The Ward County independent., 1922-08-03
FRANCE Will
TRY ! HYGIENE
Fresh Air, Ice Water and Bath
Make Their Formal Debut
in Republic.
OLD CUSTOMS HARD TO BREAK
New University City Will Experiment
in Effort to Overcome the Ira.
ditional Aversion to Anglo SAX
on Principles of Health.

Paris.-It will doubtless require
numerous decades to convince French
men that Anglo-Saxons who sleep at
night with open windows, drink Ice
water many times day and in
sist on rooms and living apartments
with baths are not a trife queer. For
countless generations the French peo-
pie have "known" instinctively that to
drink water undiluted with wine is
highly dangerous, that open windows
after nightfall let In damp, cold air
which breeds pulmonary trouble, nleu-
matism and many Of the ills that the
human race is heir to-; that to imbibe
Ice water and iced connections upsets
the stomach.
But there are signs today that
France is changing. One of the great
est signs of late has been the revolu-
tionary and radical pronouncements
of such an authority on hygiene as the
celebrated Professor Cartel of the
Paris Academy of Medicine, who is
now advising his fellow countrymen
to forget the aged traditions The
professor points to Americans and
Britishers to uphold his radical
contention that one may drink water
in plenty, eat ice cream breathe
plenty of fresh air right around the
clock and, in fact, do all the things
in France that Anglo-Saxon foreigners
do in their own countries. .
Great Initial Victory.
It will take longer, in the opinion Of
Frances new "school of fresh air n.y.
giene," to wean-the French away from
closing all the windows and shutters
with the first damp Of evening and
keeping them closed until the sun
comes up again. However, the greatest
initial victory comes with the plans
which have been jointly adopted by the
French parliament and the City of
Paris for the new university city"
distinctly hygienic institution to be
built near Montsouris park, within the
city limits. French schools up to now
have not been noted for facilities Of
hygiene. The new university city"
will consist Of houses three stories
high, with lawns and gardens laid be-
tween, and In the very center Of the
architectural group will be large
building containing shower baths.
swimming pools, gymnasium, music
auditorium and library. Students at
present cooped and crowded in the
aged, unsanitary student quarter on
the left bank Of the Seine will have
in the university city" all the facili--
ties for living, studying and sleeping
In all the fresh air that the. high
Montsouris region and modern hy.
gienic principles can give Them They
will be encouraged to sleep with open
windows facing spacious places per.
fumed with flowers and plants.
Under Protest.
The price for student lodgings In
this modern city Of learning will be
about $40 year. Although general
director will be appointed, his author.
ity, it IS announced, will be limited.
Students will not be treated as pen
slonaries, nor cloistered monks. But
whether the students will be allowed
by the homefolk to bring their univer-
sity fresh air training into the old
homestead Is yet to be seen. It Is
more probable that father and mother
will let son or daughter carry on fresh
air tactics under protest, while the
elders lock their bedroom windows,
clamp the shutters tight and sleep as
their fathers and grandfathers, moth
ers and grandmothers have been doing
for centuries.