Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-10-15

into disuse. How completely the scien-
ttic requirements of the ancient worl Il
had been lost can be di1nly seen in tie
records of the dark ages, which may be
said to have covered the whole earth.
seeing that India, once q focus of en-
lghtenment, witnessed the wholesale
slaughter Of prisoners in the Black Hcle
OF Calcutta by foul air in 1856, because
the authorities were ignorant Of the
laws governing ventilation. Among the
common people there came to be 4 stu
pid horror Of fresh air. and the profess
sional classes were too besotted by pre-
judice to lift their patients out OF t:a
mire.
Human life demands fresh air, which
must in some degree be pure. Eight
parts of carbonic acid to ten thousand
parts Of atmosphere has been named as
the maximum of nlpurity that can be
endured without injurious consequences
supcryening. Unfortunately. in n. ost
Of our public buildings. schools, among
the rest" the proportion commonly oh
tanned is five times great as that IN
Dictated by science as tn" ultimatum.
The body has a wontl,,'tul capacity %
adapt itself TO surrounding circun,-
stances. When the lungs fail to purify
the blood the liver comes to the rescue
and is proportonately overworScd.
Children fail sick in ovcr-crowtled
school rooms and nausea relieves tue
stomach from food which the want Of
sufficient oxygen aud the presence OF
animal impurities in the air combined
with cal'bonic acid. has rendered noN-
ious to life. Such incidents are too
common To procure from the averoE sc
observer the proper attention.
Happily this subject is now con-
manding attention in every State os the
Union. Men remember the quaint say
ing that our fathers who lived in rccd
houses had constitutions of oaks but
we who live in houses Of oaks nave
constitutions of reed This sentence
seems to arrest the thoughtless to Il
grave subject. although it is untrue in
the essence. The men who in hyperlJo-
rcan regions would attempt TO dis
charge the functions IF life in houses
of reeds would not transmit it to their
offspring, constitutions of oak. The
house must be we'll constructed FOR
shelter from the elements. as we'll as
for ventilation. if the highest purposes
Of life are to be aided by urban exist
encc. The house Of reeds was in MANY
respects as ill-ventilated as the most
comfortable dwelling house of today
y human being requires at the lowest
estimate $50 cubic feet Of fresh air for
every twenty-four hours. and learned
authorities assert that $50 cubic inches
per minute is necessary for the respir-
ating process Of healthy adult, with a
slight decrease for a child.
France wants gool mothers was the
doctrine of Napoleon reviewing the ne
cessities of his empire That want must
be realized by every nation and is the
oretlcally recognized in this country.
but our school system. which is oppres-
sion to both sexes. is especially inju-
rious to girls al the age when they are
approaching womanhood. Excessive
| labor, mental or physical imposed upon
children retards and deteriorates devei-
opment, but there are seasons when the
brain work of the school room would
! alone PROSTATE the nervous system OF
our girls. Yet it is a fact within the
knowledge Of every sanitary expert
that many of our schoo! buildings APP
pear to have been constructed with the
express design to super-add physical
exhaustion to the other destructive
forces that threaten the lives of the flu
ture mothers of America. DR.. Clark
says. the sick chamber. not the school
room the physicians private consulta-
ton. not the committees public exam
ination, the hospital, not the college,
disclose the bad results which modern
social customs. modern education and
modern ways of labor have entailed on
| women DR. Fisher says, for the
sake of a temporary reputation for
scholarship. girls risk their health at
| the most susceptible period of their
lives and break DOWN after excite
modes of education only. but the anb-
ton of school boards to erect snowy
buildings, the architectural proportions
| of which shall toWe:' above surrounding
edifices, tompels the youcg to ascen
and descend interlninable flights of
stairs, day after day, thereby terribly
increasing the pains and penalties
which are exacted by our educational
experiments II great cities it may not
be impossible to build suites of rooms
necessary for school purposes in struct-
ures OF one story. but even there it may
be worthy of consideration whether
suburban sites, easy of access, may not
with advantage be substituted. where
all the training of the lyceum can be
afforded on one floor IN houses not too
high to permit Of their being readily
warmed and ventilated, cheapiy and
well, nor too expensive to allow Of suf-
tic'tnt floor room bei!:S given 20 eac,1
individual. Another generation than
the present will wisely conclude to use
the pretentious school buildings or to-
day Tor other purposes in which adul.
humanity is concerned, so that our
girls may have a fair opportunity to
develop into the strength and beauty
that are essential to the fruition of ma
ternal sOlicitude. The expense involved
in the additional outlay will prove q
baga tel!e in comparison with the gain
of health and vigor to the community
Systems of schooling do not fall within
the province of the sanitaran, but the