212 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [ts:7-0ct.. Wio 



the building itself all the recognized rules of sanitation and ven- 

 tilation were ignored in the janitor service. A synopsis of her 

 paper is as follows : 



''Janitors are half of the problems of hygiene, backward children 

 and school fatigue. 



"School temperatures between 70° and S0° in winter create popular 

 demand for overheated houses, public buildings and conveyances; 

 dusty, heavy air trains for badly ventilated homes and shops — not- 

 withstanding recitations to the contrary. 



"Health habits educate more than health maxims. 



"Overheating, dust and foul air invite dullness, headache, catarrh, 

 adenoid conditions, bronchitis, 'colds', tuberculosis. The highest death 

 rate from tuberculosis in any profession is among teachers in this 

 country and Canada. It is not so in Europe where both homes and 

 schools are cooler. England requires a school temperature of 60°. A 

 few of our schools require 65° to 68°. Some teachers insist on their 

 rooms being disconnected from the heating system in order to use 

 their windows when necessary, heat from corridors being ample. 



"We have 'fresh-air rooms' for delicate children and others, with 

 rapid gain in health and ability. "We have 'systems' at the other ex- 

 treme which sift city air (screens are soon loaded with dirt), wash 

 it (washings are a muddy stream), heat, humidify, and send it to 

 rooms where automatic regulators control. In thirty-two rooms vis- 

 ited I found twenty-seven 'regulators' 'out of order', as was evidently 

 the ventilation; but 'the system forbids opening windows'. 



"No good homemaker has the dirty floors and atmosphere with 

 which we shut up children and instructors. A few schools are clean 

 and wholesome. To make all so, means insistence on trained care- 

 takers, stopping the smoke nuisance, better made and cared-for streets. 

 We have also lessons to learn from fresh-air schools. 



'■There is no greater need in 'vocational', 'continuation' or trade 

 schools than classes for janitors of schools, apartment houses, theaters, 

 office buildings, Pullman porters, train and street-car conductors, 

 hotel managers. 



"Some janitors have engineer's licenses. No schools require them 

 to have training in principles and methods of sanitary care of school 

 premises, although their salaries are often larger than teachers'. 

 School laws should secure trained caretakers." 



The Department at this convention took on a new lease of 

 life. The activities at the Denver meeting of the directors of the 

 Association, which contemplated the fusion of the Department of 

 Science Education, was rescinded. The wisdom of the second 

 action of the directors will be conceded by all who are interested 

 in elementary and secondary science instruction. It would be 

 especially unfortunate at this time to have the Department 

 abolished when so many readjustments seem to be demanded of 

 secondary instruction and when elementary instruction or nature- 

 study is being put on a practical working basis. George A. Cowen, 

 Roxbury High School, Boston, Mass., was elected president of 

 the Department for the ensuing year. It is likely that the next 

 convention of the N. E. A. will be held at San Francisco, Cal. 



