Michigan

-. iW uL,i ttiijLiuai meeuug oí tne Anióncan Public Health Asseclation eonvened k Detroit ou the moruing of the 13th inst. and remained iu session three days. Everv ques ticu bearing upun the object and aim'of the Association was treated in an able mauner bj physicians to whom the subject 'ïad been assigned. Among all tbc papers which wero read, none were listeued to with more marked attention, nor discussed moie fuliy th.in that read by Dr. Charles J. Lundy of Detroit, upon the subject of "School The vast tmportance of this subject is apparent to all and lor the benefit of our many readers we give the doctor's address in full : Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen :- In a short paper on school hygiëne it would not be appropriate to discuss the system of edueation pursued In our public schools; andl trust that rny remarks will in uo way be construed as a criticism of that system. It may be necessary, however, to point out some of the ill eiïects incident to the pursuit of study under that system. To do this, and to sugpest remedies for these illcffeets, in so f ar asT aru able will be the object of this paper. I believe it will be admitted by a majorlty oí careful observers that. the course of fitudy pursued ín most public schools, and aleo in many acadameis and seminaries, embrace too mauy subjects. This necessitates too mauy hours of itudy and recitation at school, and a!so rt quires the pupil to spend much time in study at home For the average pupil, the hours requircd for Ërepartionand recitation are entirely too Jong. iüht, ten, and in some cases even twelve hours por day are devoted to study and recitation. For example: Miss L., who is now under my care for an aflection of the eye, recites six times a day, and each recitation occupies fortyfive minutes. 8he is expected to study, and does study, five hours at home everj day, in addition to which she studies musie. She is a bright intelligent young girl,an' learns easily, out she complain6 that her work is too hard. Need I add that she is norvous? No, it is uot necessary, for it would be remarkable if she were Bot. Some time since tlie qvfestion of overwork in the school3 was discussed in New York and during that discussion some startling facts were brought to light. It was shown that many pupils in the higher gradis and in the grammar schools spentfroin ten to thirteen hours per day in study and recitation. This was the case even in the ordinary every day work of the school, but at certain periods matters were' much worse. In most, if not iu all, schools and academies there is pursued at times a system of study commonly known as the cramming 6ystem. During certain psrtions of each ironth, or eaeh quarter, or each semester, as the case may be, the pupils are urged, if not actually forced, to make extensive reviews of subjects hurriedly gone over and impe'fectly learned some weeks or monthb befcre. This cramming process is occasionally kept up for several weeks at a time, to the end that the pupils mar pass well in their examinations. There is excited a sharp riyalry aiaong the pupils, and this riyalry is often unwisely encouraged by the teachers; for the teacher is anxious to show the scheol superintendent or the school board how rapidly pupils advance under his or her care. Tliis is a pernicious practice, and cannot be too strongly condemned. It subjects the pupil tounnatural mental straiu and the result is what might be expected. Why do so many pupils drop out of the clarees p.ndleave schooi at the end of one,twoar three months after the beginnine of the school yearï It is sbown in the New York schools that the average attendance wasless thanflftyper cent. of the nuraber of pupils cnrolled. It was estimated that fourtus of tLe absenteeism was due to sickness. Of course much of that sickness was ia a measure, unavoidable, or at least was due to school work. But that much of this sickness and absenteelsm were due to eramming and overwork there can bc no reasonable doubt. The experience of every pbysidan will bear testimony to the correctnes8 of this statement. Indeed, the timely iuterference of the physician in advislng weak, delicate pupils to leave school often averts the impendint danger of prostration from overwork. Necd I say that nervous excitability, with ultímate prostration, headache, impaired digestión, laclü of proper pbysieal developnient and niyopia are among the many bad results of excitiug eompetitiuii and the long hours of Rtudy espccially when much of the pupil's time is spent in badly lighted and badly ventilated school rooms. The importance of t.hrough ventilation of schools c&nnot be over-ejtimated. With a large number of pupils in a single room, the atraosphere soon bccomes contamnuted by exhalations from lungs and skin. In many schools the lack of proper veutilation ispainfully manifest, especially in winter months. I venture the assertioo, and withoui, fear of successiul refutation, that not one in three of all the buildings in this great state of Micliigan is propcrly lighted and properly ventilated. This too, in a state that is a most liberal patrón oí education - a state uoted among all sta! es as having a superior cducatioual svstem. And what is true of Michigan schools is true of the 6Chools In othcr states. Jt. i.eeins a little eurprising that with our heulth boiird? in almost every town that such a coudltiun is perniittc-d to exist. Were the inasst sof the people sutBciently educated to appreciate the importauce of good ventilation in the school room, they would not tolérate some things which now exist. I venture te assert that the next generation will not submit to the thines which we now tolérate in this regard. Jiiotwbere to place the blame for the defects in ventilatiou of schools I ara not preparcd to state. 1 think, however, that it would be advisable to 9ubstilutc for the law makini. attendance at school obligatory, one whfch would compel members of school boards and tlic Hrchitects who plan our school buildings to pass creditahle examinations in sanitary sciênce. To compénsate for the lack of proper ventilation teachers sometimos resort to opening the Windows of the school-room to admit fresh air. It will at once be seen that this remedy is as batí as the defect it is iutended to correct. A draft of cold air is allowed to blow directly upou the pupils who sit in close proximity to the wiudow, the body is suddenly chilled, and , a cold is the rcsult. When the body is at rest the surface is easiïy chilled, and under such circumstances the pupil catches cold (in the j m _ a _ _„ f 4 l 4 Aart i Wí Ü J-iTtl _ oruinary aicepi-auee ui luc ucimy num " paratively sllght causes. KcpetitioDS of these colds lead to clironic eatarrah of the nose, throat and cars. In this connection- I may say that iu many cases the temperature of the rouin becomes too high. owing to imperfect ventilatiou. In the majoritv of school rooms the temperature ranees Irom 70 to 76 , or even 7S , whereaas It sbould not bc more than (ÍS or 70 . In Europc a temperature lor school rooms of 08 is thought quite high, and a inuch lower temperatur usually prevails. The warm atmos phere is injurious and unhealthful, and relaxes and debilitates the ystem. When pupils leave a warm.dry atmosphere with pores open and system relaxed and go directlyout into the damp, frosty air of a mid-winter day, tbey are very Hable to suffer in eonsequence. Ibis it may be imposeible to entirely avcid, but if he temperature of a room is 68 or 70 and the r.tmosphere is pure the system is not so ¦ ly to be relaxed as it would be by au impure ] tmosphere of 76 or 78 , and every careful observer knows that when the system is relaxed , is a time of great danger from sudden , ure to a cold atmosphere. Seats and Desks.- The construction and arraneements.of seats and desks are worthy at i least a passing notice. Although the American 1 e 'enerally provided with better seats I and desks than the schools of the most Eu ropean countries.yet there is room for improyement even here. it seats and desks are faulty i in their construetion, or if they are not properly suited to the size of the pupil, they tend i to produce deformity. Itis not necessary to discuss here the 1 iect of deformities in general, or the case witn i wbich deformity may be produced in the young and growing chlld. The facts are that a vast . majority of deformitiesoccur during the school age. Eulenburc, the no,cd orthopaedic I geor, states that 90 per cent. of al cases of spinal curvature not duo to special disease I I - ¦ 1 - I cur ilurtaf? school Ufe. ín Switzcrland, aecordin{r to Liebrich, 20 per cent, of all school Doys and 40 per cent, of all seheol girls have one shonldor hiaher than the other. Dr. D. H. Agnew, the well known Philadelr tula author and surgeon, i?ives as the principal causes of spinal curvatura, "unequal exercise of muscular power on both sides oí the . spine" and "oecupations." The same author , íurther states : "I am disposed to thiuk that 1 partial or uuequal use of the muscular system . s most eommonly coucerned in devcloping , lateral curvature of the spine." It is cot , ueeessary to discues here, even riid time and . spacc perniit, hotr íaulty and unnatural posi, tions of the body may give rise to deíormity I or t he modus ojierrmdi uj which doíormitr is produced. } I Although it is very probable that a compar ative.y sniall nrnnbcr of deforuiities oceur in tina country as a rcsult oí badly constructed . and badly arranged seats and desks, vet we cannot afford to disregard the matter. Unless vre would have our cbildreu ie6s beautiful in form and figure than Nature intended tbem ; to be, we ebjuld not allow theui to spend several hours day after day, year in aud vear out, in seats and before desks not properly adapted to them. Different pupils of the same age wül attain different degrees of advancement, aud the higher tbc grade the laro-er the seat and tbe hiaher the desk ïhen again pupils of the same grade wfll differ grtatly as to height of body aud length of limb. ïhus it will be seen that the proper eeating of the pupils in the school room is no easy matter. The seat should be &o constructed as to support nearly the whole leugth of the thili as nrcll as the pelvis. The seat should be of euch a bcight as to permit the sole of tbe shoe to rest comfortalily upon the floor. I have observea many instaucos in whieh the feet hung suspended between the seat and the floor beeause the seat was too high. Evtry seat should have a back, tither straight or but süghtlycurved, and sulllciently high 'to support tne lower half of the spiuaf coluinti. This latter will help to prevent uudue straiu i UDOnthoSH TTinplcR wlinei" fnnnti'nTi it ie t r,nn . tüe trunk crect, and at the same time it will not interfcre wjtü the respiratory iuncticn. The proper adaptlon of desks is even a more diflicult matter thau the arrangement of eeats, If the desk is too high the pupil is obliged to ; elévate the shoulders unnaturally in order to rest the elbow and foreirm upou the desk. Such positions are apt to produee the defonnlt y found among 40 per cent. of the giiis iu the schools of Switzerland. In other words, it i9 apt to make one 6houlder hiaher thau the other. If the desk is too low the pupil will lean over it or upon it. This stooping position is a bad one on several accounts. It makes the pupil round suouldered, preveuts the proper ex pansion of the chest in respiratioü, retards thcflow of blood from thehead, face and eye6,8nd favors the development of myonia. Liebrich saya the desk should be high enough to enable the pupil to rest the forearm and elbow thereon without displacing the shoulder. ile also advocates having theedge of the desk in a line perpendicular to the front of tbe scat. This general plan will be found to work quite well ; and it insures a correct position for the body, and one in which there will be no unnatural elevaiion of the shoulders, and no necessity forbending the head over the desk. For various reasons the top of the desk ehould have a slight incline or slope, instead of being fiat. Everyone may observe how quicklv the eyes tireiin looking for any considerable time atobjects placed muc'c abofe a line horizontal to the eyc. One may also observe that the eyes tire quite easily in looking at an object if it be placed too far below the horizontal. As we walk in the streetourgaze naturaliy strikes the walk twenty or thirty feet in front of us. This is aecounted for by the fact that the ocular muscles easiiy adjust normal eyes for binocular 8iDgIe visión at this point. Without taking time to c-xplain the action of the ocular nusclee, I will briefly say that, witbin certain limits, both eyes can be direeted more casily to an object below the horizontal line than to an object above It. If, however, the object is too far bel'W the horizontal line it strainsthe eye to Iook at it ior any length of time. If a book be placed upon a flat surface either the head must be bent unnaturally forward to sec distinctly or the eyes must be turned too far downward to be used with comfort. Besidee, letters whieh canbe seeudistinctlyata lougdlstace when the look rests at an angle of forty or forty-five degrces, canuot be seen at all at ouch distance where the book rests upon a Hat surface. Of Ibis fact any one may be convinced by making the experiment. Tbis will in great part be aecouuted for by the faet that the letters are "for"shortened," and that their images are smaller than thev naturallv should be. Un account oí meehameai consiaerations tue angle oí 40 or 45 will b' found too great wtícc the desk is useii for wriling, and one oí 20 wili answc-r better. Therefore, every school deskshculd be provided witls anadjustable top so that it may be used eitlier for reading or writing with comfort and convenience. Ligiit. - Light in the public schools has received considerable attcutiou wlthiu the past few years, aud deeervedly 60, for it is an important subject. Ligbt may be deficiënt in quant ity, poor in quality, or it may come f rom the wrong direction. Tnat such defect s in the lightingofour schools do actually exist may be demoustrated by cxamination in almost any part uf the country. That a few- vtry few, indeed - of the more recently erected school buildings are well lighted is fact. but unfortunately the h ell lighted buildings do Dot cxceed one in five of the whole number. When light is deficiënt the retinal images are not cleany and well degned. The pupil tries to obvíate the difliculties iutwoways. First, he iucreases the amouut of light réflected from the book to the eje by bringing the book cteer. It is not necessary hcre to speak of the well known )aw that the rc-flection of light is in inverse ratio to the square of the distance of the object. Secoud, be tries to increa6e the eize of the retinal lm agciof the letters by briuging the book nearer than twelve inelr'S. The nearer the object the more divergent will be the rays of light refiected from it totho ej-e. Tne'more divergent the rays of light the greatcr will be the cffort required to focus them upoü the retina, and the greaterwill be thestrain upon the iuternal recti and upon the ciüary muscle. But the pupil further adds to the danger by stooping over and bringing the eye nearer the book, iustead of maintaining the erect p-jsition and balnging the book towarda the eye. The result of this stool i ig, unnatural position is, congestión of the hem, face and eyes by interfereucewith th'e rcüirn of blood Irom these parts. The stralnrpon the eyes causes them to grow weary and ache if the work is continued. Indeed, we sec many cases of lnêammation of the cyes, and also of congestión of the opti-, nerve and retina, from this cause. Were this the appropriace place many cxamples could be cited. We also see many cases of headaehe and great nervous disturbance due to an unnatural strain upon the eyes, the prime cause of which was bad and insutücient light. But, while we seenumerous examples of pain and liiscornfort of the eyes, and even of iniiammatiou of the eyes, due to badly lighted school and living rooms, vet these aieonlythe lesser evils. Tliere is anbther affection much more important than these, iu the production of which bad light, together with long hours of study, plays an importaaf role. That affection is myopia, and to that I fhall now cali your attention, for in ]X)int o raportance it Is second to no subject connected with school hygiëne. Myopia, or near sieht, indicates that condition of refraction in which parallel rays of light are not f ocused upon the retina but in front of it when the eye is at rest. This is due to an elongated condition of the eyeball, and such eyes do not see distant objects distinctly, the faf point being within finite distance. The occulist regards such an eve as being 8omething more than near sighted, for he knows that more than four fifths of the myopic eyes are deceased. With myopia he as6oci ates certain conditions upon which it depends. With myopia he also associates certain anatommtcal and pvhological cha.iges which have taken place ithin tbe eye. He is aware of the tart that progresa in the6e pathological changos means uu increase of the myopia. He is also aware th.it the disease may reach a dangerous degree, and that, in some inRtances, there occurs total loss of sight. Finally, he is aware nf the fact that this disease can, ia a great measure, be prevented, but that it can not be cured. The causes of myopia are both predispo6inL and exciting. It i3 a well known fact that cliildren frequently inhprit certain peeularitiei of shape, form and feature. I have obsjrved certain pecularities of ehape in the eyeball ir three consecutivo generations, and in all threi generatioiis these peculiarities led to the development of squint, Although ehildren de luuerit a predisposition to myopia, vet ftw ii any children are ncar siguted at birth. In trermany there are more myopic people than In any other country, and the ehildren bom of berman parents in this country sbc r a orciter pri-disposition to myopia than ('o the children of American and Irish parents. The proportion of myopie pupils found by Drs. Loriug and Derby in the New Yorkschools nas,amoi]K derman pupils 24 per cent. ; among Irish pupils 14 per cent. ; and among American pupils Chief r.mong the exciting causes of nivopia are cIofc application to etudy Sr early youth while the tissues are lax and infirm; long liours of study without proper periods of rest, and poor light, both in quantity and qualit Uther causes are congestión of head, face an eycs, coused by the stooping position, or b tight clothirjg, or by eold f eet; badly printt books, and books in which the print is to tmall; badly ventilated school and livin rooms; debilitatiug iufluencts ofwhateverm ture, and lack of proper physical exercise i the open air. Aftcrquoting authorities showicgthe prev lenceof rayopia among children, he condnue it has been further shown that myepia wa most provaleut in pupüswho speutthe gieatet number of hours in st udy Erismau f urnisht the followiug statisttcs : ' Of 4,358 pupils exain ined by him, all studied two bours out. o school ; eome studied four hours, some scudied six hours, and some ftudied more than six hours out of schoei. Of those who studied only two hours out of school, 17 per cent. were niyopie; of those who studied four hours, 29 percent., and of tliose who studied six hoivrs and over, more thau 40 per cent. were myopie. Admittlng that myopia is produeed bv atteudauce at school and by theeonditions which such atteudance im poses, is theie anything to show that myopia does not preTail amona 1 dren wlio are not 6ubjeet to the conditions im posed by modern school life? There is. Dr i Macnamara, formerly professor iu theCaleutt , Medical College, states that myopia is almos ) unknown among the lower classes of India. H ) lnforms ds that in his examinations of th . Aboiigines of Bengal befailedto lind a md?1 case of myopia. The same author states tha I "whole races in India appear to be actúa i strangers tothe disease." Among the coloree race in this country myopia is as yet quit rare. In England, wherc myopia s not nearly so prevalent as it is in Germany, tLe disease i , found mainly amoBg the better educatec lasses. IIow, theu, dü locg hour of study, poor light, bad vc-ntilation and other influences bring about the elongation of the eyebaU, upon which myopia depends! This is a pertinent question, and one I shall now attempt to answer. It is a well established fact that vigorous use of any parL of the buman ecoiio my causes an increased flow of blood to that part. To this general rule the eye forms no exceptlon. During close application to study the eyes receive a greater eupply of blood than wheu the eye is at rest. If the application is long contirmed, and without proper perlods of rest, the fluid contenta ot the eye become slightly iucreased, the eoats of the eye become soinewhat congesled, and a blight increase in the tensión of the eyeball is apt to occur. Now, it is not difflcult to see that repeated, thouEh sllght, inTease of tensión may lead to stretehing of the coats of the eyeball. Kepeated distensión of the stomacb, as we often see in the case of gormaudizers, leads to stretehing of its walls and increase in its size. This is also true of other organs similarly formed. But thcre are other factors at work in the produetion of myopia. The muscles which turn the eyes in various directions and enpeclaüy the muscles which converge the risual axes, exert considerable pressure upon theeye-bali from without. To thi6 may also be added pressure from contraction of the ciliary muscle in efforts of accommodation. Now, as yon will observe upon the model which I hereehow you, the recti muscles are attiched iu front of the equator of the eye, and the ciliary muscle is also near the front of the ball. When these muscles contract upon the eye-ball, it would be natural to suppose the globe would yield, if at all, at thi: point of least resistance. This is precise ly what occurs. The tuuics of the eye do yield at the point of resistance, and we fiud in in3'opic eyes, especially when the myopia is of a high degree, a bulginsr of the eye backward at its posterior pole. This is 6hown in the diagram. But why do myopia and elongation of the eyeball occur so rarely among adults, many of whom use their cyes lor near work f or ten or even twelve hours a day? Wehaveseen tliai nine out of ten of the bodily deformities oceur in early life, when the tissues are lax and iufirm, and when shape and form yield readily to bad influeuees. So it is with myopia; it occurs usually when the tissues have not yet hardened suüiciently to resist the cvil iufluences of which I 'have spoken. Physical Cl-ltuke.- While it is not my intention tu devote any considerable space to the subject of physieal culture amoug school childreii, Tet a few word6 upon so important a ( matter would not bo out of place in tuU cou necti.m. Dr. Brayton li.tll say ihat "health may be deseribed as that oondition in which the va-J rious fllii('t;onal aetiviricK nf t.he hínlv or.. iiuuoiuijituuai nuinuubui luu uuuy are car ried on with 1 hcír normal energy and in a har monious mannor. For inaintenauce of sueh eoudition of the vital powcrs, acertain amount of physieal exercise is indispensable, sinee Uit functioosof respiration and of the circulation of the blood, whicli argely control the assimilative and disbassimilativc proce6ses of the bo;ly, are dircctly and powerfully influencec by the activity or inactivity of tbe muscular system. Anyonc who will earcfully observe the physical appearances -if our school cliildren wlll be couviuced that the "functional activities" i their bodies are neither earried on with barmony nor with enerey. The listless air, the languid gait, the cold feet and hands, and the lack of muscular development, especially among girls, at once indícate the lack of physical training. One very frequent result of this lack of pbysica! strength is asthenopia or weaknees of the eye muscle. This condition is nctoriously frequent among voung people attending school and coilege. Nearly one-half the patients who come to consult me regarding this affection are school ehildren, and of these two-thirds are girls. If I ask one of these young girls hflw lóng she can walk without beeoming fatigued the rcply is, 20 or 3b or 40 minutes, as the case may be. Now. such pupils are expected to upejid frotn six to ten hours in 6tudy and recitation, but half or three-quarters of an hour's physical exercise completely exhausts tuem. Instead of beiug exhausted by such trifling physical exertion, pupils should be able to perform light phsicftl labor for as many hours as they nsually speud in study. If we desire to have and to preserve the highest type of manhood and of womanhood in this country, we must cultívate our ehildren physically as well as mentallv. In the curreut number of Harper'8 Magazine there is an article enütled, "Our Children's Bodies," which I most heartily endorse. I would commend evory one to read it carefully. Especially would I recommend it to th-jse engaged in the noble oceupation of teaching. Every one knows how a llttle "outing," as it is of ten called, or a few weeks spent in hunting, flshing or other out-door oceupation helps to recupérate the exhauted energies of the over-taxed business or professional man or the accountant. Examples of this are so uumerous that it seems idle to speak of it. Tet, we 6eldom t hink that physical exercise is necessary for our ehildren who speDd so many hours a day engaged in mental labor, at least, we provide no means for their taking this exercise iu ï proper manner. If it is necessary for the adult to take physical ezercise in order that the vital functions may bewell performed,bow niueh greater the necessity for 6uch exerci6e in the erowing child. If we wish our ehildren to attain the üighest tvpe of development, we must see to it that the physical is not cntirely neglccted for the sake of the purely mental culture. A child whose mental cultivation has been made at tbe expense of health and physlcal strength is like a hoase built upou a quicV sand. I have already expressed these sentiments so of ten that they may seem stale; but a good maxim, "Let the physical keep pac( d with the mental training," will bear repetition. n How shall we provide for the physical cultivae tion of our school children ! This is a ques¦- tion which will force it.seli upon the attention 0 oí our educators at no distant day. If I werc f to suggest a plan by which we could attain n this object, it would be about asfollows: In n every city let the school board appoint a teach'f er of physical culture. Let him be a man of - sound mental trainiDe, not merely a man who - has a larga biceps or an expansive chest. - Let him be thoroughly posted 1 in tbc anatonay and physiolo"-y of the bumau bodj. Let him nnderstanrt - thoroughly the effect of pbys-ical training, and 5 the advautages to be derived from such training when properly carried out. But above all i let him be a man who thoroushly understands i the danger of improper use of the muecles and j of severe muscular strain, for hundreds are , iujured permanently by indiscretion in this regard. In a word let him be a man who will teach the use of the muscles, not the abuse of them. We do not wish our children to beeome gyuinasts nor aeróbata, we 6imply wish to them physically as well as meutally, for by the harmonious blentiing of the mental and the physical we will obtain the bighest typsot mauhood and of womanhood. Noir, if a teacher of physical culture were to be employed as aro teachers of penmanship, music and drawing, he could aecomplish wonders Under his general direction the several teachers eould carry out the details of a ecueral plan of physieal training. A certsin period of time each day, or bttter, a shorter space of time twice a day miLht be devoted to physical training. This time could be very adventageously takeu from the hours of recitation and one study could be discontinued. This p'an would not entall any addit.'oual dut.y ou the already overworked teachers. What the nature of the phys-ical exereise or drill should bc, it is not necessarj to intímate here beyond that it 6hould be liglit and simple and such as would bring into play all the muscles oí the body. If we desire to have pure air in the school - ¦ uuiii iré niuoi oupujy me means lor the rcmoval of the foul air, as well as for the ingresa of fresh air. Mostauthorities place the amount of fresh air required to keep the atmosphere of the school room at a heálthy standard at 2,000 to 2,500eubie feet perhourfor each pupil. This air should be warmed before distribution to the different parts of the room. To remove a Httle quantity of foul air would require a ventilating capacity much greater than I have anywhere observed. To correct the existing defect, I would suggest the procuring of facilftiesfor heating and distributing a much larger quantity of fresh air than is now admitted,and the introduction of well-heated ventilating flues where none now exist, and also aa increasein thesize and numberof such flues in the rooms already partially supplied in this respect. Uwewish to aroid thn ill effects of poor Right, which we found was an important factor in producing rayopia, we should see to it that our schools are better lighted. Light should not come írom the back, for a shadow will be east upon the book oí paper by the pupll's head and body. Light should not come froin the front, for it irritates the eyes. In nearly all schools black-boards are placed between Windows, thus compelling pupils to face the light for a portion of the time. In very wide rooms it is impossible to light all parts of the room properly if the Windows are on one side. Light Bhould be abundant; it should be distributed to all parts of the room, and it should come f rom a proper direction. The proportion of window serface should equal 30 to 50 per cent. of the fioor 6erface In many schools the window space does cot exceed 5 per cent. of the floor Bervlce. Sunüght shouM not be allowod to f all direct ly on the paper, for it will irrítate the eye. The 6chool-room should be oblong, and not wider than a space equal to twice the height of ie window. Such a room eau be properly ighted from one side, which should be the eft. For wider rooms the Windows must be ilaced on both sides. in conclusión, let me suggest the folluwing ules, observance ef which will materially help o remedy existing defecte: 1. Avoid the crainming process in educaon, and the nervous exeitement due to the pirit of rivalry. 2. Reduce the number of subjeets in the uriculum, audshorten the periods of study. 3. Ventílate the school rooms in accordance ith the most apDroved methods. 4. Regúlate the temperature of the schooloom- an atmosphere which is too warm deilitaten the system. 5. Provide properly eonstiucted and augd seats and desks. 6. Instruct pupils to slt erect, and to ho!d ie book "per at kast 12 inches from the ye. 7. Proy highlv myopic pupils with roper spectacles, which will LaWe them to rcad at the natural distante 12 inches. 8. Furuish pupils with well printcd books. 9. ï urnish abundance of light, without produeiugglare. Let itcorne from the lrft side if the room is narrow, from both eides if the room is wide. 10. Providefor the phjsical educatijn of school children, and teach them the lmportauee of out-door txercisc.