The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-02-07
FRESH AIR IN SCHOOL

FRESH AIR IN SCHOOL Now is the time wh@ school children, studying physiology, hy- giene and all about health, suffer the vitiating effects of bad air.
 It takes a lifetime and more to learn how much fresh air is 1t without exposing oneself to the in a draft.
 The health authorities of the country are still singing that old refrain: "Get plenty of fresh air but beware of drafts or sudden changesl" The average dumb egg turns the problem over in his al- legged mind for Q few years and finally decides to heed the second clause in the injunction and trust to luck or the concern of other persons for his pure fresh air. So what chance has the child In school? There he is at the mercy of teacher, superintendent, janitor or the member of the board who is told off to fix the rules and regulations pertaining to heating and ventilation. And in thousands of schools all these officials in turn are at the mercy of the firm that manufactured and installed the ventilating system. Yankees are all pretty much alike in their credulity The young ones nowadays, they say. drop the Santa Claus, fairy tale. stork bus- mess at shockingly early age and go on to a higher learning, But the delusion of taking cold, while it does not cramp the en- joyment of the young one so much certainly keeps old fogies in their place. The young of our day have less reverence for authority than the young of past generations had, and this is an encouraging sign. The old folk, from lifetime habit and from sheer incapacity for con, structive thinking, are more in- clined to accept notions or theo- ries as facts or truths if these notions are stated with sufficient vehemence by some old party who holds himself or his colleague out as an authority. That is the req son why the cold delusion still pre- vails among the old people.
 am not excepting old doctors and old health authorities; nor the shrewd young publicity agents or spokesmen or ghost writers they employ to support and de- fend the notion that cold or damp Is a cause of disease. I merely suggest to all who are still young enough to take a new impressiop that there is no authority in sci- enoe, but only learning, and so nc man can pronounce a theory or belief tan established fact oI generally accepted" unless he cites the evidence on which the esta blishment of the fact is based call attention to the negative os disappointing results of all scien- tific experiments and ali actual hu- man tests of the cold theory. It ii not only fair but indeed 1t is the only attitude for a young person of studious mind to ask, how these putative authorities about catch Ing cold get that way.
 Compromise between those whc are cranks about fresh air and those who wish to exclude it from the schoolroom, is practical so- lution of the problem. I mean that e0mpr0mtse has been adopted in many schools, village and city, with satisfaction to all concerned. Dr. John E. Todd of Syracuse N r.. introduced this practice Equip all the windows of the HchOoIroom with screens Of un- bIeached muslin. This excludes wind, draft, rain, dust, snow. buI admits, air, m0elture vapor, light Saves heat Gives fresh air at . hoaithful temperature and humid' ity. nf thrilling expense.
 There is no patent on the idea Try if in your sleeping room oI your living room 0F your Wort Feem oF yenF gnlee
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