The Oskaloosa herald., 1900-02-08
OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Their Sanitary Condition as Pre-
pared by Health Physician.

2 b y
Numerous complaints from patrons
Of the school have been made re-
garding the sanitary condition of our
school buildings .1
We have examined some of these
buildings and wish to bring some of
the conditions existing therein be-
fore the patronSand the board. We
feel sure that all are interested in
these matters and that those, who
have children in the schools, should
know the sanitary condition of the
buildings.
In regard to the lighting of the
buildings; some of the rooms are
lighted but from one side. Pupils
seated on opposite side of the room
from windows get insufficient light
even on bright days, and on dark
cloudy days it is continual strain
upon the eyes, producing an inflam-
matory condition of those parts and
especially of the vascular membrane,
melting pain, congestion and through
sympathy causing headache, neural
gia and general nervousness; pIac-
ing the student in condition unable
to study and If continued will bring
about a chronic nerve disturbance
that is liable to impair the functional
activity of many organs of the sys,
tenn. -. ri. .,o
In regard to ventilation, we find
that there is insufficient capacity in
this direction; some rooms providing
no means of ventilation other than
from windows or doors; and when
windows are open, children seated
next to them are exposed to a. draft
and when they are closed the whole
school is exposed to a poisoned at
mosphere. Some system of ventila-
ton which will give the student pure
air should be provided. The stand
ard of purity of atmosphere adopted
by most sanitarians at the present
day, is that air must not contain a
greater amount Of impurities than
will be indicated by six parts of Gar
bon dioxide in 10, 900 parts of air and
that is two parts more than normal
1t is, therefore, worthy of note that
with the opportunities of renewed
observation sanitarians are more
generally and firmly convinced that
this should be the limit of impurity.
The amount of air space per head
should be about 1000 cubic feet, and
he air in this should be changed at
least twice every hour. Air space in
schools should demand a serious
consideration of the board. The OBJ
servation OF many sanitarians in this
and other countries go to show that
it is not half what it should be even
in schools which are called "model
Schools" and we find from calcula-
ton, that some of the schools in
Oskaloosa have scarcely more than
one-third of the air capacity they
should have and as long as this con.
dition exists it would be well to pro-
vide as complete a system of ventila-
ton as possible under the circum-
stances.
Another thing that is necessary to
mention, is the sanitary condition of
the closets system. We find that in
some of the wards the flush tanks do
not furnish water enough to free the
closets of their contents and the
closets being made open and of wood,
give a chance for the poisonous
fumes ladened with specific infection
to be transmitted to every room in
the house and they also absorb ele-
ments, with which the children COM
ing in contact that is manifestly dis
astrous to health, even if the flush
tanks were in good shape and the
closets thoroughly freed of their con-
tents every ten or fifteen minutes.
We feel that these closets should be
removed and others put in their
place, of iron or steel, with traps
placed in such way that the fumes
and gases could not escape and no
could take place through