LB 3405 .L73 1886 Copy 1 k 2 The Sanitary Conditions and Necessities of School-Houses and School-Life. American public jSjealtl) ^00oriatton LOMB PRIZE ESSAY THE SANITARY CONDITIONS AND NECES- SITIES OF SCHOOL-HOUSES AND SCHOOL LIFE By D. F. LINCOLN, M. D. BmfoK, Mass. , "Tl MARS 2 \%%% ^» NEW YORK. - — SJ ■ ".in m ,„.l €omaxb t it. 0. Republican Press Association, 22 North Main Street 1886 Copyright, 1886, By Irving A. Watson, Sec. American Public Health Association. All Rights Reserved. PIEW YORK POBL, UBK. IN EXCHAN-^ JUL 7 1905 INTRODUCTION. As the result of prizes offered by Mr. Henry Lomb, of Rochester, N. Y.j through the American Public Health Association, the following awards were made at the last meeting of the association : I. Healthy Homes and Foods for the Working Classes. By Victor C. Vaughan, M. D., Ph. D., Professor in University of Michigan. Prize, . . $200 II. The Sanitary Conditions and Necessities of School-Houses and School-Life. By D. F. Lincoln, M. D., Boston, Mass. Prize, . . . $200 III. Disinfection and Individual Prophylaxis against Infectious Dis- eases. By George M. Sternberg, M. D., Major and Surgeon U. S. Army. Prize, . . ' $500 IV. The Preventable Causes of Disease, Injury, and Death in American Manufactories and Workshops, and the Best Means and Appli- ances for Preventing and Avoiding them. By George H. Ireland, Springfield, Mass. Prize, $200 That these essays may be placed in the hands of every family in the country is the earnest desire of the association, as well as the heartfelt wish of the public-spirited and philanthropic citizen whose unpretentious generosity and unselfish devotion. to the interests of humanity have given us these essays, but the financial inability of the association renders it impossible to distribute them gratuitously ; — therefore a price covering the cost has been placed upon these publications. It is to be hoped, however, that government departments, state and local boai-ds of health, sanitary and benevolent associations, etc., will either publish these essays, or purchase editions at cost of the association, for distribution among the people. Although a copyright has been placed upon these essays for legitimate protection, permission to publish, under certain conditions, can be ob- tained by addressing the secretary. ¥ The Sanitary Conditions and Necessities of School- Houses and School-Life. COMMITTEE OF AWARD. Hon. Erastus Brooks, member State Board of Health, New York. Dr. Henry P. Walcott, President State Board of Health, Massa- chusetts. Dr. Granville P. Conn, President State Board of Health, New Hampshire. Hon. John Eaton, Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. Col. George E. Waring, Jr., C. E., Newport, R. I. SCHOOL HYGIENE. INTRODUCTORY. Two men should be mentioned at the head of an essay of this sort, as deserving to represent the beginning of the "movement" in school hygiene. They are Cohn of Breslau, whose examinations of the eyes of school-children made a very powerful impression on the public mind some sixteen years ago, and Virchow, whose official report to the Prus- sian minister of education (published in 1869), is the most prominent document that can be referred to as leading the way in reform. It is not intended in this essay to quote largely from German authori- ties. The mere statement of principles and facts must suffice in so wide and manifold a subject as the present. It should be noted that Virchow makes use of the expression " school- diseases." He is probably entitled to the credit of inventing the word. In the list which he gives there is one affection which we need not dwell upon, namely, nose-bleed. In regard to another, — tubercular consump- tion, — there is perhaps a deficiency of evidence as to its causation in schools in America, though there can be no reasonable doubt that it is so caused, and the writer has the highest American authority for saying so. Deformity of the spine (lateral curvature) is probably not so common by a good deal in America as Gnillaume represents it in Switzerland. We lack decided evidence ; but it is spoken of under the proper heads in this essay. It remains to note the division of the subject which has been followed, viz. : 1. Site of the School-House. 2. Plan and Arrangement of the Building. 3. Ventilation and Heating. 4. Sewerage. 5. Hygiene of the Eye. 6. School-Desks and Gymnastics. 7. Affections of the Nervous System. 8. Contagious Disease. 9. Sanitary Supervision. In choosing the site for a school-building, we should take into account a number of things which might be overlooked in the case of an ordinary building. Dampness and malaria are of course fatal to a site for anv purpose. For schools we must plan to have abundant light (much more than will suffice for dwellings and shops) , and to have the sun's direct 6 SCHOOL HYGIENE. rays enter each room at some time of the day. The business of the school requires the absence of noise, — a point which may be overlooked in business edifices ; and the social character of the neighborhood, and its moral nuisances, are also to be considered. Dampness. Without going much into details, the use of some method of drainage and of some shield against incoming water is suggested, as likely to be needed in many places. The cellar, as hygienists know, ought to be carefully guarded f'om contamination of soil and air, and should at all times be dry. Grading will suffice to keep off most of the surface water. Undergi'ound water may be provided for by a ditch, dug outside of the foundation and reaching deeper than the cellar floor, and either laid- with drain tile, or filled to the depth of a foot with loose stones, after which earth is thrown in. A similar trench may be cut in the floor. All such drains are to be led to a proper place for discharge. The. floor may be made damp-proof, according to Col. Waring's sugges- tion, by six inches of well rammed clay, or by asphalt between two layers of cement ; the foundation walls may be protected by a coating of asphalt outside. A damp-proof course of asphalt in the walls above the ground is useful in preventing moisture from rising. Small country schools, if without a cellar, should at least have an atr- space underneath the floor, with a few openings in the underpinning, to give ventilation to the space. River bottoms, places where mist is often seen, and the neighborhood of ponds, are undesirable places for building. No business is more inter- fered with by noise than that of school. The neighborhood of large fac- tories, saw-mills, foundries, railway stations, engine-houses, or police stations, is therefore to be avoided. There need be no excuse for placing a school-house near any such of the latter as are under public control, or for utilizing a town lot by putting engine-houses, school-houses, and a police station, in close neighborhood. Regard ought to be had for the probable growth of a city, and avenues likely to become main lines of travel should be avoided. These things are mentioned because they are sometimes strangely disregarded. In large cities it is next to impossible to procure sites which fully satisfy the demand of hygiene in respect to the supply of light. Corner lots are enormously expensive, besides being noisy. The Sanitary Engineer prize designs for public schools, pub- lished in 1880, are instructive as showing that in the opinion of the prize committee, — " The most essential thing in a public school is sufficient light. The conditions imposed in this competition make it impossible to secure this light without either overcrowding of class-rooms, or an unsatisfactory arrangement of corridors, stairs, etc." "Upon so restricted a site as that contemplated 1 , light can best be secured by making the building very high, higher than for other reasons is desirable. !"A lot fronting north, of 100 feet front and 100 deep, and enclosed by buildings on adjoining lots at the sides and rear, of average city height, say four stories." (Advertisement.) SCHOOL HYGIENE. 7 " It should be distinctly understood that the committee do not recom- mend the plans to which they have given awards as being the best designs for a school building, but only as the best plans for a school building to be built in a huge box, lacking one side and without a top, the sides of which box are about sixty feet high, which seem to be the conditions under which school buildings have been erected in New York, and in which from 1,500 to 2,500 children have been crowded." — (San. Engineer, March 1, 18S0.) The evil complained of is a general one. New York is not the only city where fine new school buildings are erected, with a pleasant outlook all around, only to have four-story houses placed on both sides, within a dozen feet of their windows, in the course of a year or two. This is one of the worst failings of city schools. Fig. 1. Stairs \ Class Class Class Class Class Clothes Clas y Class Plan of School-house illustrating excessive compactness. II. PLAN AND ARRANGEMENT. Many of our oldest school buildings are extremely faulty. In fact, we have seen two reformations in school architecture, one dating from the publication of Henry Bar- nard's work, in 1839, while the other is now taking place. T he progress made within a few years past has been as great as at any other period, and types of edifices, which were un- challenged models of ex- cellence fifteen years ago, are now superseded. In schools containing several rooms, one of the commonest faults used to be the parsimony of space, which cut down the room for entries to a min- imum, and packed class-room behind class-room without breathing space. The effect of this was greatly to restrict nat- ural ventilation. Glass sliding doors Were very popular : it may be feared that they still are in some places. Spiral stairs were admired. Architectural features, such as colonnades and heavy Greek entabla- tures, are still seen on some older buildings, Plan — Same fault. the former serving to cut off a certain part of the light, the latter taking Fig. 2. j Corridor and Stairs Fire Class Rooms 8 SCHOOL HYGIENE. Stairs etc. SI CLA RO X ss QMS Class Room Stairs etc. Directors 1 Room Lobby and Stairs up space in the wall which ought to be devoted to windows. Excessive height is a fault which is only just beginning to be remedied. It arises partly from a false taste in archi- tectuie, partly from the expensive- ness of land in cities. An instance of the excessively compact style of building is given in the illustrations (Figs, i and 2), which are taken from the Report of the New York State Board of Health for 1S81 ; also in Fig. 3. Glass sliding doors are sup- Fi*. ?. P ose d to assist in lighting rooms which are faultily lighted in other respects. They are far less effect- ual than is thought. A person standing in the inner room looks out through the glass doors upon well lighted rooms, and thinks the light he sees is entering the room where he stands — a false impres- sion, which should be corrected by looking the other way. Light thus transmitted is nearly horizon- tal in direction, and has very little Plan of School. Philadelphia. effect in brightening the page of a a book lying on a desk. Glass also reflects some light, and absorbs some. In short, light thus obtained is not good light for the purposes of study. The rooms in Fig. 3 have glass partitions. Another common fault in plan is to have one of the rooms of such dimensions that it is impossible to light it advantageously. Such very large rooms form an essential part of many high schools, even of modern construction ; they are used as rooms of assembly, and also as the gen- eral study rooms, each pupil having a desk there, and only leaving it as occasion offers to go to small recitation-rooms. Such rooms are usually lighted from the right and left sides. The width between the windows is sometimes as great as seventy feet. The great distance of the windows from the central parts of the room is a marked disadvantage. Twenty or twenty-five feet is as far as a desk ought to be from the window. Associated with this fault, — or independently, — may be found a defi- ciency in the size of recitation-rooms. It seems to be supposed that these places do not require as much space as ordinary class-rooms, the fact being, that they are apt to be in use about all the time, and therefore are in no way to be excepted from strict requirements. When looking for instances of bad ventilation and overcrowding, one should not omit to visit these rooms. The allowance of cubic space for each scholar will be mentioned later. SCHOOL HYGIENE. A type still in vogue, which has some decided merits, may be called the four-square plan. It contains, on each floor, four rooms and a corri- dor : the corridor runs from front to rear, and the rooms are in pairs to right and left. There is a stair- case in front and rear. Each room is lighted from one side and the rear of the scholars : each room is a corner room. The type which is likely to supersede this one is based on the wish to give more light and ventilation in the corridors. Both are illustrated (Figs. 4 and 5). It would be rash, however, to point to any one plan as likely to have exclu- ■Fig. 4- sive success. The objection to spiral stairs is, that the tread is very narrow on the side next the wall, and a careless person easily gets a severe fall. The tread should never be wedge-shaped. It is a good plan to break up a flight of stairs by placing a landing half-way, with a full turn. Both stairs and corridors must be well lighted. The steps must be easf to ascend. It is desirable to build stairways as nearly fire-proof as possible. They may be enclosed in brick walls, so that fire from the main edifice will reach them with difficulty. One staircase should be placed at each end of the building, so that no room need be cut off by smoke or flame at the 1 i_ Stairs Stairs 1_ _ Stairs Office Stairs j outbreak of fire : it will be easy to go a step further, and place them out- side, or partly outside, of the building, for more complete isolation. If the framework is of iron, the treads may be of hard wood, which makes them for all practical puposes fire-proof. These precautions are among the first to be taken against fire — we might say against panic, for the danger to life from fire, in a school where children are orderly, is scarcely to be thought of. A thousand children can be got out of a large school within two minutes of an alarm 10 SCHOOL HYGIENE. from the principal. They say it can be done in less time ; it depends, however, on having the children exercised in a special " fire-drill," the sole object of which is to pass them out as quickly as possible. In the best schools this drill is given ■without warning once a month. Further precautions against fire may be taken : they ought not to be limited, however, to prevention of combustion, but should include some means for carrying off smoke, which is so apt to cause panic. To this end, it is proposed, by the chief engineer of one of our large cities, to have a large valve, easily opened, at the roof, so as to draw out great quan- tities of air or smoke. There may be also extra flues, built in the parti- tion walls, communicating with such floor spaces or wainscot spaces as may be supposed likely to be the seat of fire. The flues will not afford a supply of air to the flame, but will only carry off the smoke and gases instead of letting them come through the floors. The writer does not ex- press an opinion upon these suggestions, but they rest on good authority. Fire-proofing beneath the floors with layers of plaster is certainly to be recommended ; also, the practice of bringing the floors close up to the walls, thus cutting off the connection between story and story, which is so often the means of transmitting a fire with surprising rapidity to the upper stories. Perhaps the chief benefit of all these precautions, as regards safety of person, lies in the feeling of security against sudden conflagi-ation, which will give confidence in the moment of alarm to some teachers who might otherwise be overpowered by sudden dread. There are some buildings in most cities which were never meant for schools, but which are crowded with poor children, whose danger would be imminent in case of fire. A so-called fire-escape, placed on one of these wooden traps, affords a possible means of safety, but, for the most part, a good staircase in a well built school-house is the best " fire-escape." The passages to be passed through by the scholars in reaching the door should be wide ; the outer doors should swing towards the street. There should be two doors at least, — one for each staircase. The competition for prizes for model school- house plans, which took place in 1S80 in New York, has already been mentioned. The condi- tions upon which the committee of award based their judgment deserve to be quoted. In their opinion " a public school building to be erected in a large and densely populated city, should possess the following quali- fications, viz., — " I. At least tw T o adjoining sides of the building should be freely exposed to light and air, for which purpose they should not be less than sixty feet distant from any opposite building. "II. Not more than three of the floors should be occupied for class- rooms. "'III. In each class-room not less than fifteen square feet of floor area should be allotted to each pupil. "IV. In each class-room the window space should not be less than one fourth of the floor space, and the distance of the desk most remote from the window should not be more than one and one half limes the height of the top of the window from the floor. SCHOOL HYGIENE. II "V. The height of a class-room should never exceed fourteen feet. " V T The provisions for ventilation should be such as to provide for each person in a class-room not less than thirty cubic feet of fresh air per minute, which amount must be introduced and thoroughly distributed without creating unpleasant draughts, or causing any two parts of the room to differ in temperature more than 2° F., or the maximum tempera- ture to exceed 7°° F. This means that for a class-room to contain fifty- six pupils, twenty-eight cubic feet of air per second should be continu- ously furnished, distributed, and removed during school hours. " The velocity of the incoming air should not exceed two feet per sec- ond at any point where it is liable to strike on the person. "VII. The heating of the fresh air should be effected either by hot water or by low pressure steam. "VIII. The fresh air should be introduced near the windows; the foul air should be removed by flues in the opposite wall. "IX. Water-closet accommodations for the pupils should be provided on each floor. " X. The building should not occupy more than half the lot." The only comments by way of exception that need to be made upon this are, that in VI it seems hardly possible to expect a temperature vary- ing only two degrees all over a room, if the difference between ceiling and floor is intended to be included ; and further, that the method of intro- ducing fresh warm air, etc., given in VIII, is not the only desirable one, is will be shown under "Ventilation" later in this essay. In No. IV the size demanded for windows is based on the requirements of city architecture. In other respects the recommendations deserve unqualified approval, as embodying the chief sanitary requirements in a city school-house. Height of School Buildings. Not merely on account of danger from fire, but for reasons affecting the health of pupils, excessive height has been, within a few years past, much spoken against. It seems desirable, on the whole, to limit the height to three stories, of which the first two should contain most of the school-rooms. The reasons for this restric- tion are such as apply chiefly to girls of the age of fourteen and upwards ; more especially, to young ladies in normal schools and seminaries. Not to enlarge upon this point here, it is w r ell to notice the unwillingness of such girls, if placed in the upper story, to descend to the play-room or yard for recess. The climbing of many flights is an evil which may come about in another way, viz., when scholars study in one story and descend to another for each recitation. In such cases the need of con- sulting teachers before building is evident. The plan of the house should be made to depend on the plan of study, and architects can seldom fail to gather some useful information from those conversant with the uses to which their work is to be put. A point to note in conclusion is the smailness of the yards allotted for the children's play in American cities as compared with what is found in Europe. 12 SCHOOL HYGIENE. III. VENTILATION AND HEATING. This is one of the chief topics, and one of the most difficult, connected with School Hygiene. It is comparatively easy to build a convenient and spacious house : the requirements are well known, the cost is tolerably definite, for a given place and time. The problem of merely heating a given space is also one of moderate difficulty. But ventilation is a matter about which a general opinion is hardly yet formed, and the cost of which is very vaguely known. People in general are not yet agreed as to what constitutes good ventilation — how much fresh air per hour is required. Between a barely tolerable system, eked out by opening windows, and a system which really furnishes a supply of from thirty to sixty cubic feet of fresh warm air per head and minute, there are many shades of differ- ence. Few have a mastery of the somewhat complicated questions in- volved ; very few have seen successful and logical experiments made ; and many are called on to act as judges — to act upon an opinion which they cannot have formed. Amount of Fresh Air and Cubic Space Required. It is unfortunate that authorities differ so widely on these points. The New York Metro- politan School Board sets the minimum allowance of space per head at from 70 to 100 cubic feet, according to age. Fortunately, this does not represent the general practice in that city, — though, to the eye, the appear- ance of many infant classes suggests the idea of sardines in a box. Most authorities would wish to double these figures, at least. According to recent inquiries in Boston, there is no corresponding law or regulation ; but it is customary to build rooms for fifty-six pupils, with an allowance usually ranging from 160 to 220 cubic feet per head. Prof. Kedzie, of Michigan, claims 300 cubic feet; A. C. Martin, 220 ; various German states, from 120 to 284. The Conseil Superieur d' Hygiene Pub- lique, in a recent report to the Belgian Ministry of the Interior, recom- mends a minimum of 6| cubic metres per head, or about 240 cubic feet, a space which requires the unusual height of 4 \ metres, or about 14 ft. 10 in. The high position of the sanitary service, especially as regards schools, in Belgium, lends weight to their recommendation. It is the writer's belief that it is desirable to limit the size of classes to forty (40) pupils. Experts in education recognize the gain that accrues to the individual scholar from such limitation. If we base the calcula- tion on this figure, we have more liberty of choice between large and small rooms in making our plan for a building. The advantage of space is twofold ; — it enables us to introduce large volumes of air, fresh and warm, without danger of draughts ; and it gives more value to the prac- tice of airing-out the room by windows at recess times, since a large roomful of fresh air lasts longer than a small one. But there is such a thing as too much space, entailing difficulties in regard to discipline and teaching, and making it hard to secure good light. For example, a class of fifty-six, with an allowance of 250 cubic feet each, requires a room of SCHOOL HYGIENE. \ 3 the capacity of 14,000 cubic feet, or 27 feet wide, 37 long, and 14 high, dimensions which can hardly be profitably exceeded, if indeed they are not too great already. As regards the amount of fresh air to be introduced hourly, it is desir- able to found our ideal upon the basis of Parkes & DeChaumont's views, which represent the best authority. By depending upon the testimony of their senses as to whether rooms were "close" or "fresh," these authorities reached the conclusion that it is not desirable to allow the amount of carbonic acid in air to exceed the proportion of 6 parts in 10,000. Any higher proportion seemed to be attended with perceptible closeness. Now, assume that fresh air from out of doors contains 3$ p a *'ts in 10,000, which is a trifle below the usual rate. A room of the capacity of 10,000 cubic feet, freshly filled with this air, and tenanted by one man, would receive from his lungs an addition of 2% cubic feet of carbonic acid in 4^ hours, raising the total to 6 cubic feet. If, then, 10,000 cubic feet will last 4^ hours, the supply for one hour should be 2,400 cubic feet, or for one minute, 40 cubic feet. The usual assumption is, that " fresh " air contains 4 parts, not 3I-, in 10,000. If so, the hourly requirement is about 3,000 cubic feet, or 50 per minute. Billings increases this to 60. If an average school-room of the better class contains an allowance per scholar of 200 cubic feet of space, there would be a necessity for renewing the air completely every four minutes, or fifteen times in an hour. This requirement, however, is intended to apply to rooms used day and night, such as barracks. For school-rooms, the amount may be less, owing to the opportunities for frequent airing, and the total disuse out of school hours. The writer agrees with Dr. Billings in the belief that, for schools, the allowance of from 25 to jo cubic feet j)er minute and head will answer all needful purposes, if supplemented by occasional airing-out during and after school. It is evident that if air is to be introduced so rapidly, there should be a liberal allowance of room, in order that the incoming air may not be felt as a draught. The outgoing air, by the way, is rarely felt ; but a very vigorous draught may be appreciable two feet from the register. Do childre7t require a smaller allowa?ice than adults? or, Do small children require less than large o?ies? One answer, in the affirmative, is derived from the estimates of the amount of C0 2 exhaled at different ages. Breiting gives it, for girls aged seven or eight years, at a little over 10 litres per hour ; at the age of eight or nine, 12 litres. If engaged in singing, it is 16.7 for the latter age. Boys aged twelve or thirteen expire 13 litres ; during singing the amount rises to 1 7. Scharling gives, for the age of ten years, close upon 10 litres \ for a boy of sixteen, 17.4 ; for a young woman of seventeen, 12.9 ; for adults, a little more. Pettenkofer & Voit give 16.8 for a weak man, and 22.6 for a strong man. It would appear, then, that there is a decided difference to be allowed 14 SCHOOL HYGIENE. for. Primary pupils expire less C0 2 than high school pupils, in the ratio of 2 to 3 ; or perhaps the difference is still greater. If a room ought to contain the cubic space of 250 feet per head for larger scholars, it need contain only 1S0 for the same number of small scholars. In other words, forty large and sixty small scholars can be accommodated in an equal space. This estimate, however, is admissible only on the supposition that the ventilation is efficient. In case of defect, or apprehended defect (and this covers a wide ground), the young children should have equal room with the older ones, on the ground of their comparative inability to cope with the deleterious effects of bad air ; also, because in contracted quarters the danger of draughts from windows is greater. It has been said that chil- dren need a proportionately large allowance, "because metamorphosis of tissue goes on more rapidly in them." We have two means of esti- mating the amount of tissue-change, — the quantity of C0 2 exhaled, and the quantity of food consumed. On the whole, the latter item is suffi- cient for the argument, and may be believed to represent the amount of change of tissue very well. It is quite evident that, though boys of fif- teen may consume as much food as men, children of eight do not. A supply of air, then, which would be liberal for a large boy, would be more than liberal for a small child. The degree of allowance to be made is a point upon which distinguished authorities differ. DeChaumont would place three times as many children of four or five years in a given room as youths of fifteen or sixteen, while Billings would allow very nearly the same amount for children of all ages. Dimensions of Ventilating Apparatus. Let us suppose the case of a school-house to be planned for thorough ventilation. It is assumed that all the air to be extracted is to be cari'ied by flues through the roof. We will first consider the flues for extraction. The resistance offered by friction is of great importance, and should lead us to make the flues of liberal size, as sfraight as possible, and smooth internally. A flue of less than eight inches internal diameter is not worth much. The inside should be finished in smooth plaster, or, better, with sheet metal ; never with rough brick unless very large. Angles check momentum very greatly ; so do horizontal passages. Suppose a single room to be ventilated by a single brick flue, straight and well made ; and suppose the only force to produce a current is the warmth of the air leaving the room at 68°. It is probable that if the flue is of moderate height, with no fire, the upward draught will seldom ex- ceed the rate of two feet per second. An average of two would be a liberal allowance. If there are fifty-six pupils, the chimney is expected to discharge 28 cubic feet per second, and in order to do this, it must be at least 14 feet in sectional area, or about 4 by 3^ feet inside measure. The register opening to this flue should be at least as large. (The reader may try to form an idea of this by measuring the dimensions on the wall.) Not to speak of the register, such large flues cannot be introduced into SCHOOL HYGIENE. 15 Fie: 6. a building already finished, and can hardly be thought of in a new plan. There is, indeed, no necessity of so large a shaft if we provide a some- what different arrangement. If convenient, we can cause the furnace-smoke to be car- ried up this flue in a cast-iron pipe, thus increasing the heat, and possibly doubling the ve- locity. In large buildings, moreover, the whole system must be centralized, and this is done in two ways. — first, by conducting the foul air from each room by long tubes to a central heated chimney ; and second, by grouping rooms so that they discharge their foul air at once into the chimney, without intervening "•ducts." The latter is the plan of the Bridgeport, Conn., high school, to be described presently. Three illustrations (Figs. 6, 7, and 8) show how the 7. first plan may be carried out. It is to be observed that they all imply the expenditure of extra heat to force a draught ; also that in No. 6 the heat is applied in a chamber in the attic (which may be of wood lined -with sheet metal) , while in the others it is imparted by the smoke-flue of the furnace. The most economical plan of the three is stated by Planat to be the last ; the least economical, the first. The Bridgeport school plan is illustrated next plan (Fig. 9) ventilated by two brick shafts, which curve and meet in one at the attic story. In their up- ward course they pass di- rectly by each school-room, and take foul air by one large opening from each. These same shafts also cany the tin flues for the hot air supply of the rooms, one such flue for each room. The heat lost from the tins goes to keep up the heat of the shaft, and increase the " suction" power. The smoke-flue is utilized in the same way, and there is a "suction coil" for extra heat in the upper part of the flue. fl in the It is large, Fie. 8. i6 SCHOOL HYGIENE. With but one inlet and one outlet, there was need for special care in planning the position of the registers. The plan adopted seems to be quite successful in distributing the air and equalizing the temperature. The inlet for hot fresh air is near the ceiling : the current travels towards the windows : a descending current near the windows, originating in the cooling efiect of the glass, continues the movement, and finally there is a strong outward movement of air at the inner corner of the room on the level of the floor. Something like a circular movement is thus produced In the diagram (Fig. 10) arrows are introduced at points where currents are felt, and the intervening points may be filled in by the reader's judg- ment. The figure represents the room in section, with temperature takei Fig. Q. MOUTH OF FURNACE FLUE EXITS FOR AIR U'ALVES IN SHAFT SUCTION COIL COLD AIR COLD AIR BRIDGEPORT, CONN., HIGH SCHOOL. Vertical Section. simultaneously after the apparatus had been in operation forty-five min- utes. Similar arrangements have been since made, to the knowledge of the writer, in schools in Auburn, New Yoi'k, and Newton, Mass., with good success. The orifice for the exit of foul air ought to be a good deal larger than that for the inlet of fresh air. In examining Fig. 9, the reader is desired to make the correction mentally. SCHOOL HYGIENE. I? The use of steam power as a ventilating agent is not a novelty in other public buildings, but in school-houses it has been tried, so far as known to the writer, only in Boston, and that within a few weeks past. The experiment is one which it is very desirable to make, by way of testing its economical value. The arrangement consists of a fan placed in the space below the ridge-pole, within a box, propelling the air upwards through the cupola, and exhausting by good-sized flues from below. The motor is a high-pressure engine in the cellar, which seems to require Fig. io. 12 ft. 81° 85° S ft. 120° >IA { \ ■vyQ 75° 78° PL A TFORM 73 o 69° BRIDGEPORT HIGH SCHOOL. Vertical Section of a Room, shozuing Temperatures at a height of I inch, $\ feet, 8 feet, 1 2 feet from floor. from twelve to fifteen tons of coal during the winter, and the constant presence of an engineer. A new form of engine ("•vacuum engine") is proposed, requiring no separate fire, and run by jets of steam from the boiler which heats the school, at an extremely low pressure. No tests for carbonic acid have been made, but the anemometer test, applied in two schools, gave a rate of discharge equivalent to twenty-four cubic feet per head and minute, which is about as much as we can ask for. The expense of introducing the appliances is stated as moderate ; flues, not to* be considered, being required in any case ; vacuum engine (no boiler required), about $500 ; and fan, something more, besides cost of gearing to transfer power from cellar to attic. In one school a certain amount of rumbling noise is heard (but not complained of), due to vibrating motion in the attic, the apparatus having been introduced not as part of the original plan, but after the school was built. In the other building scarcely any sound was heard. The arrangement of flues for such a plan has nothing peculiar. It requires chieflv the avoidance of angles, or rough and narrow flues, and is represented in figure 6, the fan being placed at ****, just below where the cupola is set upon the roof. No system for exhausting air by hot flues or by steam power should be introduced without providing for the introduction of a corresponding amount of fresh-warmed air. Hence it follows that ventilation and heat- 18 SCHOOL HYGIENE. ing constitute parts of one general problem, and that the same mind should plan both. " Indirect" heating is the only kind worthy of our consideration. In cases whei - e stoves are set in school-rooms, they should be made indirect heaters by the use of screens, as is hereafter described. For larger build- ings, steam heat, by means of coils arranged in boxes in the basement, is probably the best. Auxiliary coils may be placed in entries, but not, as a rule, in school-rooms. Ventilation cannot be had without some in- crease in the bills for fuel. There is reason, however, to think that the amount of increase is not so great as might appear. In our worst venti- lated schools there is a good deal of warmed air let out at windows, in an unsystematic way. Good ventilation implies that cold draughts from open windows are done away with : hence a lower degree of heat in the room is sufficient for comfort. It also implies a rapid change of air, with equalization of temperature, so that the feet are kept warm : this also enables us to be comfortable at a low temperature. A third point, bearing in the same direction, is the greater activity of the circulation and of the change of bodily tissue, and the consequent increase of bodily warmth in fresh air. The writer has at least twice found opinions strongly expressed in favor of the results of ventilation. Once in a new primary school at Springfield, Mass., where the teachers agreed that they could get along with the ther- mometer some degrees lower in their new, well ventilated quarters, than formerly was the case in close rooms. The other instance points indi- rectly in the same way. In the new building of the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology, with nearly perfect ventilation, the quality of the work performed is said to be decidedly superior to that which was done in the old building, which has no system worth naming. The ventilation in the new Institute building is very successful. It is effected by a fan in the basement, which forces air through openings in the inner walls of the rooms at a high point, the air escaping by flues in outer walls at low levels. The allowance per hour and head is 1,500 cubic feet in lecture- rooms, and from 2,000 to 4,500 in laboratories of various kinds. The analyses of air gave from 4.87 to 5.23 parts C0 2 in 10,000, in a room which was half full of students. The estimate for a full room would be from 7 to 8 parts per 1 ,000. Corresponding analyses in the old building gave from 9 to 12.34 m a room with doors and windows open, half full ; if filled it would probably stand at 21 or 22 in 10,000. Prof. Wood- bridge's estimate of the fuel burned last winter is 307 tons for the old and 404 for the new building, and some allowance is to be made for the fact that all the boilers are situated in the cellar of the older building. Both are of nearly the same size, and are equally used, and for the same pur- poses. However encouraging these results, it is seen that perfection is not yet reached. By way of comparison, a few selected data are given, showing the number of parts in 10,000 of C0 2 in the air of various localities. (See tabled SCHOOL HYGIENE. 19 It is probable that the bad air of German schools is one cause of the prevalence of near sight and other defects of vision. The standard of 6 per 10,000 is not likely to be reached in schools at present. Perhaps we shall have to admit the practical justice of Prof. W. R. Nichols's remark, that 10 in 10,000 is as low as we can expect to find in schools with fair ventilation. AMERICAN SCHOOLS. Philadelphia. . . Boston. ... Boston Boston Michigan New York city. Lynn, Mass . . . . .1875 1870 •1875 18S0 •1873 1SS3 No. of rooms examined. 9 40 in 39 46 17 8 Parts CO2 in 10,000. 12.2 I4-S 11.9 15.6 22.9 20.8 l 7-S Observer. E. Thompson. A. H. Pearson. Draper & Nichols. W. R. Nichols. R. C. Kedzie. H. Endemann. Prof Hills. GERMAN SCHOOLS. Annaberg, 5 schools Wilhelm's Gymnasium in March. " in July. . . Celle, Gymnasium, various rooms . Celle, Volks-schulen, most rooms. " one room.. . 39-9 O. Krause 55-8 Oertel. 22.9 « 20.50 Baring. 90 « 20 « Much has been said regarding the proper position for outlets and inlets for air. One false view may be corrected at once, — the notion that carbonic acid gas is the agent that is chiefly noxious, and that this gas seeks the lower levels. It is not specially dangerous in quantities found in schools — the animal vapors from skin and lungs are more so — but it repre- sents the degree of organic pollution fairly well. It is not found chiefly at a low level. If there is any difference, the upper levels are sometimes more impregnated, owing to the breath rising in a cool room ; but the differ- ence is small, and, in a room with rapid ventilation, not distinctly trace- able. The air from the pupils' lungs may be assumed to be distributed through the apartment rather quickly. The process of ventilation then becomes, not a removal of the exhaled air, but a dilution by the introduc- tion of large quantities of fresh air. 20 SCHOOL HYGIENE. A test for carbonic acid is not easily made in a way to satisfy scientific demands, but an approximate test can be made in a minute by an un- skilled person. An ounce of fresh lime-water in a ten-ounce bottle of the air to be tested, shaken vigorously for half a minute, will indicate a fair degree of purity, if it is not distinctly made turbid. One should have a little practice, even at this simple operation. The writer has endeavored to make a convenient and portable appara- tus which will give an indication of the number of parts in 10,000, within a range of error not exceeding one part. To some extent the instrument is successful. It is based on Lange's method. A series of bottles of known size was chosen, graded from large to small, and fitted in a wooden frame. The whole apparatus is carried to the room to be tested. The bottles have been previously filled with water, and when inverted the air fills them at once. They are stoppered, and carried to the laboratory, where a given amount (say one half ounce) of lime-water (chosen as being less liable to change than baryta- water) is introduced into each, and also a few drops of a solution of phenolphthalein, which gives a rose color to the lime-water. By shaking for a good many minutes the car- bonic acid is made to neutralize the lime ; the approach of complete neu- tralization is marked by the fading of the rose color ; and when satisfied that the process has gone on long enough, we select the largest bottle that shows the complete change, and say, — The air in this bottle measures (say) 10 ounces ; it contains enough C0 2 to neutralize (say) - 1 - ounce of lime-water : how much C0 2 is here? and how manv parts in 10,000 parts of air does it stand for? The calculation is of course made previously for each bottle, so as to reduce the labor of a test to the mechanical operation. The act of shak- ing is fatiguing, and the charging of the bottles requires some practice, and a well graduated tube. No figures arc here given, but by a com- parison with simultaneous analyses made by Pettenkofer's method, an encouraging degree of accuracy has been observed. The point of diffi- culty in this and similar processes is to determine when the carbonic acid is to be considered as having been fully taken up by the lime. This fault seems to attach to Mr. Owen's ingenious process, given in Billings's "Ventilation and Heating." Source of Supply of Air. The purity of the source must be cai-efully guarded. A wooden duct is the usual means of conveying the air across the cellar to the furnace. Such ducts easily open at the joints, and let in cellar air : hence painting from time to time may be useful, unless tin be substituted, or galvanized iron. The interior should be accessible in some way for cleaning, as dust cannot but accumulate with time. The inlet, out of doors, is to be guarded with a wire screen, and is so situated as to be out of the way of mischievous persons. Bad smells are sometimes noticed in a school, which enter through this channel. It is hard to tell, in certain neighborhoods, just where to place the opening. The ground is damp ; the air at ten feet is odorous for various reasons ; and at thirty feet the smoke of neighboring chimneys is blown into the inlet ; — it is SCHOOL HYGIENE. 21 usual, however, to make the cautionary remark that malaria and damp- ness linger near the ground, and, as a rule, ten feet from the ground is a good place. Scrupulous cleanliness of the cellar is necessary. If there are water- closets there, they had better not be near the ducts, nor even in the same division of the cellar, since the ducts are provided with doors which are liable to be left open contrary to orders. The misuse of such valve-doors is one of the crying sins of janitors. Many a master has a perpetual Avar- fare with this functionary on account of this. The janitor's object, first and last, is the saving of coal in order that he may receive credit for economy, and his habit is to close the outer valve, opening the one that leads from the cellar, thus feeding his furnace or coils with cellar air at 6o° instead of the cold air out of doors. In this way the writer has found a school-house filled with air which must have passed through the fur- nace two or three times, being drawn down through the entries to the cellar, and then sent back "through the furnace. Excessive heating of the air is not so frequent a fault at present as formerly. A report made to the Boston school board in 1846 complains that the air sent to school- rooms is frequently heated to 500° or 6oo°. This may be simple exag- geration, but there is no doubt that a heat approaching 200 is not un- common at present. Circumstances alter the requirements greatly, but for schools by day- light, the range should not much exceed 120 F., nor fall much below 8o°. In order to fulfil this demand furnaces and boilers should be made very large. Steam heating is one of the best methods. The pressure upon a boiler of proper capacity need never exceed ten — perhaps it should not exceed five — pounds to the square inch, and it should frequently run down to one pound. The danger of explosion need hardly enter into the calculation if there is good management. Vent Hating- Stoves. A useful apparatus for aiding ventilation is furnished by a class of stoves which are provided with an inlet for fresh air, and a chamber for warming it before it is introduced to the room. Figure 11 shows a stove having a jacket of sheet metal, a space be- tween the jacket and stove, and a fresh-air t D (ZD Air enters by open window. w~-^ Fig. 12. flue, with a valve operated from the room. The principle, as regards air-supply, is not essentially different from that of the "Fire on the Hearth," the '• Jackson Ventilating Grate," and Galton's ventilating fire-places. The method is practically valuable, though the stoves I have seen do not really supply enough air ; that is, a stove larere enough. 22 SCHOOL HYGIENE. \ □ E*a F— TX to heat a given room does not introduce nearly enough air to ventilate it. The column of hot air is very short, and the velocity moderate. Yet, where stoves are to be used, there is an obvious gain in using this kind. It ought to be supplemented by a powerful chimney-draught, the chimney being made of liberal size, and heated by the passage Fi cr . 13. of the stove-pipe: an opening for ventilation is to be made near the floor. In still other ways ventilation may be aided by the stove-pipe, as will be seen from Figs. 13 and 14. Figure 12 shows a screen (supposed to form a semicir- cle) placed by a stove near a window, which is opened. Figure 13 is like Fig. 11 in principle. Figure 14 shows how a low- Ier story may be ventilated. The last four illustrations are from Billings's "Ventilation and Heating." The evaporation of water in connection with heaters is probably useful, but the writer is not inclined to consider the matter one of primary im- portance. It is successfully dispensed with in some of the best ventilated new wards in hospitals. Children often come in with cold and damp feet. It is desirable to provide some kind of foot-warmer in the hall or basement. A good one is made of an iron plate, z\ or 3 inches thick, set on a flat steam-coil. Ope?iing Windows. This may be regarded in two lights, according as the schol- ars are at work, or moving and exercising. To keep windows partly open seems an absolute neces- sity in many school-rooms. In one-roomed country schools, one of the first steps in sanitation is to insist on the upper sashes being arranged so as to be lowered. An open window is an evil, nevertheless, in cold weather. The palliative measure to be recommended is a strip of board a few inches wide placed so as to deflect the current fron~ under the lower sash, and make it pass above the heads of pupils. This is a decided SCHOOL HYGIENE. 33 mitigation of the draught. It is very often liked in rooms where the ventilation is otherwise bad. A tilting sash at the top of a window can- not safely be used in winter. Such a sash, however, ought to be placed over every room door to enable the occupants to share to some extent in the purer air of the entries. There is no question of the good done by temporary opening of windows and doors for a minute or two while scholars are exercising. The effect may be supposed to disappear in two minutes or so ; but when combined with a short physical exercise in the standing posture, its effect, both moral and physical, is undeniably good. In a very carefully conducted school known to the writer, this is done every hour, the period of five minutes being allotted for that purpose, unless there is a regular recess. At recess time, also, it is the rule that no child shall remain in the rooms, but that all shall go to the play-rooms under charge of their teachers, the windows in the mean time being opened by scholars deputed for the task. These measures, well carried out, greatly relieve the condition of a school which has no efficient sys- tem of flue ventilation. The " Eureka" ventilator is an opening in the wall to let in air directly. It has a valve, and the passage is bent so as to throw the air upwards. It is a useful accessory in some cases where a thorough ventilation is not planned for. Similar openings are often found behind steam-coils in school-rooms. Their utility is delusive ; — they deliver a very small quan- tity of air, and are liable to be stopped up by accident, or for the pur- pose of keeping out the cold. Much has been said of the supposed capacity of cast-iron stoves to let carbonic oxide gas pass out through their pores, thus contaminating the air with a peculiarly deadly poison. The present weight of evidence does not sustain this belief. IV. SEWERAGE. It is difficult to trace any large amount of disease in schools directly to offensive privies or sewers. There can be, however, do doubt that some is so caused. The school is often supplied with water from a contam- inated well. Bad air and stenches are not always provocative of illness, but the common-sense of civilized races suspects them, and there is no doubt that they may promote debility, headache, loss of appetite and digestive tone, and general depression of vitality ; while in the minds of some physicians there is no doubt that dysentery maybe caused, and per- haps typhoid fever, and that scarlatina and diphtheria may be aggravated by exposure to foul air. Pneumonia, tonsillitis, rheumatism, and neural- gia are probably to be included. Although drainage, as applied to school buildings, is governed by the general rules applicable elsewhere, it may yet be desirable to note, in passing, the chief of these rules. A certain number of points of more special application will be noticed afterwards. In all houses, whether used for school purposes or not, the drain, soil, and waste pipes ought to be of iron, visible and accessible throughout 24 SCHOOL HYGIENE. their course, if possible ; without angles, as straight as possible, and never horizontal. Soil and waste pipes are to be carried up full size, two feet above the house roof, and there guarded against the weather. A trap is to be provided for each sink, basin, urinal, or closet, and a running trap for the outlet of the drain, with an opening from the drain for ventilation, just inside the trap. Safes are to be connected with the drain directly. Rain-water leaders are not to be used for any other pur- pose, and vice versa. The best trap for sinks is, perhaps, the ball trap. Ordinary S traps are often shallow, and ai - e rather more easily siphoned than D traps. Traps are to be ventilated by i^-inch pipe leading to the general ventilator (z.