582 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



prevent more ailments than all the pills in Herrick's list of patent med- 

 icines. Moreover, it "vvill keep them quiet where other children are 

 sure to be fidgety in the parlor and at school. Every school-teacher 

 knows that young ruralists are more sedate than city boys ; out-door 

 work has given them all the exercise they need ; they can take it easy 

 while their comrades are fretting under an irksome restraint. After 

 an hour or two of German gymnastics, combined wtth wood-chopping 

 and water-carrying, if you like, the wildest boy will prefer a chair to 

 a flying trapeze ; for, if the tonic development of the organism is not 

 grossly neglected, sedentary employments per se are by no means con- 

 trary to nature ; in the intervals of their play, the young of frolicsome 

 animals will sit motionless for hours ; even kittens and young mon- 

 keys ; not to mention colts which have off-days, when they won't stir 

 a foot if they can help it. 



It would be a great improvement on our present system of school- 

 education, if children could learn the rudiments at home and pass their 

 infancy, the first eight or ten years, at least, under the immediate su- 

 pervision of their parents ; a transition-period of three or four years 

 of home studies would help them to steer clear of many moral and 

 physiological cliffs. It is always the best preparatory school ; only a 

 private teacher has time and patience to interest a pupil in the dry 

 principia of every science ; but a still greater advantage is his inde- 

 pendence of fixed methods and fixed hours. As a general rule, the 

 forenoon is the best time for studies, and the airiest room in the house 

 the best locality. Pure air has a wonderful effect on the clearness of 

 our cerebral functions ; the half -suffocating atmosphere of the average 

 schoolroom is as stupefying as the influence of a half-intoxicating 

 drink. Heat aggravates the offensiveness of foul air ; but in a well- 

 ventilated room the degree of temperature is comparatively unimpor- 

 tant. As it would be inconvenient to load ourselves with blankets in 

 daytime, less than 50 Fahr. would make sedentary occupations rather 

 uncomfortable, and more than 80 would become oppressive in a close 

 apartment ; but between these extremes we may safely suit our con- 

 venience. Perfectly pure or perfumed air may be very warm and 

 still very pleasant, as all know who have entered a conservatory or a 

 tidy baker's shop on a cold winter day. 



In large town schools, where hundreds of children have to breathe 

 the same ^ir, I would advise a change of rooms from hour to hour, and 

 a thorough renovation of the vitiated atmosphere by opening every 

 window and every door, and keeping up a rousing fire. The air-cur- 

 rents could be reenforced by mechanical means canvas-floppers or 

 revolving fans ^xi^ fumigation would greatly aid the good work. The 

 South European druggists sell various kinds of frankincense that can 

 be burned on a pan or a common stove, and will fill a large church 

 with odors more or less Sabsean, according to price ten cents' worth a 

 day would be enough to beatify a whole town school ; Mohammed, the 



