THE INFLUENCE OF URBAN AND RURAL ENVIRONMENT 365 



Table vi 

 BRONCiirris AND pneumonia: death rates i'ek 100,000 I'oi'iJLAiioN, 1910 



AND 1920 



(U. S. Registration Area) 



northern congested city quarters, where sunhght and even 

 sky-shine is difficult to get for many months in the year, are 

 entirely free from rickets in southern chmates and in rural 



regions. 



Children of school age show consistent differences in the 

 prevalence of acute respiratory tract disease, "colds and 

 coughs," which betrays one of the apparent and perhaps 

 temporary superiorities of city environment. From the 

 studies of the New York Ventilation Commission in regard 

 to heating and ventilating schools, with every factor con- 

 trolled as far as was humanly possible, it was found that 

 the acute respiratory disease rate among children of rural 

 Cattaraugus County resulted in an absence rate of 23 per 

 cent of possible days of school attendance, while among 

 the urban children of Syracuse this absence rate was 9.9 

 to II. 7 per cent for the same school year (1926-1927), 

 with the experience in New York City in other years almost 

 identical with that of Syracuse. In cities the inclemencies 

 of weather are much less of a hazard, because of nearness 

 of the child to school, the freedom of the pavements from 

 snow, slush and water, and the quicker drying of hard, 

 drained street pavements. Wet feet, wet clothing, long 

 distance in wind and rain and snow seem to have been 

 among the important factors to the disadvantage of country 

 children, all of which, however, are nowadays being offset 

 to a great degree by the concrete or hard surfaced country 



