Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1913-08-28
Scientists and Educators Assem-
BILE in Fourth International
Congress at Buffalo.
DELEGATES NUMBER 1000
HOokwOrm Investigation Told
by Rockefeller Expert--Civ-
ilizatiOn Works against
Health, Says Eliot.

Buffalo. y. Y, Aug 25.-Scientists and
educators from all parts of the world as
sembled here to-day for the fourth inter-
national congress on school hygiene.
The delegates numbered about 1000 Wei
come was extended by distinguished rep
resentatives of the nation, state and
| city.
"Those who cngngc in the work of
human uplift." Secretary VIM. b. Wilson
of the labor department told the delegates
on behalf of President Wilson and Con-
! gress ARE frequently looked upon as
dreaners, but the dreamers of to-day are
! The practca, men OF tomorrow. You
! have your dreams, ana out of those
/ dreams Will come a more perfect manhood
and womanhood for future generations.
School hygiene Is one Of the great prob
I lens of mankind
School buildings and their equipment
was the general topic of the sectional
meetings in the afternoon and over %
addresses were made on this subject ny
the representatives. Of four nations. Dr.
John \. Terrell of the Rockefeller SAM
tary commission of Washington In a
paper on the spread of intestinal dis
eases through the rural school, declared
| that the work done in the South in con-
nection with the hookworm disease indi-
Gated that it's prevalence had made 1t n
real world problem.
OVER 10000 HOOKWORM CASES.
In three and one-halI years the Rookie
Teller commission and health boards in
n southern States had made 66l, 5Sl
microscopic examinations for parasitic
.ova, he said. OF this number of persons,
i399,57s were found to have hookworm. Pri-
ivatc physicians treated 1926 additional
persons As an indirect cause of death,
DR.. Terrell said, the hookworm probably
has no equal. In many localities 10 to
I1Co per cent. Of children in the schools
have been found to have the disease. The
infected children make 80 per cent or
Hess progress than is made by a normal
healthy child.
DR.. Eugene II. Porter. commissioner of
heath of the state of New York, declared
that our system of philanthropy is es-
scntialy false. Millions are spent in the
curing of diseases which might be saved
If lesser sum were spent for prevention.
He advocated the punishment by law OF
all who pcrsistently refuse to cultivate
habits Of health.
At general public meeting tonight
addresses were made by DR.. Charles
w. Eliot. president emeritus Of fiar-
ward University, and Sir James Grant
president of the national Canalian or-
ganizing committee. School life in the
country. Sir James .heclared, offers n
perfect safety valve for tho rising gem
Grafton and so far as possible the in
fluence of the congress should he ex-
IL, r,.-.,.
country to city.
WAVE OF SANITARY SCIENCE.
"A vast wave of sanitar! science Is
pa sSinC around the world" he said
THE interests of the world are linked
tc gether almost as one, so hygiene in
comprehensive sense carried out
successfully will tend to sharpen and
| strengthen right thinking and greatly
reduce international i'll feeling"
Dr. Eliot who is president of the con
gress, said that the progressive civilza
' ton of the last hundred years has work
{ ed terribly against the health and per
O petuity of the whole race. This he sale
is seen in the reduced vitality of tn,
multitudes that nhaht closely built cities
in the diminishing size of families, in thu
incapacity of many women of bearing ant
o nursing children and in the dispropor
;, tomato increase in the number of the in
sane, the defective and the crimnally in
clined
Such cities as Paris, London, Berlin
V New York and Chicago bear witness t.
the fact that modern civilization is all tn
I'll time preparing and promoting its own de
b struction," he said
1T Is a plain duty of the State to pro
{ vide segregation of the defective, the in
J. sane and the habitual criminal In orde
+ TO prevent the breeding of human being
from such stock II Is not vet clear HOY
+ good breeding can be promoted anon
l. free men and women; but II is clear hoy
d bad breeding can and should be prevented
n ENLIGHTENMENT OF SOCIETY.
The outcome of this international con
", gress should be the enlightenment OF so
| ciety concerning the means Of defendin
"a civilization against it's own tendencie
of decay and dissolution, and tn
strengthening of the social resolution I
~ put into execution all the measures whic
Christian ethics and the medical art
, and sciences recommend
IN among defensive measures against tn
h evils which crowded cities and the fac
n tory system have brought on mankind
y the subject of this comparatively me-
Il sort of congress, school hygiene, Is c
N first importance. The evils which resu
fromg bad housing, overcrowding, an
r unwholosome excitement In cities, an
is from the factory system which prevail
in In many important industries, take the
l. worst effect on children and young pee
ID pie. II Is to the rising generation there
to fore, that preventive and remedial mea
'e sures may be most hopefully applied
oil
IS MEETING OF X. +. ID. MEN.