Semi=weekly graphic., 1898-11-23
The Sighting, Heating and ventilation of
 School Rooms.

to the Pine Bluff School Board by ! H Hinemon, Superintendent of schools. 1 Scarcely second in importance to heating and ventilation is the ques- tion of properly and adequately l lighting school room. Recent in. vestigations by expert oculists show 1 that diseases and defects of the eve are increasing at an alarming rate. 1 The conditions of our civilization continue to heavily increase the burdens placed upon the organ of sight and to this fact, coupled with the evil of poorly printed books, long periods for study, especially in the lower grades, insufficient and improperly admitted lightand other minor causes, this evil may be di- rectly traced.
 It is matter of great regret that, in many cases, architects have been allowed to sacrifice the eye sight of the children in order to secure 0 certain measure Of architectural beauty and design in their build ings. It sometimes occurs that school buildings $ are planned by persons who are almost entirely ig- norant of the laws which should be observed in regulating the lighting, ventilation and heating.
 According to the best authorities the light should be admitted from only one side of the room, prefer. ably the left-a portion may be ad- mltted from the rear of the room if 1t can be arranged so that the glare will not affect the teachers eyes for certainly she is entitled to protec- tion along with her pupils.
 The windows should be as near together as safe construction will permit and there should be no spaces between them. The windows should extend to the ceiling with the sill at least four feet from the floor, as the best light comes from above.
 The window space should be at least one-ffth the floor space.
 The slanting rays of the sun in the morning and afternoon make the east and west exposures exceed irglY obiectionable.s If the light is admitted from the rear of the room, proper regard for the eye sight of the teacher demands that tho win dows shall be provided with shades that roll from the bottom,
 Under no condition shall the walls of school room be white or glossy. Plastered walls should be given neutral tints. Blackboards should not be placed between or beside principal windows and under ordi- nary conditions all boards should be provided with curtains or screens to cover them when they are not in use.
 Want of attention to the laws Of life in the education of our young people is threatening to maKe us a nation of invalids; and the public health depends more upon the con dition of our school houses and the in- structions given therein than upon all other causes combined. Nature has laid down a law of life which has no exceptions, namely, warm fleet and a cool head are essential to good health, and indispensable to mental growth"
 The ordinary method of heating school rooms by the use of stoves is, in almost every sense, wholly un- satisfactory.
 Those pupils who are seated near the stove are constantly "scorch- ing" while the remote ones are con- tinually chilled by currents of air rushing toward the stove. If stoves are to be used an excellent method of dealing with them is to provids each stove with sheet-iron jacket, by which the loss ofheat by radiation is easily and effectually prevented. For the admission of an adequate supply of fresh air, tubes should ex- tend from the outside, under the floor, and enter the room beneath the stove. The heated air within the jacket rises and thus current of fresh air, properly warmed, con- stantly enters the room.
 In order to remove the ventilated air from the room, yentilating ducts or exhaust fues, situated adjacent t0 tna hot air hunc and with on