262 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



respiration carried on with 25 pupils during different school occupa- 

 tions. The most marked difference found was that between the stand- 

 ing and the sitting respiration. The decrease in total respiration for 

 brief sitting (3 minutes) was about 8 per cent., and for longer periods 

 (12 to 39 minutes), 50 per cent. Interesting differences appeared with 

 different kinds of school work. Knitting, for example, showed an im- 

 peding effect upon the respiration of the upper left lung 18 per cent, 

 greater than did reading aloud. In agreement with the results of 

 Badaloni, the greatest impediment to respiration was found in the 

 upper part of the lowered side of the chest. This in turn aggravates 

 the asymmetrical condition and helps to explain why scoliosis tends to 

 run a progressive course. Oker-Blom concludes that all kinds of school 

 activities, including hand-work, must be frequently alternated with 

 change of position and with physical exercises if the danger of scoliosis 

 is to be avoided. 



The School as a Cause of Morbidity 



Hertel's pioneer study (7) of the health conditions and work habits 

 of 3,141 boys and 1,211 girls in the secondary schools of Denmark not 

 only revealed what was then regarded as an incredible amount of phys- 

 ical defectiveness, but also demonstrated sufficient correlation of mor- 

 bidity with years of school attendance and with daily hours of study to 

 forcibly suggest a cause and effect relation. In the first two classes 

 (children eight to ten years) 18.4 per cent, were suffering from one or 

 more chronic defects serious enough to impair health. By the end of 

 the third year the amount had risen to 34 per cent., and by the end of 

 the eighth year, with its average of 8£ hours of daily study, to nearly 

 50 per cent. Especially significant is the fact that the pupils whose 

 studies were chiefly of scientific nature showed a decidedly lower per 

 cent, of morbidity than obtained among the students of classical 

 courses, which make heavier demands upon strictly intellectual appli- 

 cation and afford less opportunity for physical activity. Conditions 

 were even worse among the girls, among whom morbidity rose rapidly 

 from about 30 per cent, in the first two grades to over 60 per cent, by 

 the age of 12 to 16 years. It is difficult to avoid the suspicion that the 

 daily period of study, which increased concomitantly from about seven 

 to about nine hours, may have been to some extent causally related to 

 the increase in morbidity. 



The later study of Schmid-Monnard (15) of 5,100 boys and 3,200 

 girls in the secondary schools of Germany confirmed essentially all the 

 findings of Hertel, revealing in the upper grades a marked increase in 

 frequency of headaches, insomnia and other nervous symptoms. 



Eoughly speaking, schools with both morning and afternoon ses- 

 sions showed in the higher grades nearly twice as much morbidity as 



