El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-11-12
CRIMINAL IS THE NEGLECT Of THE
HEALTH Of SCHOOL CHILDREN

a fundamental item in the prevention
in school, if wrongly handled or neg
lected, handicap the growth into
healthy manhood and WOmanhood.
Some of the i'll health of the school
! children can be traced to home condi-
, tions and lack of care. Among the
causes Of i'll health he mentioned de-
caying teeth and other bad conditions
in the mouth, preventing good dfges-
ton, poisoning the system or in other
ways interfering with mental and ply
steal Development
Courses in hygiene and sanitation
should include, he said, practical dem
! onstrations in the effective use of dis
infectants as a means of cleaning
floors and renovating walls; and in
simple methods Of securing good ven
tiIation.
Bad Air and Tuberculosis.
The suggestion that a school building
should be scored for its sanitary
condition, on a plan similar to that
followed in scoring dairies, WIS
made by professor Guy Montrose
Whipple, of the School of Education of
Cornell university, in a paper on THE
Use of Instruments of Precision in
Normal Courses in School Hygiene"
He said:
to measure the vitiation of schoolroom
air But in the course of investigation
of a certain grammar school building
the student working under my direc-
ton found that all these simplified
methods are Inaccurate; whereas, by
the use of a certain apparatus for the
exact determination of carbon dioxid,
We were able to unearth faults in the
venti1ating system and to suggest sew
,r.o1 Sr,ora 70
children and instructors for many
years had worked in air known tech
nically as bad or very bad thus in
viting tuberculosis, nervous disorders
and other forms of all health, unfit
ting them for parenthood.
Dangers of Dust
Professor C.-E. A. Winslow, former
~ director of the laboratory Of SAM
tary research of the Massachusetts, In
stitute of Technology, and now pro-
fessor of biology in the college of the
city of New York, and curator of pub
lie health at the Museum of Natural
History, advocated the study of ply
siology by the laboratory method rath-
er than by text books. students
should have practice" he said, lin de-
termining the humidity, impurity and
temperature of the air. This should be
taught then in such fashion that they
the sanitary details of their school
rooms.
They should have, also. some Of the
technic of elementary biology, so as 70
have solid ideas of the ease with which
communicable disease is spread; AMI
should know how to make simple
studies OF schoolroom dust partly TO
maintain cleanliness up to a standard.
and partly to interest and instruct pu-
pills.
Mother should Know.
1.-The problem of a high infant NOR
tally will be reduced TO minimum
when at every school in the land the
pupils receive a training that fits them
to protect the next generation" said
professor Flora Rose of Cornell uni
versity in an address on the study OF
home making as means of prevent
ing infant mortality.
The chief cause Of high infantile
mortality" she continued "is ignor-
ance. The person having most to do
in determining the health conditions
of the child Is the mother. Her igno--
ance may sign it's death warrant The
cure for this must be an educational
one Our educational system should
consider every pupil as a potential par
ent. To be effective the department Of
home economies must have as the goal
of it's instruction such information as
will deal directly. openly and specific
ally with the conditions that affect the
child"
Studying "Humanics..
The features of a course offered in
the department of home economies at
the University of Wisconsin, in the
science Of ''humanic," were outlined
by professor Abby L. Marlatt, head of
that department The central thought
emphasized at the university. through
the four years course In homemak-
ing" she said, "is conservation Of hui
man life by improving homes and
cities and individuals so that future
generations may reach higher levels
OF efficiency than those precedil.
them.
''The part OF our course most d.
rectly concerned with infancy comes
In the Junior year. when the pupils
have laid foundation of bacteriology,
biology and physiology along with
their household management We call
1t 'humanics' for want Of any other
name. Our class in 'humanics' studies
heredity. the influence on the child Of
alcoholism and other drug habits in
the parents, the relation of social evils
and their diseases to infant and child
mortality and degeneracy"