temperature of about 6S degrees or 10
degrees Fahrenheit. This should De
regulated by the use of a reliable ther-
mometer, hung in every room remote
from the stove or heater, ana ABOUT three
to five feet from the floor.
Where steam or hot water heating Is
not available, stoves or furnaces in the
basement can be made TO give good re-
suits. The stove or furnace should De
large enough 70 heat the room without
being made red-hot, as a red-hot surface
gene 'ates carbon-dioxlde, which Is a rank
poison.
The stove should be placed preferably
in the northwest corner OF the room,
and IL furnace is used, IL should
be placed under the same corner and
registers placed in each angle to best
secure uniform temperature. Means
should be provided for drying wet feet.
MATTER OF VENTILATION.
Good work cannot be done in ill-venti-
lated school-rooms. The teacher will be-
come impatient and petulant, and the
pupils duh and lstless. The air should
be kept pure. free from odors' from
dust etc. While foul air IS slow
poison. we must never forget that "a
blast of cold air may stay like sword.
Foul air produces listlessness in school
rooms. perhaps more than any other
one cause" and Initiated atmospheres
are the most fruitful OF all sources OF
disease" one thousand eight hundred
TO two thousand cubic feet of fresh air
per hour should be supplied for each
pupil An open fireplace, with a small
fire burning in it, is the best means of
ventilating yet devised. At stated times
daily. when pupils are out, all doors
and windows should be thrown open TO
remove all stagnant air from the school
room. Such an atmospheric washing
should be secured, If possible, three or
four times daily.
For constant ventilation, a good plan
bis to place strips, * inches wide, under
each window; the fresh air can thus come
in between the lower and upper sash
without the danger Of producing draft
on the pupils. Another plan is TO enclose
the stove with a cylinder of zinc;
an opening in the floor underneath
the stove connected by pipe with the
outside air will cause a constant stream
OF exteral air TO come I'm. which, being
heated will rise and be distributed
throughout the room.
GOOD LIGHT ESSENTIAL.
Every school-room should be we'll
lighted. Window space should equal
one-slxth to one-ninth of the floor space.
Windows should be placed on two sides
Of the room, and should extend to the
ceiling and not nearer than four feet
of the floor Windows should not be
INSTRUCTED with curtains, flowers, or any
other objects. and should be made 10
lower from the top, so as the better 10
avoid drafts on the pupils.
Pupils should not sit facing the light.
Desks should be so arranged that the
light comes from the left or rear Of the
pupils, never from the front. A dazzling
or glaring light is nearly as bad as in
sufficient light. The walls OF the school
room should be of light-gray color; not
white Eye troubles have been improved
and cured by n change or removal from
a school building with white walls. Black
boards should never be placed between
windows. and their surfaces should be
of a dull, dead black, and not glossy.
Az maps. charts, and writing on black
board should be in large letters and
figures.
CARE OF THE EYES.
Imperfections Of eyesght develop, in
a great measure during the years Of
school life. Eye troubles are rare among
savages and those who have never been
i'm school. while it IS asserted that 6S per
cent. of educated Germans over Il years
have impaired eyes.
How are these impairments produced?
/. BY using the eye too constantly at
a short distance, as in reading or writing.
Eyes at birth are, as rule. adapted TO
all distances, but by using them too
much at short distances they become
near-sighted.
2. BY using the eyes too constantly and
too long at time. The eyes should
never be used when they ache, pain, or
smart. or when vision is weak, or blurred.
3. By using the eyes when weak from
I'LL ~
measles. scarlet-fever, or whooping-
cough. Use at such times produces per-
manent injury and many defective eyes.
a. BY using the eyes in insufficient light;
also i'm a giaring, nickering, or direct
light.
B. BY inattention 10 slight inflamma-
tions or defects Of the eyes. Such cases
should receive immediate attention from
the oculst. or the best physician attain
abe. Colored glasses and goggles should
be avoided, unless by physicians advice,
Avoid. also. patent eye-washes and
travelling spectacle vendors. Much trou-
bic IS caused by the use OF mistt spec
tacles.
The eye is too precious an organ to
be trihed with. Books poorly printed.
with small type. and poor paper. should
not be used.
Never fedQ WHEN iSlh, toNiAf VI "HNA
the eyes are infiamed. painful or fatigued.
The head should be held erect never
bending over the book.
WATER SUPPLY.
Great care should be taken In having
a bountiful supply OF good. pure water.
as growing boys and girls need much
drinking water. The springs and wells,
II used. should be carefully cleaned at
stated periods. and no privy or cess-pool
should be within two hundred feet OF
same. Where vestibules are furnished
with washbowls and towels. each child
for at geast the children OF each family,
as far as possible, should have his oyn
towel and his own drinking cup, In order