Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1906-04-13
EDUCATIONAL.
Hyuiene in Public Schools.

The following extract from an ad-
dress of DR.. Buckner is furnished for
our Educational Column by Hon. A.
Koinsr. of FisheTsville. Let us look
for moment into what is going on IN
each little body that sits in our school
rooms, and l think we will see the ne
cessity of protecting them with all the
safeguards known to the sciene of
hygiene. Every moment Of their lives
they are undergoing physiological
death and repair; that is to say, their
tissues are dying, breaking dewn and
being taken up by the blood current
q nd carried to the lungs, where the re
fuse is brought into contact with the
oxygen of the air they breathe and
burned up-I say burned up, because,
Chemically, it is the same process OF
oxidation that occurs when you burn
coal or wood on your fires. The result
of this process is the oxydatlon or
chemical destruction OF the effect
material with which our venous blood
is loaded and the furnishing OF fresh
supply of oxygen to the system through
the arterial blood. The thing that
most concerns US, however, is the fact
that as result of this chemical change.
they are with every breath discharglng
noxious carbon dioxide which is very
poisonous to their systems and which
to render crowed room at all habit
able must be constantly removed.
Add to that the odors of their bodily
secretions and the filth that is brought
iato these school rooms in various ways,
a nd we are face to face with the prop
osition that to preserve health, nay,
mors,-savs life. we must have proper
ventilation and plenty Of fresh air.
I'm the first place, unless there is a
constant supply Of fresh air furnished
these children are forced to breathe
over and over again the air contamin-
ated by the products above mentioned.
Noxious in themselves-and taking up
the space in the lungs that should be
supplied with pure oxygen, the alb
solute essential to the healthy growth
and building up of new tissues to take
the place of those constantly breaking
down. II this condition Of affairs is
prolonged for any length of time,
waat Is the result? "A lowered vitality,
a weakened constitution, a system
ready to furnish an excellent culture
medium for the outrages upon the
minds and bodies Of the children. II
they have known of their existence and
have offered no protest, they are then
particeps eriminis.
"Let US now consider for a moment
what effect such surroundings have up
on the mental and moral development
of the children. "A sound mind in a
sound body is an old maxim that is as
true as it is trite. | have tried to show
you how bad hygiene dwarfs the body
and 30 VS. the seed of disease. 1t is no
| less true that it dwarfs the brain by
stupefying its activity and narcotizing
it's functions; it starves the brain cells
by furnishing poor and impure blood
to them when at the period of their
most active development. 1t paralyzes
functional activity and produces all
sorts of functional disorders from hys.
terra to active insanity. l doubt not
that the hundreds of the fiends and
cranks and moral reprobates that are
constantly appearing on our social
horizon in ever increasing plumbers, if
the truth were known, could be trace d
to the unfavorable surroundings of our
school rooms. When you have Grip
pied the child's body and dwarfed its
mind you have taken a long step to-
ward placing him in condition to
readily yield to the sinister and subtle
Influence that make for immortality
and vice and leads sooner or later to
crime. Our asylums are crowded to
day by men and women who, had tn eli
surroundings been such az to promote
the healthy growth and development
. of their minds as they grew into man
hood and wOmanhood, would now b.
useful members of society.
What then should be the chief ain
: of education Should it not be t.
bring out that which is best and nc
blest in us? If it does not do this it i
failure Can conceive of no NOR
miserable wretch than physica
? wreck consumed by disease with min
sufficiently vigorous in spite of tn
8 penalties placed upon it to enable 1t
rise up and damn those responsible fo
such conditions as l have described,
can, on the other hand, conceive of u
| happier condition than we'll traine
= and vigoraus mind in a we'll develope
and healthful body, asking no man t
: be it's sponsor but seeking only the or
] portunity to win in the race of life."