The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-02-28


viii discharge into the urinal Both tbese
troughs src painted with asphalt, and the
larger empties into the shorter. At stated
times che jnnitor Is expected TO thorough
ly flush these urinals and cleanse them
with a brush. whenever inspected .
small stream Of water was trickIing
through them. After recess, the outsr
edges and the floor beneath are more or less
spattered with urine and with drlppings
from the troughs which unless attended
co at once soon evaporates. With such
n construction of urinals, 10 Is impossible
TO keep them clean or free from the urin-
Gus odor, and In fact this room Is always
full of this poisonous ohor.
Opposite the long urinal. described
above, Is another iron trough, IL feet long.
feet wide and 10 inches deep. This
trough is half covered .engthwise by
board seat, having the. usual openings of
the old-fashioned PRIV and covers, which
are usually shut. The rest Of the trough Is
uncovered. 1t Is commonly Kept half full
Of water, which u expected to bc renewed
ut Ger tain times Of the day, from supply
faucet at one end. Ii 10 supposed that
the water from all these troughs Is dis
charged into the sewer. IL certainly goes
somewhere, but by what means or wheth
or through proper traps, 1t is impossible
TO find ont.
There are no means of heating this room
boiler room, near by. Immediately oTer
the shorter urinal are two basement win =
dows. previously mentioned, hung on
hinges so that they can be opened II de
sired. There Is no means for supplying
fresh air to this room, except by opening
these windows But their position over
the urinals Ia peculiarly bad for this pur-
pose, foul air rather than pure air being
driven into the room, and the entire
building. Besides during cold weather
they can be left open for only few min
utes, since there would tie rick of freezing
the water pieps under them. Al about
the center of this outer wall, near the
largest trough and CLOSE to the ceiling, a
six inch tin pipe passes through the base
ment wall and enters an ordinary tin
gutter pipe, which IN liked to the outer
face Of the building and extends up to the
gutter. This exit vas arranged three
years ago to ventilate the entire room.
but Is manifestly useless for the purpose.
The girls watercloset is also IL the
basement ut the opposite end of 1t from
the boys 1t 10 q small low studded IN ner
room, bet ween the boiler room. from
which IL is separated by boaid parti
ton, and an outside entry. This board
pnrti tion has door In II for passing into
the boiler room, and the door IL usually
open. The room Is subdivided crosswise
by another board partition, with a door =
way, into two smaller rooms, and in the
further division is the watercloset. This
apartment is 10 feet long. feet wide, and
Ia feet high. 1t has u small side win
dow opening into the boiler-room, and
another opposite opening into the entry.
These two windows arc the only sources
of light and ventilation for this room.
except the doorway into the other div,s-
ion also mentioned. 1t will be noticed
therefore, that this watercloset Is In an
inside room, and whatever light and ven
tilation 1t has Is given II from the enclos-
Ing rooms.
feet long, one foot wide, and inches
deep II has an arrangement Of board
seat, with openings and covers, similar to
the one described for the boys use. This
trough is kept half full of water, and is
flushed like the other. There are no par
titions for screening one child from an
other and there are no special means
whatsoever for purifying the air in the
room. There lie also no privacy for those
using the closet. since everyone who goes
through the outer room into the boiler
room can see directly into the closet room.
Both these waterclosets are Antiquatsd,
unhealthy, indecent, and are constant
source of poisoned all. for the rest OF the
building.
Now for description of the arrange
ments for ventilating this school house.
Somewhere In every class room and entry,
at or near tbs ceiling, Is an opening about
foot square, coveredi with wire netting
and atwooden door. This opening leads
into wooden box, made of matched
boards, about one foot sqlre, which
passes inside the walls up to the attic and
there unites with similar boxes leading
from the other rooms. All these various
boxes end In two main trunks which
pass out through the roof Tests were
made ut various times of the usefulness
of these conduits, and 1t was evident that
very little, IL any, air was circulating
through them. Each class room has also
two registers, one near the ceiling and the
Other near the floor. In two of the class
rooms these registers open into the hues
of disused chimney and in % third open
into the boiler chimney. These openings
described are the only special means for
ventilating the apartments, and are en-
tirely Inadequate for the desired purpose,
as numerous experiments proved. The
only practical way Of changing the air
in these class rooms Is by opening their
doors and windows.
During school hours, with closed doors
and windows, the air Of the house general
ly is bad. AS soon as one passes through
the outer door into the building he notices
the foulness of the atmosphere. The odor
of the waterclosets in the basement is al
ways In evidence. together with the more
common smells of any close house. The
urinous odor Is especially noticeable in
the classroom over the boys watercloset,
sometimes so concentrated that the teach
er Is nauseaed by 1t. and the more sensi
tive of the children have 10 be sent home.
In another class room, the ventilation Is
80 bad, that its tescher has been adv Used
by her physician TO give up the position.
Com plants Of the bad odors and poor VEN
tilation of this schooi-houss are often
made to its supervisor.
This building Is heated by direct radia-
tion from steam pipes, placed 10 four or
five rows about the sides of the various
rooms. During the present winter this
method Of heating was not capable of
properly warming them. Several Of the
old radiators from the disused Park Street
school house were placed in the entries,
and with this additional heating surface
the children were comfortable. In some OF
the ante. rooms, the chiidren's outer cloth
ing must be hung Immediately over the
steam pipes, making another cause for
the foul atmosphere Of the building
HIGH SCHOOL.
There has been no change in the teach
ers during the year and the work of the